Questions and Answers
Caravan Dies When Warm
Q. 1984 Dodge Caravan, 2.6 liter engine, automatic, P/S & A/C. 30,000 miles on rebuilt engine. carburetor. not injection. Ok heres the problem, In the morning when the engine is cold the car starts great and sounds good.After the car warms to normal temp. Then the cooling fan kicks on for the first time and shuts off. I hear a warning chime of some kind coming from the control panel? No warning lights just a chime. As I was driving the other day I heard this chime and a minute later the car starts chugging like it`s running out of gas and then stalls. I make it to the side of the road and try to restart it and nothing. After a few minutes I tried again thinking I had a clogged fuel filter and it started. I then replaced the fuel filter and the next day the same thing happened. I was told by a friend it may be a stuck thermostat so I replaced it, still the same problem. I asked my local auto store guy and he said it may be that my starter coil is bad, so I replaced it and still the same problem. This is really driving me crazy. It runs great cold but stalls out when warm and won`t restart until at least an hour of cooling. Can it be a bad water pump or mechanical fuel pump? All vacuum lines are good.
Please help. Thanks,
RobertA. I would take a look at the automatic choke mechanism. That has an electrically heated choke and the heated element will burn out after time. I would also check to see if there is power going to the heater when the engine is running. The fuse for the heater may be blown due to a shorted heating element.
Take the air cleaner housing off and plug any vacuum lines. Then start the engine when it's stone cold and watch the choke plate. It should open slowly and smoothly. If it doesn't, then you will need to replace it.
If jerks while it's opening, clean the linkage with some carburetor cleaner and then spray some CRC 5-56 on it.
