[AB77]

Hi,

I took my 2007 Chrysler 300C for a drive today. After a few miles the ETC light came on and the engine cut out. I was unable to restart it, engine turned, sounded ok, but wouldn't fire up. The ETC light was continually flashing. I left the car for an hour and tried again, but still the same, so had to call the breakdown company to get relayed back home.

There are no system warning messages on the dashboard.

Please can anyone give me suggestions as to what the problem may be? Should I see some error codes somewhere? Will I just need to let my independent garage plug in their diagnostic gadgets to find the problem?

I have read various similar messages on the forum but most people seem to have error codes and it is often more about stalling rather than the engine not starting at all.

Hope someone can help, please!

*** Just as an extra note, the car has sometimes been a bit difficult starting, but only every now and again.
Generally turns OK, but sometimes takes 7 or 8 seconds before firing up.

 

[talldave]

If it's a CRD, the difficult starting could be glowplugs; starting can be surprisingly sluggish with 2 or 3 dead. However, there's something more serious causing the failure you're now experiencing. Totally random guesses on my part would be fuel starvation, crankshaft position sensor or immobiliser. But a code reader would really help (and will also pick up any dead glowplugs!)

 

[AB77]

Thanks talldave, really appreciate your suggestions.

Car is now at my local independent garage to do a diagnostic check. Read on the forum yesterday that I could have done the "key dance" to get the code, so will remember that next time!

Also read about the secondary menu options available (music note button and compass button). Re. The crankshaft sensor, it was suggested that if the rev counter on this menu shows a number when cranking then the sensor should be ok. My shows around 100 so am assuming this is ok.

Will wait to see what the garage says and will update when diagnosed.

Thanks again.

 

[talldave]

The key dance doesn't work on the CRDs, so a cheap Bluetooth OBD2 interface and torque pro on your 'phone is an economical way to access codes. Let us know what comes back from the garage!

 

[AB77]

Thanks again talldave for the very useful info.

It is a CRD so shame the "key dance" does not work.

The garage tested today and found that the battery was on it's last legs (CCA was virtually 0). As a result the diagnostic check threw out about a dozen codes, most of which, we think (and hope!!!), are red herrings due to the battery condition.

So I have ordered a new battery today and will fit it tomorrow to see what the diagnostic check shows.....probably highly unlikely, but maybe the engine cut out is due to the battery.

I took the battery out of the car for the test and then remembered I don't have the radio code from the previous owner, but luckily I put the old battery back in within about 1 hour (it still has a little charge) and the radio still works and I didn't need the code!

 

[AB77]

Got the car back today.

The new battery resolved all the diagostic errors. Garage foud that fuses 5 (headlight washer) and 15 (ignition) had blown. Changed both and the car sees to be running fine......at the moment.

I have been reading up on other people havng problems with fuse 15 which seems to be the cause of my problems.

I am hoping that it was the battery failure that somehow caused the fuse to blow but if not I am prepared with a few spares fuses in case it happens again.

If it blows again, I guess there may be a short somewhere, which I have read may be difficult to trace.

Waiting with intrepidation!

 

[AB77]

.....3 weeks later, the ETC control light is flashing again today as well as the orange engine light.

The good news is the car is still running, Fuse 15 hasn't blown, but I think it is in limp mode as I do not have full engine power.

I got the car home and left the car for a few hours but still the ETC light flashes and the orange engine light is on.

No error messages on the dash, just "System OK".

I will have to take the car back to my local garage tomorrow for another diagnostic check, but would really welcome any thoughts as to what the problem might be.......I have been reading up loads of forum posts and am thinking maybe glow plugs or swirl motor but that is just me guessing.

.....update: just found the "hidden menu" and see the last chime was due to Glow Plugs, so guess I need to replace these (car has done 110 k miles, assuming they have never been replaced). Will wait for garage to confirm though.

Very many thanks for any suggestions.

 

[DGO]

Bad glowplugs will only affect starting, the glowplug is usually the last "bing". You need a code reader to have them checked.

Far more likely to be the swirl motor especially if you still have the original orange seals in the turbo inlet.

 

[AB77]

Many thanks DGO for your views on this, much appreciated.

I have been googling the swirl motor this morning as that seemed to be a common issue, but must confess having read a few articles I am still a bit unsure what/where it is and how to fix it.

I have fund this post which mentions fitting a "swirl motor bypass resistor". Is that the likely way to fix it?

https://www.300cforums.com/forums/crd-electrics-electronics-lighting/253578-electronic-throttle-control.html

Still waiting for a call from the garage with the codes.

I see the Custom Shop sell this: http://www.custom300cshop.co.uk/chrysler300c_swirlportemulator.html

If it is the swirl motor, is the best fix, do you know?

Thanks again.

 

[Jimcub]

I had problems with swirl and egr and the flashing bolt light, mine had limp mode for ages as well. The limp mode was due to a broken turbo, I had the orange turbo seal and oil had deteriated the rubber and bent some turbo blades.
I had both swirl and egr resistors inplace but now have reverted back to original items as the engine light would keep coming on.

 

[AB77]

Update: My garage has now found the following fault codes:

1136 - swirl flap actuator malfunction
1033 - boost pressure control
2035 - glow plug

They also found that Fuse 5 had blown: Headlight washer (20 amp). Rather oddly, this had also blown when my car broke down 3 weeks ago and they changed fuses 5 and 15 to get the car going again.

