New Gen III owner (car issue - help needed)

MichaelH1027

Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 7, 2018
Posts
1
Reaction score
0
Location
Dallas, Texas
Hey all,

Just a quick introduction - This past Monday I purchased a gen iii viper so I'm very new to viper ownership and it has not started off so well. I made a 3.5 hour drive to go pickup the car and about an hour into my drive back, it broke down.. More details below:

I did a short test drive/visual inspection of the car and all checked out. It has had 3 owners with the last owner keeping the car for over 8 years and provided a VERY thorough binder of receipts and service records. You can tell that he was very thorough with maintenence.

On the way home, I was stopping to turn into a parking lot - I downshifted to 3rd as I slowed and then the car died (however it started right back up with just a touch of the button). It has been almost 2 years since I have owned a manual so I quickly told myself that maybe I put it in 5th and as I slowed, I stalled the car. I felt like I did it correctly but wasn't 100% sure.

About 20 minutes later in the drive, I was slowing to stop again and the same things happened - it died while I was slowing BUT this time I made sure to keep the clutch in the whole time (not what I usually do but I wanted to be able to take user error out of the equation).. The car did start right back up however. I got gas and then the car started up fine after that as well.

About 30 minutes after I was back on the road and did a little 3rd. gear acceleration (maybe 70% throttle).. I didn't wind it all the way out, I just went from 70-100 so nothing serious.. As soon as I let off the throttle, I put the clutch in so I could shift to 5th. and just cruise.. As the RPM's fell, it died and then would not start.

Long story short I ended up on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere and had to wait until 3am for a tow truck.. I towed it to the nearest dodge dealer and then proceeded to drive the rest of the 3 hours home in my truck.

The dealer called me today and said that a fuse was blown (ASD relay fuse) and also that I need a new clutch interlock switch.. the switch thing can make sense for the car not starting but I'm not sure if it would cause it to die while driving.. Or if it could cause a fuse to blow.

Anyone have any ideas here? I'm of course hopeful that replacing the fuse and switch will solve the issue but I feel like there may be another problem.. Possibly a short.. It's just odd to me that all three times it died is when the rpm's were dropping.

Also worth mentioning, the car has a paxton however that was installed about 25 months ago so I doubt it is directly related since 10k miles has been put on it with the blower.

I really appreciate any ideas you all may have! The dodge dealer has good ratings and the service adviser is friendly so I don't feel too bad leaving it there but I'd like to be educated and have ideas from my side as well.
 
Last edited:

MoparMap

VCA National President
VCA Officer
Joined
Jan 7, 2013
Posts
2,439
Reaction score
273
Location
Kansas
Almost sounds like an IAC issue. Like the IAC isn't opening up in time to keep the idle going when you're slowing down. Does it idle okay otherwise or is it kinda rough?
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
153,143
Posts
1,681,575
Members
17,643
Latest member
thiagets
Top