I had recently finished up replacing the distributor (for the 3rd time) in my Sebring convertible and was doing some city driving when I noticed the MIL (Malfunction Indicator Lamp aka Service Engine Soon) was on.  I pulled into an Autozone and had the Autozoner hook up a DRB scan tool and pull the codes.  There were two:  P0124 and P1494.  The description of these codes, as taken directly from the 1997 Sebring Convertible Service Manual are:

P0124:  Well, this one was not in the service manual, but the Autozone printout says “TPS/APP intermittent.  Probable cause: 1. Open or short circuit condition.  2. Poor electrical connection.  3. Faulty APP (Accelerator Pedal Position) sensor. 

P1494:  Leak detection pump switch does not respond to input. 

For P1494, there are several paragraphs of explanation in the service manual that describe the leak detection system. 

“The leak detection assembly incorporates two primary functions:  it must detect a leak in the evaporative system and seal the evaporative system so the leak detection test can be run.

The primary components within the assembly are:  A three port solenoid that activates both of the functions listed above; a pump which contains a switch, two check valves and a spring/diaphragm, a canister vent valve (CVV) seal which contains a spring loaded vent seal valve.”

I started checking all the lines in the EVAP system, as I had to repair one of the vacuum lines that had become brittle and broke as I was rooting around with my big hands.

What I had temporarily forgotten was that the purge hose vacuum line that is attached to the throttle body had split a little and I had reattached it and placed a tie-wrap on it until I could get a new hose.  It didn’t occur to me that the hose had split enough where it had a significant leak that could be causing my problem.  I failed to take a picture of the line attached with a tie-wrap, but here’s what it looks like after replacing the factory formed vacuum line with an aftermarket right angle vacuum line.

The part I used for this is in the HELP! section of Autozone.  Part number 47092, vacuum elbow, 1/4 inch.  If you notice it’s a little longer than the original elbow, so I took a sharp knife and trimmed both ends a little to get a factory-looking fit.

UPDATE 2011-01-08

Well, I finally got around to looking and this and found my problem.  Seems like every time I go to fix something on this car, I end up breaking something else. In this case it was the EVAP vacuum line that runs from the evaporative canister (located behind the passenger side headlight) to the vacuum inlet on the rear of the intake plenum.  Somehow I managed to NOT hook it back up and crush it between the intake plenum and the valve cover.  Great…just great.  All the hard plastic vacuum lines are extremely brittle after 13 years.  It broke the hard plastic vacuum hose and I replaced it with some off-the-shelf (3/16”) vacuum/fuel line.  Turns out the correct size for the vacuum line is really something more like 7/32”.  1/4” is a wee bit too big and 3/16” is a wee bit too small.

After fixing that, I still heard some hissing around the vacuum line that connects to the throttle body valve and found yet another plastic line broken!  So, I used another piece of hose to patch that one up.  I drove the car to Autozone and used their scan tool to reset the light.  So far, so good.

If I want to replace all the EVAP vacuum lines, Chrysler (http://wholesalemopar.com) sells the complete "harness" for about $60 plus shipping. So far I’ve purchased 4.29 worth of vacuum hose…with lots left over. I wonder…if I try and replace the entire vacuum harness how many other things will I break?  Probably makes more sense just to replace the pieces I need with aftermarket hose.

While I was replacing my distributor, I found that I had at least one heater hose that was leaking.  Since I had the car apart, I made the decision to replace both of them.  I ordered them through WholesaleMopar.com for what I thought was a reasonable price.  It was actually cheaper than buying hoses from Autozone or NAPA and rigging them to make them work as the hoses they sell don’t have the clip-on ends (they sell the clip-on ends separately, which are about $8-$10 each).

In order to get to the hoses where they attach at the firewall to the heater core, you need to remove the intake plenum.  Seems like you have to remove the intake plenum to get to just about everything on this car.  Luckily, it’s not quite as bad as it seems.  But it does take some time.  One of the trickiest steps is removing the two bolts on the left and right back sides that bolt the plenum to the brackets.  You can see in some of these photos the wrench arrangement I used to accomplish this.  Thank goodness for swivel sockets and long extensions!

Getting the hoses off was…how do you say…not easy.  The first one wasn’t too bad, but it still took a lot of squeezing of the retainer clip and twisting with pliers to get the not-so-quick disconnect to release.  I found that it was just as easy to put a pan underneath the car and catch the coolant as trying to drain coolant from the drain (which only seems to work if it is warm and under pressure).  The back hose was way more difficult.  I had to finally resort to cutting the hose and pretty much destroying the quick connect to get it off.

If you purchase aftermarket replacement hoses from NAPA or Autozone, they don’t come with the quick connects.  I guess they assume you can simply use a standard hose clamp for the replacement hoses.  Probably not a bad idea, since getting these puppies off was way too time consuming!

After I finally got the hoses off, I cleaned up the ends of the tubes by using 500 grit wet/dry sandpaper and some steel wool.  I also used a small razor knife to scrape some of the crap off the end of the tube.  The rubber from the hose seals was embedded pretty good.  I think I got it looking pretty good!

Here where the hoses connect to the heater core at the firewall.  These use standard spring loaded clamps, but it’s still kinda’ tight back there for pliers and such.  There’s a neat tool that you can get that might be helpful for some spring hose clamps.

http://www.astrotools.com/LargerImage.aspx?toolsnum=9409A