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1992 Eclipse GSX sounds like a subaru

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Achelea

15+ Year Contributor
1,318
12
Jun 3, 2008
Centralia, Illinois
A bit of back story.

A while a go I was driving home and the car started to stutter bad, sounded like a Subaru. So I pulled over, checked the wires, and the #1 plug wire had fallen off. PLugged it back in, and ran like a champ. Then FF to this morning. Went to start the car and it idled fine, then stumbled BAD. I can run the throttle up, but trying to take off from a stop almost kills it.

Video: [ame=http://youtu.be/_3X1Fz0hOpI]1992 Eclipse GSX, mystery sound theatre. - YouTube[/ame]

Trouble Shooting I have tried: (It is cold so I might need to retest everything again. :( )

Tried pulling the plug wires.
#4. It just about died.
#3. No change in loping idle.
#2. No change.
#1. Just about died, and picked back up.

The plug wires look like they are on, but #1 doesn't seem to sit in as far as the others, and i've tried everything to get it to go further. It has spark on all plug wires, I can hear it discharging on them when I pull them out...

Hoses are all still on solid. Boost Leak Test would require me to drive to work, and if it doesn't run it won't get there, so I don't know if I can test that easily.

Part of me is wondering if it's the injectors. :( Any ideas what the resistance across the injectors are supposed to be? and do I check the wires or the injectors themselves?

Another thing i just thought of. Recently, it's taken to idling high as hell when I first start up, and holding it at 2k. Then stepped down to 1500, then 1000, then it settles in at 750. But when I start driving it and go to neutral for a stop, it does it again, 2, 1.5, then holds at 1000. It would do that until it got warmed up, Then it would be fine.

Potentially I've got Spark Plugs, Plug wires, coil pack, ignition module, CAS IACS, Injectors, or possible ECU ground. :/ With the way it's acting, I'm worried about trying to plug the wife's Laptop in to check DSMlink 2.5

Currently searching the forums, and checking things on my car, so I am being proactive.
 
Check for any boost leaks. Most likely sounds ignition issue. One of my concerns is for you to put a top cover on that timing belt.

I've been waiting to replace the plastic on the side there to do that. 3 yrs ago I had an exhaust leak between the turbo and the exhaust mani. Well, the luck was it directed ALL the exhaust gasses towards the driver side, and warped the plastic on the side of the motor around the belts. It actually ate a portion of the top belt cover.. The mounting points for the top are warped out of position so bad that timing covers rub against the belt.

It being my Daily, I've been trying to get my 98 N/T up and running so I can replace the head and fix that plastic. But that's taken a year so far and I feel I'm running out of time here soon.

Alrighty, a question about the packs, should i get OE grade, or the cheaper replacement? I don't wanna be doing this again later...

I know my Alternator is going out as well, (the usual squeal on start up, regardless of belt tension, goes away when warm) I'm pondering replacing it as well since the car will be down for a bit.

:/ But... Monies. :(
 
I think I might have done something stupid just now.

I tried to find a way to test the plug in the car, so I can be sure the coil pack might actually be failing, like this shows: http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=33471&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1283275657
But I cannot reach the three pins where it's mounted at. I still have almost all the factory equipment in there, and it's too tight to test with the multimeter.
I looked at this and I don't know which plug they are checking: http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/articles-electrical-wiring/229419-how-test-power-transistors.html
Looking at this: http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/articles-electrical-wiring/396699-1g-spark-plug-wiring-order.html

I thought, Okay, I know which ones i'm testing. So I go out to look at my car, and noticed that the last to are out of order. On mine it went 4132. So I switched them, tried turning it over...it turned over 3 times and then started running, but like sheet. I shut it off, and switched them back, and tried again. Same slow start, idling like crap. And I smelled burning...


It's cold, getting dark, and all I've managed to do is make the car run worse.

:banghead:
 
First of all... Go buy new spark plugs, properly gap them and install. Bet that fixes it. If it doesn't, then go with new wires and coil pack.

Spark plugs are 10$ and everything else is under 10-20$. Haggle at a junkyard for the CP and you might get it for 5.
 
yup thats a misfire.

just by unplugging one plug wire at a time and holding it in the cylinder wall you can see the arc and how strong it is. (thats a clue if your coils are bad or not). wear a glove for safety. if all the sparks are equally strong then you know its not your ignition coils/wires at all.

now its ether bad injector or spark plug. but seen how the engine reacts to unplugging wires (considering you already did what i advice) then its your spark plugs.

to make sure its not your injectors you can take a mechanics stethoscope like 3 bucks at harbor freight. and you can hear it working (ticking) if you hear nothing then the injector is dead.
 
if wires for 2 and 3 were swapped it will not hurt anything. These cars run on a waste spark system so 2 &3 are firing at the same time all the time so it wont matter if they are swapped. but it will tell you if it was a wire or plug issue. Also you can tell real easy which cylinder is not firing by starting it for a few seconds and turning it back off then feeling the runners of the exhaust manifold the cold one is not firing.
 
