Broke down today lol...

[tsiconquest88]

Its not anything major i dont think but it died on me today while driving in the pouring rain.

Im assuming electrical issue but its weird. Seems like the Whole ECU end of things is shorted out somehow, intermittantly it works and the car will start but shuts right back off. The CEL will come on at key on only when its going to start of course but if its cranking and no start the CEL does NOT come on with key on. When i got my dad to tow me home with his truck i had the key on so i could have the wipers as i controlled the car while he pulled lol, and the CEL would come on and start its flashing then would cut off again and such intermittantly. ALL other functions work fine, like i said just the ECU controlled stuff is not working.

First thing i checked was the inline fuses the PO installed they are fine. Im thinking something got soaked up, but the wiring at the SBEC was all dry and so was the SBEC. I thought maybe water got into the SBEC or something maybe. Since the spirit has that wide --- opened area for water to pour into the front of the car if your driving in serious rain on the highway. Its open right at the sheetmetal in front of the SBEC for air to flow and that area had a lot of water there which is why i checked, but none got into the SBEC as i said. Fat chance pulling any codes cus the CEL wont even stay on right lol.

Also when the key is on the tach jumps all over in random areas lol.

Just wondering if maybe someone has had this happen and figure i would post it up for some initial idea's before i am able to get out and actually look it over good after this damn rain stops.

[tsiconquest88]

Oh also, another thing that makes me think its something with the sbec is because i know there is something at the board that links to the area where the chip is for the battery voltage, and when this happened the volt gauge was going whacky too. But there was plentyh of juice and cranked perfectly fine. Its not an alternator problem for sure.

[iTurbo]

I've had that happen on my white '91 Spirit R/T and it was a loose pin for the crank position sensor at the 60-way SBEC connector. I've also had a similar random shut-off problem on my red '91 Spirit R/T when it had loose pins causing open circuits inside the fuel rail sub-harness connector.

If you can get the car to stay running for any length of time, I would start by moving the underhood harness and connectors around with your hands. A lot of times you can zero in on a problem that way. That's how I found my intermittent stalling issue on both of my R/Ts.

[Orangetona]

I've had that happen on my white '91 Spirit R/T and it was a loose pin for the crank position sensor at the 60-way SBEC connector. I've also had a similar random shut-off problem on my red '91 Spirit R/T when it had loose pins causing open circuits inside the fuel rail sub-harness connector.

If you can get the car to stay running for any length of time, I would start by moving the underhood harness and connectors around with your hands. A lot of times you can zero in on a problem that way. That's how I found my intermittent stalling issue on both of my R/Ts.

+1, I was thinking a pin or a wire to the cps.

[tsiconquest88]

Yea could be, but would that cause the CEL not to come on the dash when key on and get this weird F1-1 code in my traveler display? I forgot to mention that lol. Whatever it is, it had to have been triggered by this massive rain. I also did find that a section (about a foot) of the 4- o2 sensor wires behind the valve cover right over to near the turbo is dry rotted as a mofo to where the wires shielding is just flaking off, so im going to re-solder fresh wire to those tomorrow for one thing. Not that this is causing the problem but it Might be why i have a rich condition at idle and varying o2 readings under WOT at times.

[DOHCRT]

Double check the battery and grounds, a dying battery can do all sorts of funky stuff. My R/T did it shoutly after I bought it; the radio would change stations, the display would show all kinds of wierd info. Swapped the battery and everything was back to normal.

[tsiconquest88]

Grounds are all re-done, i did it all over the summer. Battery is new. But yea that stuff im going to check all over again tomorrow. Thats all the common stuff. Im just seeing if theres a fix for this people may know if its something that is a solid problem with a fix before i go all-out tomorrow lol. The crank sensor seems to be the biggest possibility. Its the spot that would be the wettest today down there. I mean it was pouring when this all happened and i was on the highway then getting off the exit.

[DOHCRT]

Just figured I would toss the obvious out there. The biggest issue we have when it rains is realizing the windshield wipers are no good after 8-9 months of no rain and hot weather.

RainX is a wonderful thing, every car I have has a bottle in it.

[tsiconquest88]

nah its cool man, never hurts for me to double check the simple stuff (which i planned anyway). I was just hopin for it to be something that had a solid fix that is known lol.

[92spiritrt]

Did you write down what codes the sbec was throwing? If it was flashing intermittently then those were the error code numbers. See what they have to say as they may answer the question for you. Let us know.

[Force Fed Mopar]

Our rollback was doing the same thing, turned out to be the computer.

[tsiconquest88]

Yea computer is what i was thinking as its effecting the volt gauge as well as the tach and not anything esle at all electronically and i know all these turbo computers at least have the area on the board for the battery voltage that you have to be careful with when socketing.

Rob i couldnt get the codes.... when i said intermitantly i meant it literally lol the CEL would come on at time and just as it would flash it would shut back off not enough time in between it wanting to come and such to get anything out of it. However this morning The key went on normally with the CEL and it did its cycling but found no codes to display. It didnt want to start right away either but it couldnt have just been a little flooded from yesterday, but then it started after a few secs of cranking and me giving some throttle to get some air in there.

[mark]

personally, i would go over any connection and wd40 it, and dieelectric grease it. then in the future, carry a bottle of wd40 in the glovebox until your comfortable with it in the rain.

i had an old car and every time it rained would cause a plethora of problems, turns out the weather stripping for the hood at the cowl doubled as a rain/drip guard and the PO removed it. so when it rained water ran right down on the bulkhead connector. dieelectric grease and installing the missing cowl piece took care of the issue.

[tsiconquest88]

Forgot to update.... So this morning early, i turned the key on and the CEL did come on with the key, great so i knew it would start somehow. Few seconds of cranking and a push on the throttle it fired right up. I brought my son to school with my wifes car and when i got back the car was off, it died again. CEL now of course not comming on with key yet again. Ok so start my days diag- rain was done finally.

Didnt take long to figure ok all this water near the front of the sbec- some MUST be in it too? took the sbec out and took it apart, sure as ----, theres a little water in it on the chip and socket. Pull the chip out and 3 prongs are toasted a bit. So theres the issue. I never realized how wide open the spirit was in that area over my mini. I am going to put a piece of hepa vac filter around the end of the sbec so air and no water can get in there again!!!! Getting another Cal'd chip from Rob, and go from there, im hoping the sbec isnt damaged too, the socket didnt look like it got heated or nuthing though. I cant find my darn stock chip that was in this MP sbec when i bought the car so i cant even drive the thing.