Misfiring Town and County 3.8L

I have a '03 Town and Country 3.9 liter w/ 50K miles which just started
misfiring. It runs rough, exhaust sputters and smells, and power is
low. But it doesn't stall. Check engine light is on and I've read
codes of P0300 (random misfires) and P1684 ("Driver 5 Line 4" - no idea
what this means). My dealer read the same codes, had no idea about
P1684, and wanted to start by replacing plugs and wires. I'm about to
do that myself.

Has anyone had this symptom?

--

"MASSMINI" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> I have a '03 Town and Country 3.9 liter w/ 50K miles which just started
> misfiring.

Its a 3.8 liter


It runs rough, exhaust sputters and smells, and power is
> low. But it doesn't stall. Check engine light is on and I've read
> codes of P0300 (random misfires) and P1684 ("Driver 5 Line 4" - no idea

Replace the plugs and wires yourself, that should take care of your
problem.
> what this means). My dealer read the same codes, had no idea about
> P1684, and wanted to start by replacing plugs and wires. I'm about to
> do that myself.

The p1684 I believe is related to the SKIM module for your skim key,
possible an invalid or mismatch fault code

Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech
>
> Has anyone had this symptom?
>

MASSMINI" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> I have a '03 Town and Country 3.9 liter w/ 50K miles which just started
> misfiring.

Its a 3.8 liter


It runs rough, exhaust sputters and smells, and power is
> low. But it doesn't stall. Check engine light is on and I've read
> codes of P0300 (random misfires) and P1684 ("Driver 5 Line 4" - no idea

Replace the plugs and wires yourself, that should take care of your
problem.
> what this means). My dealer read the same codes, had no idea about
> P1684, and wanted to start by replacing plugs and wires. I'm about to
> do that myself.

The p1684 I believe is related to the SKIM module for your skim key,
possible an invalid or mismatch fault code

Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech
>
> Has anyone had this symptom?
>

"MASSMINI" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> I have a '03 Town and Country 3.9 liter w/ 50K miles which just started
> misfiring. It runs rough, exhaust sputters and smells, and power is
> low. But it doesn't stall. Check engine light is on and I've read
> codes of P0300 (random misfires) and P1684 ("Driver 5 Line 4" - no idea
> what this means). My dealer read the same codes, had no idea about
> P1684, and wanted to start by replacing plugs and wires. I'm about to
> do that myself.
>
> Has anyone had this symptom?
>

P1684 is a battery disconnected fault

--
Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech

seen a alot of the vans do this and there was a tsb that also required a
reflash of the pcm and replacing wires and plugs for 04 that was a late 03
issue and thats covered under emissions warranty and so is misfire codes
because the vehicles fails emissions testing at that point so do your plug
and wire change and then let it misfire somemore

MASSMINI wrote:

> I have a '03 Town and Country 3.9 liter w/ 50K miles which just started
> misfiring. It runs rough, exhaust sputters and smells, and power is
> low. But it doesn't stall. Check engine light is on and I've read
> codes of P0300 (random misfires) and P1684 ("Driver 5 Line 4" - no idea
> what this means). My dealer read the same codes, had no idea about
> P1684, and wanted to start by replacing plugs and wires. I'm about to
> do that myself.
>
> Has anyone had this symptom?

Well I've changed the plugs and wires and they did not solve the
misfiring problem. Still runs rough and smells funny.

philthy: Do you happen to know the TSB # that calls for PCM reflash?

"MASSMINI" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> Well I've changed the plugs and wires and they did not solve the
> misfiring problem. Still runs rough and smells funny.
>
> philthy: Do you happen to know the TSB # that calls for PCM reflash?
>

There is no reflash for this model/year, Philthy thinks every TSB pertains
to every vehicle. There is no TSB period

--
Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech

--

"MASSMINI" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> maxpower wrote:
> > "MASSMINI" > wrote in message
> > ups.com...
> > > Well I've changed the plugs and wires and they did not solve the
> > > misfiring problem. Still runs rough and smells funny.
> > >
> > > philthy: Do you happen to know the TSB # that calls for PCM reflash?
> > >
> >
> > There is no reflash for this model/year, Philthy thinks every TSB
pertains
> > to every vehicle. There is no TSB period
> >
> > --
> > Glenn Beasley
> > Chrysler Tech
>
> My next step is to swap out the EGR valve. Does this make sense?
> It appears to be on the back side of the throttle body just downstream
> from the butterfly valve. Is that correct?
>
> Thanks in advance...
>

To me it makes no sense at all, first of all EGR would not effect a lack of
power, it may cause rough idle or a slight hesitation.
Why not have someone who knows what they are doing tell you what is wrong
with the vehicle??

maxpower wrote:
>
> To me it makes no sense at all, first of all EGR would not effect a lack of
> power, it may cause rough idle or a slight hesitation.
> Why not have someone who knows what they are doing tell you what is wrong
> with the vehicle??

My first move was to take it to the Chrysler dealership - they could
not tell what was wrong and proposed to start by swapping out the plugs
and wires (for $426). Now that I've done that myself (for $80) I'll
probably take it back to the shop. However, if I could find out what
the next parts to be swapped were, and they happen to be easy, I'd do
that myself also.

--

"MASSMINI" > wrote in message
ups.com...
>
> maxpower wrote:
> >
> > To me it makes no sense at all, first of all EGR would not effect a lack
of
> > power, it may cause rough idle or a slight hesitation.
> > Why not have someone who knows what they are doing tell you what is
wrong
> > with the vehicle??
>
> My first move was to take it to the Chrysler dealership - they could
> not tell what was wrong and proposed to start by swapping out the plugs
> and wires (for $426). Now that I've done that myself (for $80) I'll
> probably take it back to the shop. However, if I could find out what
> the next parts to be swapped were, and they happen to be easy, I'd do
> that myself also.
>

Well since you have a cyl misfire fault and you say the exhaust smells I
would assume that it is getting fuel (rules out injector possibly) So I
would think it would be a secondary ignition misfire?
You paid the dealer money and they told you it was a misfire code did you
happen to ask them what cylinder it was?
The scan tool they use will determine what and how many cylinders are
effected to help in diagnosing the problem.
What are you gonna do when you throw everything at it and still don't fix it
because its an internal engine problem such as a valve?
Why not take it to a competent shop?