Questions and Answers
Reliant Not Reliable
Q. Hi Vince, My daughter has a 1989 Plymouth Reliant, 2.5 liter FI, automatic, with 102,000 miles on it. Suddenly, in the last week or so, she has been having problems with it dying as she is driving around town and also on the highway. She pulls to the side of the road and after a few minutes the car can be started and will run fine for a while longer.
I drove the 100 miles to her house and we did some work on her car. First of all, cleaned the battery cables as they were somewhat corroded and wanted to make sure she had good connections. Then, we pulled and replaced all the plugs with Champions. Replaced the rotor, distributor cap, and wires. Checked the timing and that was right on the money. Had her get some Gumout fuel injector cleaner and put that in the gas tank as per the instructions. Took it for a test drive of about an hour and it ran fine.
Later in the day as I was driving home, she called me to tell me that it had died twice again on her while driving around town. She then had to travel about 40 miles on the interstate and it died again on her there. She got it started as before, made her destination and made it home again without any further problems. Has died a few times since also.
Any suggestions? Have checked as best I can all the vacuum lines and had to replace some that were dried and had a crack. EGR valve is working properly as is the PVC valve.
Thanks,
DaleA. Well you did good, except I would have replaced the fuel filter as well.
It sounds like the Single Module Engine Controller (SMEC) is the culprit here. When they get hot they stop working and when they cool off they will start working again. The symptoms her car is displaying would make it a good candidate for replacement.
Another thing to check would be the 14 pin connecter of the SMEC. Make sure they are clean and tight. I take a spare male connector and slide it into the female connecters in the harness. If it slides in and out too easily, I use a small screwdriver to bend then in a little to improve the connection.
Additional Information provided courtesy of ALLDATA
