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All cars have problem tendencies, I know the Mercedes of late have had awful issues with their electronic gimmickry and they have terrible JDPower and CR ratings for reliability.
I have 99 LHS. A couple of years ago I started smelling fuel in the car, outside the car. They had a recal to replace O-rings? which made the fuel smell disappear. Now it ihas been for a while. Wondering if it is the same issue if I do not know what these O-rings are , what they do etc.
Any info/advice someone can render I would love to hear . Thanks in advance
I HAVE READ MESSAGES THAT PEOPLE WITH CHRYSLER LHS' HAVE PROBLEMS WITH FLASHING DASH/HEADLIGHTS OR THE BATTERY LIGHT COMES ON THEN TURNS OFF AFTER RESTARTING. MAYBE STEPPING ON THE BRAKE CAUSES RADIO TO CUT OUT OR ABS LIGHT/TRACTION LIGHT TO TURN ON. I HAVE A HIGH END STEREO SYSTEM WHICH CAUSES THESE PROBLEMS. I HAVE HAD SYSTEMS IN MANY CARS, SO I KNOW WHAT I NEED TO DO TO FIX THE PROBLEMS. NONE OF THOSE SOLUTIONS HAVE WORKED WITH MY LHS. I HAVE BEEN TO THE DEALERSHIP, NUMEROUS STEREO SHOPS, AND HIGH PERFORMANE ALTERNATOR SHOPS. THEY ALL HAVE RUN TESTS AND ALL SAY NOTHING IS WRONG. I JUST TODAY FOUND THIS SITE AND I AM HOPING THAT SOMEONE HAS FOUND THE SOLUTION TO OUR PROBLEM. PLEASE HELP.... THIS REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY IRRITATES ME.
but just yesterday, I noticed a few things on the drivers side only, first, the heated seat isn't working, which is fine cuz I don't really like them anyway, makes me feel like I soiled myself or something, but anyway....
next is the drivers side mirror(pass. side is fine and on the same switch), which isn't working at all
and then finally I changed out the 6 and 3/4 speakers in the doors, the outer foam on both of them had worn out, and come to find out the one in the drivers door is only minimally working, and I say minimally, because I can still hear the music if I put my ear to it but other than that no real sound! oh and before anyone says I hooked them up wrong, no trust me I tried a few different wires and setups, none worked.
I checked the fuses but there doesn't seem to be a problem, although I can't really seem to find one that would cover all of those things, I think maybe there could be some loose wires in the door?? but that wouldn't account for the heated seat, and I wouldn't be able to hear music through the speaker, and neither of the mirrors would work because they are on the same switch. maybe there is a power issue somewhere, but its not effecting anything else(windows, locks, seat functions)anyway I have no idea can someone shed some light???? :confuse:
If you dyi be careful, you might get heat from the door and music from the seat .
Yesterday, my husband and I bought the 99 LHS from the girl. I am a very happy owner of a 99 LHS. Sincerely LHSgirl
It started suddenly 2 years ago. There are no engine codes even after repeated checks. I changed plugs and wires, even though they were not that old. It did not help. I have checked for vacuum leaks many times and can not find one. I have carefully synchronized the throttle bodies.
The miss is at idle, worse when the A/C is engaged. If you give it a little gas it is fine. When the car is moving there is no miss.
The engine drops revs if you disconnect any of the plug wires or injector connections. So the miss is irregular and not confined to any specific cylinders. There is no miss at high speed, or when gunning for overtakes. If anything since this problem started gas mileage improved slightly.
I did have a mechanic put a scanner on it and at idle the passenger bank of injectors has a shorter opening time than the other side. The ignition timing jumps erratically. As soon as you build up revs to about 1000 RPM everything straightens out.
I have spoken to dealers and a number of good mechanics about this and they have seen it before, but have no idea for a solution. They tell me Chrysler are no help at all.
Has anyone seen this problem and solved it? I sure would like to know. The problem does not get worse, but it is very irritating, and the car shakes violently at stop lights. Apart from that the car runs fine and starts fine hot or cold, even at 40 below. I have been around a lot of engines in my time, and have never encountered anything remotely like this puzzler.
Here are the relevant parts of the thread. I posed the same question as above.
Danica: -
Since its an LHS I'll assume its got the 3.5 engine, which has a common problem with lower intake manifold gaskets. This engine has a large upper plenum, and a small intake manifold nestled between the heads. Close to where the upper rad hose fastens to the motor, there is a small area opening to the underside of the intake manifold. Spray carb cleaner in that opening with the engine idling. If it smooths out, you've found your leak.
Tuscanskipper: -
Thanks Danica! That is just the sort of information I'm looking for. The car is away from here currently. I will have it back next week. I will do exactly what you say, and post back.
If that is it, I will get the gaskets. I bet access won't be brilliant. However when I get the plenum off I might be surprised. Hope Springs eternal! I have the service manual so I will look at the procedure for changing the gaskets. By the way it is the 3. 5.
If you have solved this, your brilliant! I know this is a common problem, and it is all over the net, but no solutions. I have suspected an intake leak all along, but not been able to find it. So to me your reply makes sense.
