Joel---Don't panic---Your 83 is a beauty to behold ---Find a 80 Cry cordoba
without lean-burn --preferably a 4 barrel and put that set-up on your 83
Imperial ---it will run better than ever -start every time and make you
smile----I did that to my 86 Ply first and am in process of doing my 82
Imperial F S Ed---Feel free to contact me off-list at
mailto:popp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx > Mike
----- Original Message -----
From: <RandalPark@xxxxxxx>
To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, June 04, 2004 7:05 PM
Subject: Re: IML: 1983 Chrysler Imperial: starting problems
> This was a frequent problem with early '80s, first generation computerized
cars. In most, the ignition and the fuel system are both computer
controlled. There are a guzillion reasons why these cars either stop running
or won't start. In many cases, the trouble is intermittent and difficult to
find. Many Auto Electric shops in the good old USA became very wealthy
during the time that these cars were on the road. The sad part is, most of
them never really ever figured out what was wrong with the cars. Eventually
their owners became annoyed and sold them.
> I hate to be so general here, but I know from experience that this was
universally true among the big three and most likely others too. My newest
Chrysler Product has always been my '68 Imperial. I have '80s offerings from
each of the other major manufacturers, and have had occasional problems with
both, although the G.M built cars have been much more reliable than the ones
from Ford. I still run both of them on a daily basis.
> When those Imperials were new, many people had exactly that kind of
trouble with them. The cars will run perfectly, and for no apparent reason,
quit on the road or refuse to start. Over the years I have found that the
folks that were the most successful keeping those cars on the road were the
ones who "loved them no matter what".
> I have also found that reading the wiring diagrams and understanding where
relays and sensors (both vacuum and electronic) are, and understanding what
they do helps a lot. Relays with dirty contacts can cause an intermittent
problem for years before they actually quit working all together. This is
also true of sensors.
> In summary, I would say that there probably is not one thing that anyone
here can tell you that will solve your problem. If you love the car, you
will become very accustomed to knowing under what condition your car does
certain things. Eventually you will be able to make sense out of that
information, along with the things that you read and study to make a good
stab at finding the faulty part or parts. The other option would be to pay
someone else to do that, but I offer this: back during the time that those
cars were on the road there were few, if any mechanics that could trouble
shoot them. Most people just got taken to the cleaners, and still couldn't
depend on their cars to run when they were suppose to.
> If you don't want to go through this process, I would suggest selling the
car, or becoming a member of AAA Plus. If you can, buy extra towing.
> Paul
> In a message dated 6/4/2004 1:40:48 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
joelrsmith@xxxxxxxxxx writes:
> > Hi Guys,> > I have a 1983 Chrysler Imperial that I purchased about a
month ago. It's in pretty decent condition, but does have some rust in the
rear left & right quarter panel & the bottom of the deck lid. It has 130,000
Miles on it (but there is an asterix beside where it says that, don't know
what that means) and gets from 15 - 20 US MPG on a tank.> > Right from the
beginning, whenever I would start it, it would crank over a bit more than
what I would expect a "normal" car to do, although I did hear from a certain
mechanic that due to it's older computer, that could be normal. It always
drives & idles nice though. Anyways, here's what happened: I drove my car to
work friday morning (7:30 am), and it did it's usual "longer than normal"
start, all was good. It sat all day at work in about say 20 C (68 F)
temperature. I finished work around 5:00 pm and went to start my car. The
first try I held the key in the "start" position for about 6 - 8 seconds, it
just cranked, didn't fire once. This was kind of surprising, as it had never
done this before. So I tried it again, nothing. After that, i tried pumping
the gas pedal (I usually NEVER touch the gas pedal at all before or during
starting) while I was cranking it, it actually fired one or two times but
didn't start. Next, I pulled off the air cleaner cover, & I could smell
as( but it didn't appear flooded), so I left the cover off for a minute or
two, then put it back on and tried again. Nothing. > > So after that I went
back inside to where I work & called AMA to send over a tow truck. Next
about 30 mins had passed since I had last tried starting the car) I went
outside again to see if I could start the car. I put the key in and cranked
it...it didn't fire for a sec or two, but then caught a few times & started.
For the first few seconds it ran rough, like it had too much / too little
fuel, but after that it smoothed out and idled like it has always had before
(it idles nice btw). So now i'm a little scared about something like this
happening again (i've been driving it for about 4 days since then and it's
always started). Now would any of you guys have any idea what the problem
could be and what I can do to fix it? I'm also interested in why it seems to
need a few excessive cranks to start. > > Oh, and you can check out pictures
of my car here: > http://www3.telus.net/agentsmith> > Thanks in advance.> >
Joel Smith> Edmonton, Alberta.> > > > > Join Excite! -
http://www.excite.com> The most personalized portal on the Web!
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