I was driving it on the interstate and it just died. It would turn over, but not start. I called a tow truck. I climbed behind the back seat and banged on the floor board because I thought the fuel tank was there. It turns out the fuel tank is under the middle seat. It suddenly started up and went about half a mile and died again. At least I got off the ridiculously dangerous interstate.

The tow truck towed it to her house. It started up again and I let it idle about 10 minutes and it died again. When it dies it just died, no spuddering. Once again, it would turn over, but not restart. An hour later I started it again with a fuel pressure gauge hooked up and it ran about 10 minutes and died. Fuel pressure was perfect, even when it died.

This last time, I noticed how sudden it died. I got to thinking maybe the transponder key was worn out causing the CPU to kill it. Do those keys wear out? Is there a tiny battery in them? It is about 8 years old So apparently, there is no spark for some reason.

Has anyone heard of the key thing? Or is there anything else I could check?

Thanks for any ideas. This has been a shitty month for me and cars.

 

if it has an electronic distributor it might have gone bad the same thing just happened to my 2000 pathfinder it was exibiting all the same symptoms as your describing

 

Look at the crank sensor located in the transmission bell housing. Seen them go bad and do just like you said. Correct spacing of this sensor is important as well.

 

Will either of these 2 conditions set an SES code? I might rent an OBD2 scanner if that would help.

 

yes its possible for both of these to throw a code check it with an obd 2 scanner it should tell you the problem

 

I'd call the service dept. at you local dodge house I'll bet your problem is not unique.
The last Mopar I owned did the same thing but it was a '73 duster. they've had that problem for decades they'll know what to change.The most used term a chrysler salesman uses is "we fixed that this year".

 

Vince, you were pretty close. It was the camshaft sensor. It had P0340 I think, which means no camshaft sensor signal. The sensor had a thick layer of burnt oil looking crud on it, so I replaced it and so far so good. I drove it about 40 miles and it didn't die.

TnTrk, you are exactly right. After some googling, it's amazing that early 90's Caravans have so many of the exact same problems as 00's.