Single Engine Stall 2013 Dodge Journey - No Check Engine Light

Maintenance/Repairs
,
1

Hello,
I have a 2013 Dodge Journey 4-Cyl, 88,000 on Odometer. The car runs great.
Yesterday as I was leaving work, I was going through a crosswalk 20mph zone, and as I was going, I realized I couldn’t accelerate. It is then that I realized, the engine stalled. No shakes, No shutter. Just stalled. I pulled off, and it started right back up. Driven it 3 times since then with no issue.
There was no Check engine, but I did scan it and it returned no codes. I checked alternator voltage, Battery voltage.

Any Ideas on what this could be? Part of me wants to say it was a fluke of some kind, but that’s never the case.

2

Could be a dirty throttle body. Could be the very earliest signs of a failing crankshaft position sensor. They tend to get hot and quit, cool down and work again not always setting codes.

You can clean the throttle body right now but I’d wait to install a new crank sensor until it does it again and again.

3

I will definitely clean the throttle body. Thank you.

And oddly enough, when you mentioned it being hot, we were under a severe heat advisory and the car had been in a parking lot all day lol

1 Like
4

Heat won’t effect a dirty throttle body where the engine stalls.

But it can effect a crankshaft position sensor.

I would replace the crank sensor.

The reason being, the crank sensor can fail again where engine stalls, only next time the engine may not restart and you’ll be left stranded.

Tester

5

So the consensus seems to be the crankshaft sensor as opposed to a fuel delivery issue?

6

The throttle body doesn’t deliver fuel to the engine.

The injectors do.

The throttle body allows air into the engine.

Tester

7

Yes but the original problem was the stall. Which someone mentioned could be the throttle body.

Could it also be a fuel delivery issue?

8

When a crankshaft position sensor fails, the signal to the computer is lost.

The computer then thinks the engine is no longer rotating.

The computer then see’s no reason to operate the fuel pump, the fuel injectors, and ignition system, and the engine stalls.

And when that happens, the engine may not restart.

Tester

9

That is excellent logic, but wouldn’t that have thrown a code? I had no codes.

10

That was explained in the article.

Check Engine Light

A failing or failed crankshaft position sensor may cause the check engine light on your dashboard to come on. A diagnostic scan tool will show a code between P0335 and P0338. The check engine light doesn’t always come on, though, so you could be experiencing any of the above symptoms for some time before you see the warning light.

Tester

11

Thanks man. You have been really helpful.

12

Sometimes a bad ignition switch can do this intermittently. One common cause for this is too much weight on your key ring.

13

Good ideas above. I’ve had a similar symptom occur twice over my driving years, first was caused by an ignition system fault and the second, a fuel pump relay fault. Ignition switch problems can cause this too by reports here. Especially if you have a lot of weight on your key ring. You go around a corner, over a bump, dangling key’s swing, and turn off the ignition.

A shop can confirm an ignition system fault if it cranks but won’t start immediately afterward. No visible spark at a spark plug during cranking. Fuel pressure harder to check, but not overly difficult to measure the voltage powering the fuel pump.

I don’t recommend replacing parts unless by testing you know they are faulty. When you install a new part when the old was ok, that adds to the car’s variables and makes future diagnosing more difficult.

14

I came up with this answer too after some googling, but ours is push button ignition.

15

Excellent suggestion about not replacing things. It’s hard not to out of fear of it happening again. But I guess I need for it to repeat and maybe throw a code.
We are push button start, so I don’t believe it to be an ignition issue.

A buddy of mine told me to swap my fuel pump relay with my headlight relay. To see if anything goes wrong with the headlights at any point as opposed to the pump, if that is in case the issue.

16

And just an update, since the initial occurance, the vehicle has been driven hundreds of miles and well over ten hours with no reoccurence. :man_shrugging:

17

Sometimes a fuel system malfunction can be identified (after it stalls & won’t start) by spraying some starter spray into the engine air intake. If the engine then starts and runs briefly, very good chance you have a fuel system problem. Ask your shop to show you how to do this safely.