How Your PT Cruiser PCM Works

By Paulino Carrins


There are several elements varied in nature that can cause a car to perform poorly with no exception of the car's PCM also known as computer. Some people also refer to it as ECM, ECU and even PCM as mentioned above. A Chrysler PT Cruiser ECU is key to proper operation. A car's computer is very critical especially when it comes to its performance as well as operation; it controls certain aspects such as the quantity of air flowing into the car's engine, the amount of fuel transmitted into the engine as well as the automatic transmission of the same.

Most people who though their cars had problems with their computers were not wrong and this clearly shows that this is the major cause of most vehicle faults. Though, apart from ECM, there are many other things that render a car not to function well. The car's computer is also referred to by many as PCM, ECM or even ECU.

There many parts of a car, these parts sometimes help one another to make the car function correctly as it should. The PCM is no different because it depends on the information and data that comes from other parts that read that information and send the data to the car's computer. The PCM will interpret that information and then tell the car what to do considering the fuel and automatic transmission.

The car can either shift wrongly or even fail to maintain the right speed when these crucial parts of the car fail to perform. The quantity of air that flows into the PT Cruiser's engine is determined by the air flow sensor. This information is then sent to the computer for interpretation in order for the right amount of fuel to be adjusted automatically and thus the fuel mileage which is then maximized to ensure no fuel is wasted.

The fuel mileage is badly affected when this occurs to cars. Several internal parts as well external ones can also be affected with some being the car engine and also pistons respectively. The piston rings are also affected at times.

When this happens, you are going to have a very bad problem with fuel mileage. More importantly you most likely will have premature engine failure because the wrong fuel mixture does a lot of damage to eternal car parts like the piston rings and even the pistons themselves. An often overlooked reason for the PCM to stop working is a bad fuse. Although it's more likely than not that a car's PCM goes bad before other components but it's not uncommon for a fuse to blow. Your entire car's electronics are protected from surges by fuses. These fuses are normally located in the fuse box which could be under the hood or under your dash.

You can refer the owner's manual to find out which fuse goes to what. You can also check in the fuse box for this information. This is normally very easy to check because most fuses used on the Chrysler PT Cruiser are clear and you can see if it's blown or not just by looking.

Many people usually ignore blown fuses that can also make a car's computer to malfunction. Compared to computers, fuses can get damaged more frequently. Just like car electronics, all electronic devices risk damage due to power surges. Therefore, fuses are used to protect them from such damages. If you cannot locate fuses in your car, you can use the car's operator manual to find it using its diagram featured. In addition to all the components discussed before, corrupt software in the system can also cause or bring about malfunctioning of the PCM which would lower the car's performance.




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