Any mechanics in da house?

[GibH]

Wife's car is a 2003 Chrysler Sebring (4 cylinder). I was going to take my daughter to a fund raiser Saturday and it stalled backing out of the driveway. It has 78K miles on it. It is only firing on 2 cylinders. Only 1 and 4.

It's either the timing chain or the PCM. Any way to tell which it is before spending the cash on a new PCM? I'd hate to spend that kind of money and then find out it was the timing chain.
Thanks

 

[slowNsteady]

Question: How do you know it's either of the items you mentioned? Was it diagnosed at a shop? If your timing belt/chain breaks, it won't run at all. If it slips or jumps time, it might run or not depending on how much it slipped. You'll still have fire at each plug. Since you say that it's only hitting on #1 and #4, I can't say the belt/chain is to blame. The ECM or PCM usually won't tell on itself during diagnosis. It's usually a last resort and a guess at best. I say get the codes it threw and go from there. Sounds to me more like a coil pack or module failure. I'm honestly not familiar with Chrysler products. I work on heavy trucks. Maybe someone else has more information, but this would be a starting point. Best of luck!

 

[GibH]

At first I figured it was one cylinder. I drove it to the parts store to buy some plugs and wires. When I got home to change them, I found that by driving it I fried the coil (at 2 cyl). Replaced the plugs, wires, and coil.

The primary code is multiple cylinder misfires and secondary code points to coil, plugs, or wires. Only two other things it can be.....

The parts store is less than a mile from me. I find it weird that driving it that distance burnt the coil.

 

[slowNsteady]

To tell the truth, I think I'd be looking for a wiring problem. A wire that has been pinched or damaged (rubbing up against something to expose the wire itself) might be the culprit. If a bare or damaged wire is grounding out against metal, it could easily cause this issue. A misfire code can be caused by either fuel ,ignition, or compression/valve issues. One thing to watch out for though, is the code that pops up may say a part is bad and it may not be the part that's bad. Something else can be causing the supposed bad part to trigger the code. Just my thoughts on this.

 

[Gotrek]

Sebrings of that year use a coil pack no? Two packs on one coil; each pack fires two cylinders. I Would of looked there first with a failure to fire on both cylinders.

Since you've replaced that test to see if you are getting ANY kind of spark at the plug evena weak one or an out of time one. If the chain slipped the plus would still fire just off time.