My Lebaron is acting funny..?

[Subject]
My Lebaron is acting funny..?
[Question]
I have a 95 Chrysler Lebaron GTC Convertible.

The check engine light comes on every once in a while, and when I turn it off, then turn the car back on, it doesn't immediately come back on, but eventually does.

I had the tranny checked, and it's fine. But, when I go to stop, it sputters, and sometimes stalls.

Also, what is the average RPM, in which a car such as mine is suppose to idle? Mine averages around 250-500 RPM.
I bought the car in May, and haven't had any problems ntil recently.

I got it from a private owner, and they didn't have any information about when it was last tuned up.

I'm taking it to a shop in a few days to have them look at it, and hopefully it's nothing huge.
Also, I took it to Auto Zone, and they said they couldn't scan it because it was too old.
I did this: http://www.extreme-check-engine-light-codes.com/Chrysler%20OBD1%20Decoder.htm

and code 12 and 51 came up.

Char @ 2009-08-26 06:05:00

[Best Answer]Code 12 is battery has been disconnected recently. No worries.

Code 51 is a bad O2 (oxygen) sensor. About $70 and is a pain to install just because the old one will be rusted to the exhaust.

Autozone will not be able to check codes because it is not an OBDII car and they are too stupid to know the old school way. Props to you for finding it (how to read the codes) and executing it correctly.

The lebaron is a great car, even though I'm not fond of the 3.0 V6, they had all the issues worked out by '95. Enjoy her, love her, and have fun.

-A fellow lebaron convertible owner.

p.s. There are two yahoo groups dedicated to the lebaron. I'd suggest signing up and posting there with your next issue or just comment about lebarons. You'll get a better answer faster there.

JohnB @ 1251342115

[All Answers]
1 what does the scan say??
2 rpm should be 700 give or taske a few
3 why did you check tranny if engines not running right?
4 go to mechanic
5 ever been tuned [in last 80K?]

pedro7of9 @ 2009-08-26 06:10:51

autozone scans for free
sounds like a fuel problem try a bottle of fuel treatment maybe average RPM 800 to 900 most likey casue by lack of fuel dirty fuel system bottle of fuel treatment might help it

kelly_f_1999 @ 2009-08-26 06:13:13

Your car should idle around 750 and no lower. Chances are that's why it is sputtering at stops and going dead. The check engine light is most likely gonna be for whatever it is making your car idle low weather it is missfires due to bad plugs or wires or a sensor. Best bet would be to find somewhere locally who runs diagnostics on check engine lights for free and see what they say. Then from there you should be able to solve the check engine light as well as the low idle and going dead problem.

Josh @ 2009-08-26 06:16:19

?'s answer was right. It should idle around 700-800 rpm 750 would be ideal but he didn't see the part where you said you took it to auto zone and they couldn't scan it. I don't know much about 95 Chrysler's but Auto zone should be able to help you. Ask them how to retrieve the codes and what they mean. Years ago when I first worked on a vehicle with a computer they had a booklet that told what the codes mean and how to retrieve them. In this case they sold me a key to stick in a port for the computer that was mounted on the bottom of the dash although I could have just used a piece of wire to jump across the correct ports the key was cheap and works for multiple vehicles. Also it is easier and quicker. After installing the key you watch the dash and a light flashes. EXAMPLE: 1 long flash and then 2 quick flashes after a short pause would mean code 12. Then you looked the code up in the book and it may say improper idle speed, in which case you adjust the idle speed. If code 15 appeared and you look that up it may say that the vehicle is misfiring. In which case you check the timing, plugs, wires etc... until you find out what is causing the misfiring. In your case we know it is idling too slow. If there is a bad plug or wire etc... that would cause it to sputter and stall because the engine is idling too slow. But there may not be a problem with spark, timing, or fuel. It may be because the idle speed is too slow. First thing speed up the idle so that it doesn't stall while idling then check timing. If that is ok check each plug and wire for spark which may be intermittently missing. If all plugs fire all the time the idle speed was the problem. If you find a bad plug or wire replace them then it will be running better in which case it may be running too fast so check the idle speed again and set about 700 or 750 rpm. If you don't know when it had a new set of plugs last it may be wise to replace them anyway because they may be cutting fuel mileage slightly and at the price of fuel it doesn't have to save much to save more than the cost of the plugs. I would find out what the problem is before replacing the plugs or replace them first and see if that helped the idle speed. If you just replace parts you could spend a lot of money unnecessarily and still not know what the problem is. So do one thing at a time. If the fuel system is dirty and causing the problem it could take several treatments to get it clean. Also on my 92 buick after 2 treatments it ran fine but that didn't last long so I started putting cleaner in every tank of fuel. That fixed my problem on the buick and after several tanks of fuel I was able to quit putting it in. When reading on the bottle they say that you should add one to every tank of fuel but that is just to sell you more of it. Not really necessary but can't hurt once in a while.