They changed Fuse 5 again and now the only fault code showing is 1136 (can't understand why changing Fuse 5 would clear 1033 and 2035, that's a bit of a mystery).

So I am looking for any help and advice, please, on how to fix code 1136. I have been reading up up about the resistor trick or the swirl emulator from the custom shop. Is that likely to be the best first step?

I really like my car, only had it a few weeks, so hope I can get this sorted and drive it with a bit more confidence.

Wishing to get back on the road for Christmas!!! ::crying::

 

[talldave]

I've previously found a pdf online which claims to be a list of Chrysler/Jeep error codes, and it disagrees with your code descriptions. Code 1136 isn't on the list, 1033 is "ISA Circs" (what on earth is that?) and 2035 is "Exhaust Gas Temp Sens Circ Low Bank2 Sens2". So I think there's some confusion over the codes being read and their interpretation? Most glow plug errors are in the P06nn range, for example.

That said, if the problem is the swirl, I can highly recommend the custom shop's resistor mod and it's incredibly easy to fit. My first 300C sailed through an MOT with it fitted and never reported any codes.

Have you used the windscreen washers whilst the headlights were on since fuse 5 was last replaced (ie: has the headlamp washer pump run)? If so, then it's possible that a fault on that pump is blowing the fuse. If not, I wonder if you have a wiring loom fault/short that caused the fuse to blow and is also causing the random codes?

 

[AB77]

Thanks talldave, really appreciate your ideas and suggestions.

I haven't been able to query the code numbers with the garage yet but think that the acual error descriptions they provided (mentioned above) are probably correct.

Spoke to Paul at the Custom shop this afternoon, what a helpful chap! We both concluded that the best way to proceed is to add the swirl motor emulator so I have ordered one and hopefully I will be able to fit it myself using the pictures he has sent me.

Fingers crossed! I have been reading up about lots of owners having similar probs and while many have fixed with the emulator, scary to hear of other stories costing loads of money without the problem always being fixed.

Re.Fuse 5, Paul at the Custom shop has again been helpful. Conclusion is the handbook is not correct and Fuse 5 controls other things too. Now researching a bit more to see if I can track it down. I think that as I also had Fuse 15 blow 3 weeks ago causing the car to cut out comletely, a wiring short sounds a good suggestion but am not sure where to look exactly.

Thanks again for your help, hope to get the car running again soon.

 

[Jimcub]

Wiring shorts a common area or look is in the (uk) passenger side in the engine bay, the sheaved cables by the front strut get worn with chaffing.

 

[feichter]

Hi AB77

Did you get your car sorted?
I am having similar problems (although starting fine).
Please see my post.

Sent from my Redmi 4 using Tapatalk

 

[AB77]

Hi feichter,

Sorry to hear of your Chrysler problems.

I have read through your post and am not sure if they are the same symptoms as mine. I looked hard for chaffing cables and as far as I could see they looked ok, but there are quite a few and I wasn't entirely entirely sure I was looking exactly in the right place. As suggested I concentrated around the rear of the engine bay on the passenger side (UK). I also had a previous problem a few weeks before when the car cut out completely while driving and wouldn't restart. Red lightning flash light was on. Car would turn but would not fire up. Had to get the car towed home. Turned out to be a blown fuse (no. 15 in the engine bay fuse box). Because of that I had also been looking for potential chaffed cables but couldn't find any. Also (by coincidence???) the battery failed almost at the same time (it was apparently 6 years old) so wondered if the battery failure had somehow blown fuse 15, but I think most have suggested that was unlikely.

My car is now running fine. The diagnosis from the garage was a possible swirl motor problem but they said it could be a couple of hours labour just to investigate and take various things apart. I decided to take the car back and do a bit of research myself first (mainly on this forum) and eventually decided that for the sake of £40 it was worth trying the swirl motor emulator from the Custom Shop first. Luckily that did the trick for me and it was easy to fit myself. The red lightning flash went out straight away and the yellow engine light went out after a couple of short journeys and hasn't come back on since. The car seems to be running fine now. Have done 200-300 miles since adding the swirl motor emulator so fingers crossed everything is ok now.

Hope this is of some interest.

 

[feichter]

Thank you SO much AB77. I think I will invest in an emulator too.
Not sure if you read my update from this morning, but all lights are out now (I turned them off with torquepro) and did a few miles with parking up and turning the engine off and on. So all good for now. I now only get a ping on starting which I know from the EVIC is the glowplug. It's going in tomorrow morning to get replaced. So, let's wait and see...

 

[AB77]

Fingers crossed it will get sorted tomorrow, will watch for your post update with interest.

I only bought my 300C in October, knowing that there would be a few issues and challenges along the way, so am learning all the time mainly thanks to this excellent forum. It's incredibly useful to share all this information with other owners.

It's becoming quite a fun hobby trying to understand and fix things on the car when they go wrong!

Next thing for me is to try and fix the squeaky front nearside suspension, which I think is most likely the upper control arm (wishbone), having already just replaced the anti roll bar bushes. Trying to decide if I am brave enough to tackle that myself though!