Questions and Answers

Dodge Intrepid CEL And Hard Starting Q. Hello, I have a 1997 Dodge Intrepid, 2.7 liter, 24 valve engine, automatic transmission with 68,000 miles. It has a fuel injection system, ABS brakes, P/S, A/C, rack and pinion steering and cruise control.The check engine light is on constantly and the car is having three major problems.

1. It takes a longer than normal time to start the car. When I turn the ignition, it takes the car a long time to start. It helps if I pump the gas while the car is trying to start.
2. Sometimes when the car is idle (stopped at a light or stop sign) the car turns of. After this happens, it takes awhile to start it again (problem #1).
3. The car jerks at while accelerating through certain speeds. The most common is at around 25-30 mph and at 70-75 mph.

My gut feeling is that something is wrong with the fuel injection system, but I'm not a mechanic and can't say for sure. Can you shed some light on this for me and let me know what my best course of action is?

Thanks a million...
Maurice

A. I have a feeling your gut is right. The first thing to do before we get carried away looking for a problem is to pull the codes from the computer. With the check engine light on there will be a code(s) stored and that would be the logical starting point to start troubleshooting.

Without those codes there is not much I can do to help you.