I've actually had this problem before but with 3 cylinders. Check to make sure the injectors aren't clogged. I replaced everything in my ignition system because the injectors were "firing." They were clicking to fire, but nothing was coming out because there was sediment blocking the path. Remove your injectors and try blowing through them with the pin pushed in. If you can't blow through, there is your problem. If you can, try something else. Mine is a '92 as well and the tank was so corroded on the inside because the previous owner let it sit a while. Took it to a local radiator shop and he cleaned it up and sealed it. Took away all my fuel issues!
 
Power transistor took a dump. If the rpms are reading half what they should ie: spinning 4k rpm but only showing 2k, def means change the transistor.

I actually watched the video, tach seems to be reading properly. If you have spark on all 4 wires, its a compression, fueling, or spark plug issue. Compression test and change the plugs. If no change, test and clean the injectors. No change, test injector resistor then open the ecu and look for leaky capacitors. Still no change, test/replace cam position sensor.
 
Noticed you got all of the plug wires all bundled and held together around the CC cable with zip ties. You're inviting a thing called 'crossfiring' - one plug will fire out of sequence due to the current induction from the neighboring wire.

Get them separated as they should be ... and get a cover over those belt sprockets. If something flips up from the road into that belt train .. goodbye motor.
 
Just changed the plugs and wires, found out I don't have the wire seperators, so I'm going to go pick those up. The plugs i pulled out, All 4 were soot black, and #3 was wet. Not sure if it's fuel or oil.... Smelled like the former. . .
 
Not yet. I've had DSMlink 2.5 installed for a while, but been terrified of trying to even get a baseline tune set up. And being the daily driver, I've been unable to tear into the car to address some of the problems. Lazy I know, but after 7 to 5 every day working on planes, I tend to get a bit winded. :sosad: Think I'll try plugging it in here in a few minutes.
 
UHHH DUH Dude!

Run a diagnostic and look for anything out of line. Take a SS and post it up.

Do you have a wideband? If so check your AFRs and see if youre running rich, which would cause the soot on the spark plugs.

Also, go to the store, buy injector cleaner (3$) unbolt your fuel rail (like 3 bolts) pull the injectors out, make sure you dont drop any of those black spacers (PITA) Pull the injectors off, blow through them, spray them down w/ injector cleaner and wipe clean then report back.
^ Should take you about 5 minutes max.

You may be tired but its probably something simple that will take 10 sec to fix, not to mention youre cleaning the car up as you hunt it down, which is maintenance that needs to be done anyways!

Have fun and gl
 
Finally manned up and started to tear into it today. Figured it won't fix itself sitting inside. So I loosened the bolts for the ignition coil and surprise surprise, it won't come out around the fuel rail. I bit the bullet and figured, Aw hell, It's been down for a week already, and pulled the battery and started to pull the fuel rail, figuring I might as well correct some of the things I've been putting off for a while. My old man will let me borrow his Jeep for a while, and I figure I'll bust my ass to get the 2g up and running asap.

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And in doing so, I discovered these.
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O2 sensor has bare wires. Joy. As does both of the plugs that connect to the thermostat housing.

And the whole reason I'm going full Mechanic on the car?
This Basticle.
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I'm warming up right now, swapping the coils over, and gonna take a few more pictures while I dig into the car. Hopefully by the time the car is finished, I won't be leaking oil and coolant. Think I should pull the turbo while I'm at it?

Check ECU
Coil packs
overhaul throttle body
Remove/replace turbo and it's crush gaskets
Repair/replace broken and exposed wires
Clean Engine
Weep in my sleep. Lol
 
Alright, it's been quite a while since I last LOOKED at the car, much less did anything. Getting a wild hair up my ass I decided to finish it this week. Got the injectors back in, the new coil pack in place, everything should be good to go, Right? Wrong. No change in the car. New plugs, wires, coil packs. Still idles like a subaru.

Did me leaving it sit for 3 months do something? Do I gotta prep it to get it out of stasis? I'm going back out to install a new boost gauge cause the line to my old one broke off. Hope that isn't the cause. I'm running out of options.
 
Installed the boost gauge, and was greeted to this sound of it running.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC5x7iblLyk]92 Eclipse GSX rough running engine - YouTube[/ame]

That doesn't sound good. Had to stop for the night. Worked 3 hrs overtime and don't trust being outside at night in this neighborhood. Gonna have to pull the ECU tomorrow to double check, but I got a feeling the motor is on it's way out.

90s across the board on the last compression test makes me think it's SOL
 
Laptop battery came in, and I took a datalog!

This is with just as I plugged in. I think I need to check the initial setup. BUT it's a better start than blindly throwing things at it.
 

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