2001 Chrysler PT Cruiser-Starter issue and a code P1193
My friend has a 2001 PT Cruiser(I know, poor guy!) He hasn't been able to start the car in nearly a month. I told him I'd help as soon as our weather here in eastern Pa. got better and today was the day. Now he had a remanufactured starter put in last May at a cost of nearly $250! According to him, all was well until a month or so ago. All I really found bad was the negative wire terminal clamp and replaced it with a universal post clamp. I cleaned all connections from the battery down to the starter, but no luck. Only when I bopped the hell out of the starter itself did it make an attempt to turn over. I believe the starter is bad even though like I said, it's not a year old yet.We will be replacing in the near future, possibly with a starter from a salvage yard because my friend has had other issues with this car in years past and he doesn't want to put in any more money than necessary and I sure can't blame him.
I also scanned his computer as I noticed the engine light was lit and got a code P1193. Auto Zone printed out a copy of the entry and it looks like there are more than one thing that could be wrong. The last listing was a faulty ECM. Any help anyone could give us will be appreciated. Many thanks!
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Mr_Shiftright
Member Posts: 64,481
P 1193 is a fault in the IAT (Idle Air Temperature) sensor--either the sensor itself, wiring to and fro, something grounding....a faulty PCM is possible but not as likely as the other issues ,which should be checked first.
As for starting, those substitute cable ends are often troublesome, so that might still be your problem---bad grounding to the car. I would replace the entire cable and also check any engine-to-frame ground cable or wires as well.
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Thanks, Mr. Shift for your analysis of my friend's PT Cruiser. I'm wondering where the IAT is on this car, is that the sensor that's mounted in/on the air filter box, is it? There is a sensor there that I had to disconnect when I removed the filter box to gain access to the battery. I always thought that those type of sensors were a cold air monitoring sensor or something of that nature. Anyway, my friend is tasking me with replacing the starter and I found one in a local salvage yard not to far from my home for $35. A rebuilt one from Auto Zone is about $105 and there is another auto parts store near me that will rebuild his old one for around $90. I'm suggesting he takes the cheap route because this car is a kind of nightmare-nobody has anything good to say about a PT Cruiser. If I can get this thing running for $35 he can make a decision how long he wants to hold onto it. The thing is a mess looking underneath the motor, there's something leaking, motor oil, trans oil etc.so I'd think it's a sure bet that if we can make this work, my pal will be looking for another vehicle ASAP. Thanks again, Mr. Shift, and have a great day!
Yes the IAT attaches to the air intake duct.
I went looking for this IAT on Rockauto.com and apparently it's really easy to confuse the IDLE AIR TEMP SENSOR with the INTAKE AIR TEMP SENSOR, Mr. Shift. They are 2 different sensors and have a big difference in price, like around $20 for the Intake Air Temp Sensor and nearly $80 for the Idle Air Temp Sensor. Now the IAT sensor for this PT Cruiser looks like a triangular body with 2 mounting screws and has what looks like a pintle valve on it, while the Intake Air temp sensor looks completely different, the thing looks like it's nearly 2" long and just has a female connector on it, so that's obviously NOT what we want here, of course it would have to be the more expensive one!!
I did pick up the used starter this morning at the salvage yard and may have to wait till Sunday to swap it out. I'll let you know it went either late Sunday night or Monday morning. Again, many thanks!
**Hi, Mr. Shift. Just wanted to say that I was able to install that used starter in my friends '01 PT Cruiser. The bottom mounting bolt was a pain in the rear to get out, but all worked well and the car fired up. Now you might remember that this car set a code P1193 and we concluded that there might be a faulty IAT sensor located in the air duct leading into the throttle body. I pulled it out and sprayed it with contact cleaner and reinstalled it. After I drove the car a few blocks from where my friend lives, I noticed the engine light was on. I made several stops in the area to be sure that each time I shut off the car it would start again and it did. When I got back to his place I got the code scanner out and checked the computer thinking I'd see that P1193 code like before, but no, now he has a totally different code of PO340 and no P1193 at all. The PO340*translated into Camshaft Position Sensor Circuit Malfunction. Now here's my question about that. When I got the starter all hooked up and gave everything the once over, I thought that the starter ran longer than I expected, in other words the car took longer to start. Now it has been sitting for over a month, so I really didn't think too much about it. I asked my friend, who by the way was elated that the car is now up and running, if he noticed in the past that the engine was cranking several seconds longer that I think it should and he really didn't say one way or the other. Could a faulty camshaft position sensor cause excess cranking? Please let me know.
While my friend Hector is happy he can drive this car, I pointed out some other issues he needs to address, one of them ASAP. The front motor mount on the bottom left side of the engine(if you're standing in FRONT of the car) is shot and rocking the motor to and fro. It's only a $35 part and I told him I would do it. He also needs tires too. Other than that the car seems to run fairly well. So let me know what you think about that Camshaft sensor and as always, I thank you for your advice. Have a Blessed day!
Just an update on my friend Hector's '01 PT Cruiser. He had the car at work last night and we were parked near each other and I wanted to hear him start up due to this issue the car taking longer than I think it should to fire up. I timed it at about 6-7 seconds or just about that many engine revolutions before it started. As I said before, he now has a code PO340 showing up on my code reader which tells me it is the Camshaft Position sensor. But reading up both the Camshaft AND the Crankshaft Position sensors, the info I read says that these sensors can cause rough idling and may even shut the car down when defective. I just don't want to go replacing the sensor even though it's not really that expensive on Rockauto.com. I'm hoping I'm not seeing a false code because once started, the car seems to run and idle just fine. Any advice anyone can give will be deeply appreciated.
I just wanted to close out my experience with my friend's PT Cruiser. Yesterday(the 13th) I was able to have the car here at my home to replace the lower torque mount. Last weekend it was the starter and I found a code for the Camshaft Position sensor as well. I was able to change the sensor(took all of 10 minutes to do)and then got the lower torque mount replaced as well. What I did not know last week was the upper torque mount(top right side)was shot as well, so I had to make another trip to Autozone. THAT one was a bear to change! After much grumbling, I finally got it and when all was said and done, the car started up fine. It was taking several seconds of cranking to fire up, but now just a brief turn of the key and up she goes. My friend called me early this afternoon and was elated saying in never started up so quick in all the time he had it. Mr. Shift, I thank you for all your support and suggestions for this car you gave me in the past weeks. Take care all!