I took my car into a chrysler dealership today (for the Intercooler Pump) with a certified tech there to work on the car. Anyways I just got the call back from them and instead of them saying it was the IC pump, they are telling me my steering sensor is bad (shorting out) on the car and that causes the engine to restrict itself too. Only thing about that is my supercharger doesn't ever cut out unless the engine is warm though. I'm just a little skeptical, but I don't have the money to buy a pump (rather wait for the warranty to buy it) so I guess I'm just gonna have to go through the whole process of fixing many problems before fixing the real one. Has anyone ever heard of this problem before? Are there any articles about the steering sensor anywhere? Thanks for any responses.

 

If I were you I'd go drive the car with him, when warmed up, and show him what it is doing.

If it is indeed the IC pump, you and he will notice that the RPM's will climb but the car wont 'go' like it is supposed to. Does the car just 'stall' when you try to accelerate, or does the engine try to rev but you get no power? I'm still betting it is your IC pump.

Did you print the IC pump/sluggish acceleration posts and take them in? These are helpful to the techs as they can read other people's interpretations and see that this problem is very common.

Common sense would tell me that if a sensor was to cut power to the car, the engine would no longer accelerate. There may very well be a sensor problem on your car...but I'd bet the IC pump is going bad also.

How many miles?

SQ

 

My steering angle sensor, which sounds like the same sensor your dealer is refering to, failed but only caused the BAS/ESP light to come on. It did not affect acceleration. If your BAS/ESP light is not lighting then you'll need to confirm if your steering sensor is actually bad, and if so, why there is no indication of failure via the BAS/ESP light.

Your acceleration problem has all the syptoms of a failing IC pump.

 

Odd thing about all this is the BAS/ESP light is not on in my car. I made sure that they felt exactly what I was talking about, they did put a decent amount of miles on the car and the dealer that had it yesterday also was able to feel the problem (before they revealed that they had no one there certified to work on it). Printing out the forum thing only seems to have worked against me because they said it did not throw a high temp code or anything. I really really dont believe that the steering angle sensor is the cause of the problem for the most part except yesterday for the first time, I thought I heard the supercharger spooling even when I had the power loss, but I could be making it up. They did say that it wouldnt cut all power, it would cut 25% or 40% (cant remember) of the power. I don't know, it is going to be till atleast monday for the parts, I did ask them to order the pump just incase and if it was the sensor they could just have the pump in stock but of course they said no to that.

 

Don't know how your dealer detemined your steering sensor was bad - ask if they could explain that to you. A high temp code should have been triggered so maybe your ECU is failing and is generating the wrong codes. At any rate get ready to tell your dealer "I told you so".

 

Hehe I already have a sign made up with a big "I told you so" on it. Maybe both problems are actually wrong with my car and its cutting the power twice ....which would be pretty amazing cuz the car is still fast....well except for when the supercharger actually seems to cut out. In any case I should know by Monday or Tuesday if they were wrong.

 

So I took the car out tonight just to drive around and to my surprise, as my power was cut, I could hear the supercharger spin up. I was able to create it about 3 times in a row, hearing the supercharger everytime but not having any power. My understanding of the whole system is the supercharger has a clutch on it and that when the IC pump is bad the SC overheats. When that occurs I am assuming the clutch disengages the pulley stopping the SC from being driven, therefore I should not be hearing the SC spool up. Please correct that if that is wrong. I am actually beginning to have some faith in the stealership I took it too. Another question though, where does everyones temp gauge usually sit at? Mine will range between the needles width above and below half way.

 

My temp is the same as yours. I've only had the sluggish acceleraton happen when I'm rolling in first and and punch it then let off and immediately punch it again. The car accelerates then nothing, then a split second later the sc kicks in and your gone to 100 way to quick and smooth. I think it's the SC clutch kicking in. My fan does come on very quick and very often. I'm in AZ so we are warmer.
Cruzinquick