Jimbob @ 2009-08-26 12:27:23

acting funny?

Did you hit a bird lately?Maybe you have feathers tickling the radiator?







.

ca.alert @ 2009-08-26 14:14:50

Code 12 is battery has been disconnected recently. No worries.

Code 51 is a bad O2 (oxygen) sensor. About $70 and is a pain to install just because the old one will be rusted to the exhaust.

Autozone will not be able to check codes because it is not an OBDII car and they are too stupid to know the old school way. Props to you for finding it (how to read the codes) and executing it correctly.

The lebaron is a great car, even though I'm not fond of the 3.0 V6, they had all the issues worked out by '95. Enjoy her, love her, and have fun.

-A fellow lebaron convertible owner.

p.s. There are two yahoo groups dedicated to the lebaron. I'd suggest signing up and posting there with your next issue or just comment about lebarons. You'll get a better answer faster there.

JohnB @ 2009-08-26 20:01:55

[Subject]
are chryslers good cars?
[Question]
im looking at a 2001 chrysler sebring. 90,000 miles. is this good? are they reliable cars?

curiousparsnippete119 @ 2009-08-26 23:21:07

[All Answers]
I have had a whole bunch of big Chryslers that have all been extremely reliable. I am not sure about the Sebring. I'd say consumer reports woud rate it low, because they rated Chryslers low in 1979, and it just seems like te right thing to do.

Generally, Chryslers are so cheap, you can fix a few things and financially still come out well.

Firebird @ 2009-08-26 23:26:11

I think Chryslers and Dodges are excellent cars. I don't know specifically about the Sebring, but as you likely know if a manufacturer makes good cars, all their lines are likely to be good.

90,000 miles is right at the borderline where cars may start having problems. These days we often get 200,000 out of our cars, but still the 100,000 mark is when problems can happen. I think it's important how much you are paying for it. Check your Kelly blue book to see if the price matches the mileage.

(For some reason it seems to me a high percentage of Sebrings were convertibles. Don't know what that has to do with anything, but if it is, be aware that adds a whole new area of potential problems.)

Good luck. Hope it works out that you become a member of the proud family of Mopar owners.

Anglo 409 @ 2009-08-26 23:37:24

If it is a Sebring Coupe, run the other way. If it is a Sebring Sedan or Convertible, consider it. If it has the 2.7L V6, it would have to be heavily discounted as those engines do have problems if not maintained well. If it has the 4 cyl engine, buy it. Problems are few and manageable with the 4 cyl. Make sure the timing belt has been changed or plan on changing it with 90,000 miles. Regardless of what you buy used, ALWAYS test drive it first. Good luck.

C-Tech @ 2009-08-27 04:04:03

If you are thinking of a Sebring, I sugguest you to go www.carcomplaints.com and check out the Sebring AND the 2.7L engine should your Sebring have one.

DON'T BUY IT.

Joe @ 2009-08-27 06:46:31

I'm generally a Chrysler fan, but there is nothing too redeemable about a 2001 Sebring. If its a convertible, those are generally nice enough to put up with a few nuisances, but with the sedans - there are better options.

X2 on avoiding the coupes. They are just a rebadged Mitsubishi Eclipse, which were just junk once they moved on from being a DSM.

JohnB @ 2009-08-27 12:10:29

[Subject]
The new Chrysler 300: Crappy interior?
[Question]
My dad said he found an article on some remote site that said that the Chrysler 300 has a crappy interior (he did not really define crappy more than just crappy). So is it true that the 300 has a crappy interior, or was it just crap on the site he got that information from. If it really is crap, could you provide a link to the page containing information supporting your claim?
Thank you.

slipknotkorn_rules @ 2009-08-26 19:43:32

[All Answers]
What year is new? The 2005-2009 ones sure have an interior that is not all too impressive given how nice the outside is. They made it better for '08, but its still behind some of the competition.

JohnB @ 2009-08-26 19:48:23

Chrysler makes "boring" interiors. The only interior trim that I like is in th