Dandy. I'm going to guess that since someone had added an anti-theft device, the car didn't come with the factory system. If the engine will start and run for about two seconds, stalls, then will do that again only if the ignition switch is turned off first to reset the computers, it may be in theft mode. That can happen in rare instances if a glitch or voltage spike tricks either the Engine Computer or the Body Computer into thinking the car has the factory anti-theft system. Once either computer thinks that, it will self-program itself to that system AND it will teach that programming to the other computer. That upgrade programming can not be undone. To solve that you must replace both computers at the same time. If you just replace one, it will learn that programming from the other one as soon as you turn on the ignition switch. If you try to install used computers from the salvage yard, you must know the history of the car they came from and only use computers from another car without factory anti-theft.
The way to tell if the system has reprogrammed itself is to view live data on a scanner. The Chrysler scanners display "fuel: allowed" or "fuel: off". The fuel pump will run but the injectors won't fire. I'm not sure if or how the fuel state is displayed on aftermarket scanners.
Friday, April 29th, 2011 AT 3:41 PM