2003 Dodge Van Ignition Coil

EASYWIND502

MEMBER
2003 DODGE VAN
6 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
58,000 MILES

While driving to work (at about 45 mph) my van began decelerating untill it came to a stop. Stepping on the gas only made it pause and sputter. However, the engine never died. As it sat idling, I decided to turn it off, but then it wouldn't restart. My mechanic said the diagnostic test traced everything to the ignition coil. After replacing it, it starts fine, and runs good, so far. However I'm still concerned abot the fuel filter or fuel pump. Can the ignition coil affect fuel flow in any way, or at any point, in the fuel line? Could a bad ignition coil cause deceleration without completely stalling out the engine, until it is manually turned off?

1 Reply

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,873 POSTS

I was surprised to read the coil solved the problem. It doesn't really match with the symptoms. Don't waste your time with the fuel filter. Except for diesel trucks, you will never solve a running problem on a Chrysler product by changing the filter. It actually passes the largest volume of fuel during coasting.

The ignition coil has nothing to do with the fuel supply system. Pumps almost never stop while they're running. When the motor's brushes are worn due to high mileage, they will often fail to start up, but once started, they will continue to run just fine.

One really uncommon and hard-to-find problem doesn't actually have to do with the pump, rather with the pickup screen attached to the pump. When it gets plugged, fuel pressure will drop, potentially causing the symptoms you described. This happened to my '88 Grand Caravan many years ago. Outside temperature should have nothing to do with the problem, but it occurred during the two hottest days of summer, then never showed up again until six months later. Here again, fuel volume goes way up during coasting. (This is not the same volume that is syphoned off to be burned in the engine). Due to the restriction, pressure drops which reduces the injectors' ability to spray fuel. This can be hard to find because the engine computer does not monitor the fuel supply system.

Caradiodoc