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It is a very important safety interlocking that the car will not start, i.e. won't even turn engine over with key in start position if gear selector is not in park OR neutral. Obviously you have an issue with park/neutral switch not reading park or neutral when you are trying to start it.
It also makes perfect sense that when tow truck guys just move it for position to tow it away it suddenly wants to start. This is because the park / neutral switch is so very close to work and moving the car gives it a "bump" and helps the switch in correct position to be able to start the car.
You could try to move your gear shifter to neutral position next time it will not start in park position. Also, as you mention playing around with gears helps 80% of time it is a clear indication of the park / neutral switch problem.
When you take your car to a dealer they easily tell you that you need a new switch. Well, this most likely is not needed but can be the case. Park / neutral switch in cars that I have worked with have adjustment built into it. It most likely is that your switch needs an adjustment made to it so that it is aligned properly with gear shifter in park position.
Arrie
thank you.
thank you for your help.
I have an '06 Pacifica Touring but it is not an AWD. I have not had any problems with my Pacifica so far with anything, knock the wood, but have been following this tread some as it is important for reliable driving.
One thing I understand from reading the posts earlier is that an AWD model Pacifica has a fuel tank with two sides. It has a "tunnel" in the middle of it for the drive shaft to go thru to the rear differential. For this reason the AWD models have two fuel pumps. The primary pump feeds the engine and the secondary pump moves fuel from secondary side to primary side for the car to be able to use all fuel in both sides of the "tunnel" built in the tank.
If the secondary pump fails and if the fuel level sending unit is on the secondary side the condition you explain can very well happen, i.e. there is nothing wrong with your fuel level sending unit.
If the secondary pump fails meaning that fuel level on secondary side stays high it means that your fuel gauge is reading fuel in the tank as the level on secondary side is not going down. At the same time engine is using fuel from the primary pump side and draws the tank on that side empty causing the car to stall.
You say you can drive the car without problems after you fill up for about 100 - 200 miles. Were you able to run about twice that much before problems started with a tank of gas?
The fuel tank will fill up both compartments when you fill it up because the top of the tank is higher than the top of "tunnel" in the middle of it. It just is that when you drive and fuel level goes down to the top of "tunnel" level you start using only primary pump side of the tank and your mileage is limited to about half of full tank of gas. Fuel level is shown high as secondary side level is high.
Above writing is based on assumption that fuel level sending unit is located in the secondary tank side and based on your writing it very well might be.
It seems your problem probably is failed secondary fuel pump.
Arrie
The problem is that I can't see where the ground on the engine is. The wiring is all inside a rats nest loom and without peeling the whole loom apart, I can't seem to see where it goes. Can any one enlighten me where on the block the ground hooks up. Is this a common issue?
Alldata does not show where the grounds are.
Terry
What came of your issues last summer with your Pacifica? We have had the exact same problems that you described and it turned out to be oil releated. Currently our engine is being replaced due to premature oil consumption damage. There are at least 133 other posts on this web site all dealing with premature oil consumption issues. Please let me know if you got your car fixed and what the issue was? There is much talk about a class action lawsuit against Chrysler related to the oil problems. it sounds like your issues could be related to that too.
How hard are thet to change? It's a 05 touring with a 3.5 engin.
appreciate for help
thanks
dale
We continued to have problems with the car not starting properly after the new battery. It would start and then shut off. I did remember seeing a post regarding reading the manual so I looked into the courtesy lights mentioned in other posts and then came across the section about the Sentry Key on page 10 of my users manual and I quote:
"The Sentry Key Immobilizer System prevents unauthorized operator of the vehicle by disabling the engine. The system will shut the engine off after 2 seconds of running if an invalid key is used to start the vehicle."
This made me think that maybe something may have happened to the original keys electronic chip transponder so we switched to using the spare key. No problems starting for the past 10 days even after a fill-up.
Thanks to the person who suggested reading the manual.