Tuscanskipper; _
I sprayed in the carb cleaner just as you instructed. The engine smoothed right out consistently with multiple sprays. I have a an intake manifold gasket replacement coming up! I will be off to the local parts store tomorrow.
Danica, yours was the first correct answer to this problem I have seen on the net.
Should I silicone the gasket, in a addition to the water channel, to prevent further problems?
Once again, thanks for your help. Good job!
Danica;-
Only use silicone sealer on any surfaces that are pitted.
Use caution with the fuel lines and coolant outlet at the rear of the engine.
Tuscanskipper: -
I finished the intake manifold gasket replacement first thing this morning. Since I have some physical limitations I did the repair over 3 days. I put in three hours two days ago, three hours yesterday, and an hour this morning. So that is seven hours, including radiator refill, warm up air bleeding and testing.
I'm glad to report the engine started right away, with no leaks, check engine lights or fault codes. Best of all the engine idles so smoothly you have to check the rev counter to be certain the engine is running. There are no driving problems at all.
Thanks once again Danica, that was the first sensible advice I received since this problem started.
Since this problem seems prevalent, with no solutions generally offered, I hope this post will pop up in search engines.
Since this seems a significant problem for this engine, I will go into aspects where I had to deviate from the Haines manual.
The most significant difficulty was the fuel rails. The manual says to pinch the connectors to supply and return, but no way would they release. I figured if I removed the thermostat housing I could move them out of the way.
I went to the parts store to get the housing gasket. They sold me a tool to uncouple the rails. However there was an older well seasoned mechanic in the store, and he cautioned me that theses tools often break the coupling, and advised if possible to do the repair without uncoupling the fuel rails. This proved easily possible, once the thermostat housing was removed.
The other issue is the heater hoses on the back of the manifold. The Haines manual mentions only one heater hose. However there are two, and one goes straight down, and I could not get to the hose clamp, as the hose was short and would not pull up. I removed the metal hose connector from the manifold, by removing the two securing bolts. I was able to preserve the gasket, and used blue RTV sealant when I put it back. Otherwise the repair was as per Haines.
Now as to cause. This gasket is brittle plastic. I never saw anything like it. It has finger cracks all over the place. It would soon have caused leak of coolant into the cylinders. It was dreadful to get the remnants off the head and manifold. It is impervious to gasket solvent. I got most off with a razor blade without scraping. For the rest I used the small scotch brite pad on a small air right angle grinder. This got all surfaces clean and shiny. I used form a gasket to hold the manifold gasket, fuel rail gaskets and plenum gaskets in place. A bead of blue RTV sealant was place round all water channel openings. The NAPA replacement gasket looked to be of excellent quality, by the way, and I doubt this problem will recur.
One other issue, I found a mouse nest on the cylinder block, under the inlet manifold!
I'm really glad to have tracked this problem down. These are great engines. I find it strange, that the cause of this common problem with these engines is not widely known. As far as I know this is the only correct answer on the net. Two dealers and multiple experienced mechanics gave me nonsensical answers. I'm glad I left the engine alone, until I was certain what the problem was.
When I removed my manifold gasket, I could see why these 3.5 Chrysler engines are known for this problem. The gasket is made of a material I have never seen a gasket made of before and never want to again.
Replace the manifold gasket and your vehicle will be transformed. Make sure you use a traditional high quality gasket, and NOT one of those Chrysler abortions.
If you don't have to take enforced breaks like I do, you should get this done in a day. The complete job took me seven hours.
Time to bite the bullet my friend. If you don't, you will end up with water in a cylinder, and or over heating problems. Mine had to be close on the basis of what I found on my vehicle.
Thanks and i hope that helps
You will need a plenum gasket, manifold gaskets and the two fuel rail gaskets. I would also recommend a thermostat housing gasket. Also if you can get one, a gasket for the heater hose outlet on the back of the manifold. I could not find one of those, so if you break it you will have to make one, likely.
I would recommend not decoupling the fuel rails, as you may do damage it will be hard to repair. You will have to remove the fuel rails. I would recommend removing the thermostat housing so you can set them to one side, without decoupling them.
Getting the old gasket off is hard. I polished all surface with the small Scotch Brite pads on my small air angle grinder.
It is fiddly to keep the manifold and fuel rail gaskets in place. You will need something sticky to hold them. I used a product called form a gasket. I also put a bead of blue RTV sealant round the waterways.
Sorry for the late reply, but I'm visiting England currently.
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Did you get all your surfaces clean? Are you sure you have not had a gasket slip on reassembly? I think one of these two things is likely the issue. Try squirting carb cleaner in all ares of the replaced gaskets, and see if idle increases. I do believe your repair was not properly carried out most likely.
You can check codes from the ignition switch. Turn the switch on, off and then on fairly quickly, and count the flashes from the check engine light. A series of two sets of five flashes in a row, is 55. That should always be the only code, unless the battery was recently disconnected and you will get a one two flash, which is 12, and then fifty five. Any code flashed before 55 code is a fault code.