2012 police Dodge Charger 5.7L, CEL jerk upon deceleration
I should start off with saying that the Charger I am referring to is a fully marked police vehicle so there are many things that have been added to my vehicle electronically as compared to civilian chargers. I write this in the hopes that someone has still experienced the same issue and this may not be related to the added equipment in mine. I was issued this charger with only 15 miles on it about a month ago.
It ran great and has had no problems, though I have noticed a hesistation in acceleration at times. Around 500 miles I was driving normally when I let go of the gas in order to decelerate. The car jerked as if there was a transmission problem and the CEL came on and was blinking. The car refused to accelerate any further. I stopped on the highway and restarted the car. The CEL remained and the car drove perfectly. The next day the CEL disappeared after a few hours of driving and did not return until 1,600 miles were on the vehicle.
The same exact problem occurred and went away, I was driving lights and sirens at the time to a shooting, the CEL did not blink and I was able to accelerate again after 5-10 seconds or so without turning the car off. The problem occurred again 100 miles or so later. I took the vehicle back to the county garage which sent it to the dealer. The dealer is claiming they can not replicate the problem and therefore can not fix it.
I am being told the trouble codes dissappear after the CEL goes off, is this possible? I am likely getting the car back Friday unfixed. I ordered an ELM327 obd connector so that I may immediately check the codes should this problem return. I have heard that several other cruisers have experienced similar problems, however this is word of mouth and no one has advised exactly what was found wrong.
Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated.
Last edited by Notahondaowner; 01-16-2013 at 02:10 PM.
Reason: left out important part of title
DTC's (codes) will not self clear immediately when the Check Engine light shuts off on its own. The DTC has to accumulate enough good trips (driving under conditions similar to when the DTC set with no problems) to shut the light off, then it has to accumulate enough warm-up cycles before the DTC will self clear.
I normally tell customers with intermitent Check Engine Light/Driveability issues that if the concern does return with the Check Engine Light on drive immediately back to the dealer, and when you get there DO NOT shut the car off, where likely the condition will still be present and could be diagnosed. However, where you are in law enforcement this may not be feasable depending on your beat/duties.
The Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep/Ram dealer can setup one of their scan tools as a data recorder so you can take the car, and when it acts up it will either automatically record what's going on, or you hit a trigger button and it will start recording. You then go back to the dealer, and hopefully the technician can interprut the data and fix the car. They would do this with their wiTECH pod or the StarMOBILE scanner.
Thank you for the response, that answers my question about the codes. Unfortunately the vehicle has to go through lots of red tape being transferred around from one garage to another before it will make it to the dealer, which is why I bought the ELM scanner. The county will likely not let them place any foreign recording device into the police vehicle, even if it is just for OBD recording.
Regarding the issue has anyone reported similar problems? Sometimes the car is fueled while running, which I have stopped doing. A mechanic friend of mine believes this to be the root cause. Would air in the fuel line make the car act in such a way?
Thank you for the response, that answers my question about the codes. Unfortunately the vehicle has to go through lots of red tape being transferred around from one garage to another before it will make it to the dealer, which is why I bought the ELM scanner. The county will likely not let them place any foreign recording device into the police vehicle, even if it is just for OBD recording.
Regarding the issue has anyone reported similar problems? Sometimes the car is fueled while running, which I have stopped doing. A mechanic friend of mine believes this to be the root cause. Would air in the fuel line make the car act in such a way?
I'm surprised that a new police car, under warranty would even have to go through any red tape at all to get fixed. I look it as an instrument of public safety. It has to work right, for your own safety but more importantly the safety of the public you serve and protect. I'm not working at a dealer, I work at an ex-Chrysler facility (part of that lousy bankruptcy thing) so I don't know if it's common or not. Filling it running will not cause air in the fuel lines, but don't do it anyways. It could cause evaporative emissions system DTC's to set. When refueling, when the pump shuts off, don't keep pumping/topping off to even out the price. This can potentially cause an issue with one of the roll-over/vent valves on the fuel tank.
when it jerked with the CEL, did it basically freewheel into neutral?
I had this happen on my car (2011 R/T)...was a vehicle speed sensor to crank sensor comparison fault. ended up being a broken valve body support bracket internal to the transmission. it's not super common, but not totally rare. what happens is as the torque converter lockup clutch breaks in (friction material to pressure plate), it can "sand" the pressure plate side a little, causing debris to circulate through the tranny. that debris can cause some of the valves in the valve body to stick, until pressure build high enough for them to violently release, and it breaks the VB support bracket, and can damage the VSS.
like I said, it's not common, but it's not super rare, as my car was the 4th they'd had in for this issue since the release of the LX's in 2005. the other 3 happened to be police chargers....and it's common enough that the support bracket was on national back order, and had to be procured through a transmission rebuilder (who apparently buys up most of chrysler's stock of this bracket) the fix is to replace the bracket, and flush and inspect the tranny. if it happens again, they replace the torque converter, too.
Yes that is exactly what it did, I will be sure to forward this possibility along. The two shops are currently deciding whether or not to just give me the cruiser back since they can not replicate the problem. I will post more details once I have them. Thanks for all the help gentlemen.
The vehicle has been issued back to me. I received my ELM327 obd connector today. The next time the error occurs I will immeidately scan the vehicle with my laptop and report back. I hope this helps someone in the future.
. When refueling, when the pump shuts off, don't keep pumping/topping off to even out the price. This can potentially cause an issue with one of the roll-over/vent valves on the fuel tank.
Good to know. I've always done this(makes it easier when reviewing credit card statements) but will stop. Is that just due to the capless fill system or is this true of all cars. Never had an issue, but certainly don't want to cause one.
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2012 Charger R/T Max. Black on Black.
Good to know. I've always done this(makes it easier when reviewing credit card statements) but will stop. Is that just due to the capless fill system or is this true of all cars. Never had an issue, but certainly don't want to cause one.
No that's pretty much true with any car, but most important on 2006- present Chargers, though the 06's are the most susceptible to the roll-over valve issue.
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