1999 Breeze 2.4l DOHC, Rough Idle, Hard start, stall
 

Hey guys!
So, not only am i new to this forum, i'm new to the Chrysler family... Found a good deal on a 99 Breeze for $500, and jumped on it. When i bought the car, i knew it had a very rough idle. Owner said he was thinking MAP sensor, but i knew there was something more.

I don't know what that something is, though...

When the car is cold, it has a HARD time staying running. It will frequently stall, and it's constantly bogging/surging, and just running rough. Did a compression test, and came up with 180 to 210 across all cylinders. (180 closed throttle, 210 open). Tested for spark from coil pack, down wires, and then at the plug, and all looked well. Some of the plugs were gapped too far (0.060" instead of 0.050"), so we fixed that. Also cleaned throttle body, and backed the idle screw all the way out, as it was set to 20% (???) of the throttle.

After pulling spark plug wires/unplugging injectors while idling, we've determined that cylinders 1 and 4 are missing at idle. Dead miss. 2 and 3 appear to be well, though. Whenever i start driving (over 15mph/1500rpm) the miss seems to go away... Looked at the timing belt, and while it's worn, and it's obvious someone has been in there to either replace it, or at least put it on when the head work was done, we can't determine if it's correctly aligned or not. Sometimes the car simply won't start until the third time, sometimes it starts fine, but it _always_ idles rough. Turning the AC on causes the car to bog down, and usually die if it's in gear.

I did notice that the spark from the coil pack was an orangish color, instead of the bright white/blue that i'm used to seeing. Could this cause issues at idle? My friend is thinking maybe one of the cams isn't lined up correctly, while i'm leaning towards a more electrical problem. I knew when i bought the car it would need some work, but i'm honestly stumped as to where to start on this issue...

If anyone needs any more information, feel free to ask, and i will provide. I'm glad to be a part of the family, even if i'm joining with a 14 year old car with 150K on it. (It was $500. The AC works. I needed wheels.)

(Can't find the edit button, as usual...)


Also, the car shuts down... Oddly. It's a very rough shut down, and it's almost like the engine tries to run for a few seconds after i turn the key off.