1990 Eclipse will not idle, help!

[Skillz]

I have a 1990 Eclipse FWD Turbo. Made in May of 1990.

I bought the car "not running" guy said it needed a new ECU. That the caps was leaking in the current one. Well, after driving it to a friends house, the car would not run right. Never has. It will not idle/rev higher than 2k.

So I got a new/used ECU for a 1990 model. MD128625 is the number on the ECU. (Should be for a 1990 model) Put it in, and set the firing order for the plugs to 4123. Car would crank, but would not idle. So we adjusted the timing to see if that would help it. Completely adjusted the timing 180 degrees with no good preformace.

So I adjusted the firing order to 3412 or some shit, I don't remember now. THe book said 4123 and that's what I done; but it wasn't running well.

My cousin said the CAS could be going out? Is that possible?

When we rev the engine, it sounds like it is hiting like 6k rpm, but the tach only shows 2k.

Any suggestions is greatly appreicated.

Thanks,
LeRoy

 

[eclipse90gsxt]

Sounds like a loose spark plug wire, or a wire arching. Check the plugs to, mine did that when my spark plug wires came undone a little during winter. It would drive bad, and the tach would jump around or not be right.

 

[nutshot]

Compression test.

 

[eclipse90gsxt]

^^
That to, and put the firing back at 4123, however you "changed" that.

 

[Skillz]

The plug wires are fairly brand new, and I made sure they was connected securely. I will double check them again to make sure.

The firing order was reverted back to 4123, but it still wouldn't stay idling.

Compression test?!?!?! Man, please don't tell me a blown headgasket has those similar symptoms!

I will run a compression test tomorrow and post the results.

Could bad plugs cause that also?

 

[nutshot]

Compression test?!?!?! Man, please don't tell me a blown headgasket has those similar symptoms!

Okay, I am not saying it.

 

[Skillz]

Ha! It's not a blown headgasket!

4 3 2 1
140 120 120 125

Sound good?

Also, I replaced the MAFT and it seemed to idle fine. But the RPMs was still off, so I played around with the CAS. Left the motor off and let it all cool down. Turned car on, and it cracked it right up.

Now I am beliveing that the Coil Pack could be going out? Heating up, then not working?

 

[SpeedFreak03]

Ha! It's not a blown headgasket!

4 3 2 1
140 120 120 125

Sound good?

HELL NO!! Cylinders 2 and 3 are below the service limit (by 1 PSi - the service limit is 121), and the difference between 2/3 and 4 is over 14 PSi. Put a "capful" (like from a quart of oil) of oil into the cylinders and see if the compression goes up (over 25-30 PSi). If it does, then your piston rings are beat. If it doesn't then its your headgasket, sorry pal! Good luck with the almost-certain rebuild. Actually Id just swap in a JDM 6-bolt for ~$1000 and be done with it!

 

[Skillz]

It could have been 121, like I know one was 123, but I just rounded to 120. Didn't know 121 was the service limit, which would mean that they are really close! I will drop a little oil in the cylinder and see if that raises the comression.

Also, would "low oil" cause that. After the we did the compression test, I noticed I was very low on oil. Like, below the low notch.