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Chrysler PT Cruiser Warning Lights and Trouble Codes
sanantonyo
Member Posts: 2
Last night we were driving back from an appointment doing about 70mph. It was around 100 degrees F outside (San Antonio, TX). Ironically, our 2006 PT hit 42,000 miles and when it did, all of the warning lights flashed on and all needles (speedometer, fuel guage, tachometer, etc.) dropped to their "engine off" positions. I did not notice any loss in power and the exterior lights remained on. This happened a couple of miles further down the road and repeated every few miles. This continued to occur even as we approached our subdivision at speeds around 30 - 40 mph. This morning on the drive to work (5 miles from home and speeds not in excess of 45mph) there was NO repeat of this incident. Any thoughts?
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One additional thing which I have always found odd on my car is that my parking lights flash occasionally when I unlock the car. We do not have a car alarm nor do we have a remote to unlock and lock the car and so rely on the key. Flashing parking lights I would expect with a remote, but not with a manual key. Can you tell me if this also happens to you on occasion?
Does your car have a manual or automatic transmission, by the way? I am wondering if it might be just happening to manual transmission PT Cruisers.
If nothing else, thanks for making me not feel like I am crazy. I wish I had an answer, but I will give you this. I will give you my email address and if you are ever provided a solution, please share with me. If you are okay with it, provide your email address to me and I will do likewise.
You can write me at grillon (at symbol) att (dot) net. I did it like this because Edmunds may frown on exchanging addresses.
Sincerely.
Tony in San Antonio
The symptoms I've experienced are the same mentioned above: First the seat belt light flashes on, then off, then ALL the lights on the dashboard come on. This is usually accompanied by the speedometer jumping up and down--mostly down as the power to the dash seems to be cutting in and out. On 15-20 occasions, this was followed by power to the engine dying.
Because it's a manual and the speed at which it's traveling is high enough, the engine most often restarts itself as they do when they're dead and get a rolling push start.
My symptoms first started over a year ago, and tended to happen most frequently when it was hot (95 degrees or better), but then it started happening even when the temps were in the low- to mid-70s.
The dealership has not had any signals in their diagnostics which have helped. They've updated some software, cleaned the battery leads, fixed what they said was a loose wire in the dash, and most recently replaced the instrument cluster. However, after picking the car up and then leaving it at the airport for a week, the same problems started up all over again.
I've contacted Chrysler and had it at a dealer for the last month, but they can't diagnose it because they say they can't replicate it (this despite actually having a tech in my car one time before the panel was replaced). I'm searching for many others who have had the same problems as Chrysler insists they haven't heard about this issue before. I'm collecting everything I can find on the Internet about the same problems, which by the way have apparently also included Town & Country cars from the same 2005-2006 period. If anyone has any solutions, please let me know at bryanmarks AT sbcglobal.net.
I have had 2 estimates basically telling me that I can ONLY get this part from the dealership. The cost=$600 (Not including labor)
Can I find this part on E-bay? At a junkyard?
Any suggestions?
Thanks
New diesel injectors were fitted. However 200 miles after this repair the battery light came on for a few minutes while driving and then went out. 20 miles later knocking grinding noises from the alternator. This was replaced, while looking around trying to find the where the noise was coming from I noticed a short earth strap from chassis to engine (just above the pulleys) had been worn though (by a rubbing contact dont know what) and had become disconnected, this was reconnected when the alterator was replaced.
The original problem has not occurred and we have done hundreds of miles since. So.......are the flashing lights etc due to a software glitche that is triggerred by an engine fault, or was it the earth strap or was it the alternator.
Oh and the car does 50% more miles to the gallon since the injectors were replaced. I gotta thank the dealer who sold us the car for their tenacity and perseverence in fixing this problem it makes a change to have some great aftersales service.
Has anyone found the problem?
Did the problems get worse? better?
Mike
The car does not quit every time sometimes the lights blink on & off & then it is fine. Used to happen when I first started the car or when I first started to move, now though it is happening when I have been driving. I have noticed that usually the seat belt light stays on a little to long when first starting the car & then all the icons start blinking.
I have contacted Chrysler & Irene told me she had never heard of this. Ha! Of course they know, Chrysler needs to take responsibility & fix these! I am afraid I might die in this car.
My keychain has many keys on it and with nothing else to go on I thought the weight of the key chain might play into the problem. I tried the spare key again-all the problems returned. On further investigation, the spare key inserted with one side facing forward caused problems every time but the spare key inserted the other way works fine.
**The Air Intake Temp Sensor is located in the ductwork between the air filter and the throttle body, a 2 wire plug, I think.I took a chance and just pulled it out and spayed it with electrical contact cleaner and it works fine, no repeat code. My friend has a 2001 PT cruiser and I got this code when I started working on it back in March. He had a starter problem which I replaced and also his camshaft position sensor was bad. Now nearly 3 months later he's getting a PO401 code which has to do with the EGR system saying there's a restriction somewhere. Does anyone have any further info on this problem? Another friend at work had this code on his Toyota Camry recently and he replaced the EGR and several related components but this did NOT solve the problem. When he took it to a garage to have it checked, they found a component on or near the gas tank that was bad and the source of the PO401 code. This is what was the cause of the so called "restriction". If anyone has more info on this particular problem, please respond. Thanks!
I have a 2005 PT Cruiser my temperature light keeps coming on and the gauges register that it's going to run hot any second and it doesn't. I have taken it to several repair shops and the dealer and we have replaced the thermostat, all the hoses, had a diagnostic done on it and it's still doing the same thing. One person even suggested that it could be the headers gone bad, and someone even suggested that we need to replace the engine. Anyone have an idea as to what the problem may be? If so, please advise, thinking about getting rid of it.
I got my PT after having my Suzuki totaled in a head-on collision (ice, other's fault).
I had this happen to me. Crazy dash lights. Possessed car! Once the car even cut off on me at 55, at night, in rain. I was certain missed death once, but was heading for that again.
Thanks to forums I fixed it at NO COST. Well, not entirely - $200 and 2 days for mechanics to tell me they couldn't find anything wrong. The second time was free, but still no results. 10 minutes down the road it happened again, both times.
I NEVER drive with anything on my key. I have a clip key chain and remove all. This is a proven 'fault' in many cars, so you should do this anyway.
I never 'tilt' my steering wheel any more.
I put my key in with buttons on it facing me, and make doubly certain that it is completely 'in'.
I also reset my dash. Get in your car. Press down the odometer trip meter button, then turn on your car. The first time I did this the car didn't come on, but when I restarted it without pressing the button, all was OK. Been OK for over 18 months now. I came to forums looking for a battery light problem.