I have a 2007 Dodge Charger R/T with AWD and 67,000 miles on it. It is a great car for the mountains of Colorado where I live. However I have a recurring annoyance with it.
When I downshift and am going down hill (to keep from riding the brakes) the digital display for the oil temperature will sometimes quit showing the temperature and instead show three dashes. Whenever this happens the MDS system will not work (it will stay in 8 cylinder mode.) It will always reset itself if I shut the engine off and restart it.
This has never happened if I am downshifted and driving up the mountain like a Pike’s Peak racer, only when I am going downhill, and then only part of the time.
The people at the bottom of my canyon are probably starting to wonder why once or twice a week, this red Charger stops at the end of their driveway for a few seconds.
Any idea what’s going on here?
The MDS does not need to work in this mode. In a high vacuum situation, fuel is shutoff to the injectors so you don’t use any. I don’t know about the oil temp stops working though.
I wasn’t clear. After putting the transmission back into Drive, which should allow the MDS to operate, it will only operate if the oil temperature is still reading. If I have the dashes on the readout then the MDS will not operate.
Specifically, this lack of oil temperatrue reading seems to be keeping the MDS from operating. But what is causing the oil temperature to lose connection with the computer?