420A: Loss of power, sputtering, overheating, no warning lights

[TalonDraukner]

My first post...

So, I've been reading all kinds of things on this site for a few months now, but I haven't had much luck solving my problem. I have a 1996 Mitsubishi Eclipse RS. I have no mods, unless you count the MSD Ignition Coil I just put on.

To the problem... I bought this car in February 2014 and it ran great, has about 210k on it, but I only paid 1.2k for it. The day I bought it, the radiator exploded and I was stranded 50+ miles from home in a car I just bought. So I found the closest shop I could and got them to replace the radiator ASAP, but all they could find was a used one from an automatic of the same year. Fast forward to Emerald City Comicon --- My wife and I drove the car to Seattle for Comicon, while at a stop light in the horrible traffic, the temp gauge went through the roof and the car died. It started right back up and as long as I kept the RPMs above 2k, the temp gauge stayed at half way. Only when we stopped did the temp gauge ever go up. I checked the coolant, full, I checked the thermostat, clean, and later I replaced the temp sensor. The car still gets hot, but only when sitting for long periods of time.

To the present, the car started to sputter a little while I was driving, but it was only mild and rare. As I drove to and from work, it got a little worse. The sputtering or loss of power happens when idling or while driving and seems almost random, nothing really triggers it. I put new plugs (gapped), new wires, and just yesterday a new MSD Ignition Coil. This didn't change anything. The car idles rough, when it used to purr, it smells a bit like gas, and I noticed two very small cracks in my manifold.

Everyone I've talked to says that it is an electrical problem, but I'm not sure what else to look for. Would the small cracks in the manifold cause my car to run as terrible as it does right now? As is, the only time that any warning lights ever came on, was when the car overheated and died in Seattle.

 

[TalonDraukner]

New issues! Perhaps information that may solve my earlier issues.

After putting in the new ignition coil and noticing absolutely no change, I parked the car in my garage and it sat for the last six days. Went to go start it yesterday, and the battery was dead.

I haven't tried to jump it yet and none of the lights were left on. Going to try to jump it in the morning since the only battery charger I have is made for motorcycle batteries. Could this be a bad battery or bad alternator? Multimeter said .01 on the battery. What could cause my battery to drain completely while sitting parked with nothing on?

!Additional Information!
There was a messed up alarm in the car, that used to chirp at random, when I bought it. I took it out a few weeks before all of this started happening, but all I did was pull the box. I haven't gotten around to pulling the wires yet. Could this be a factor for the battery being drained?

 

[mustracetsi]

Manifold got cracks replace it your leaking and leaking power. I ran into same problems with my rs and talon 420a. Radiator busted. You check your coolant level make sure all levels are fine along with trans level i know my radiator had lines to my trans too. For electrical look at your tps sensor harness and follow it. It runs along your egr pipe and if like me and both my cars the harness could be shorting causing problem. If looks melted. Cut add new wire reroute away from the pipe and other hot spots and insilate it real good. If its that hopefully you resolved it before your computer goes bye bye. I went through two ecu before i found it was that. As common as that is it should have been a recall. Hope this helps.

 

[cano86]

I had similar issues with my 96 rs which I had long time ago for some reason I had no cel but turned out to be my cam sensor, I went through hell to figure it out as I had no cel to diagnose but that fixed my problem.

Also if you have crack on your manifold look into fixing that before troubleshooting anything else as that is not good and can cause rough idle as well.

 

[TalonDraukner]

Thanks guys, I'll be ordering a new manifold when I get paid next. My coolant level stays full, ever since I replaced the radiator with a used one and I believe there is good pressure, because when I pop the vent on my cap, I can hear the coolant drop to the radiator.

I'd like some opinions on two manifold I'm looking at. One of them is on eBay and says it is stainless steel, while the other is on Amazon and looks closer to my stock manifold. The prices are close, so it's just a matter of which is better.
#1 or #2
Or, if you guys have another suggestion, I'd appreciate it.

 

[Sharpie1983]

for getting hot sitting still only, engine fans. when you get a new batt take your DVOM turn the dial to amps, change your red and black leads to amps. leave your pos batt terminal disconnected and hook up the neg cable. touch the black lead of DVOM to the pos batt cable and your red lead to pos terminal on battt. This is the total amount of amps your vehicle is drawing, I'm not sure what the reading is supposed to be but if its like 5, 10, 20.....etc amps start pulling fuses until you see the amps drop on the DVOM when you see a big drop you have found the circuit that is killing your batt. Hope it helps.

 

[TalonDraukner]

for getting hot sitting still only, engine fans. when you get a new batt take your DVOM turn the dial to amps, change your red and black leads to amps. leave your pos batt terminal disconnected and hook up the neg cable. touch the black lead of DVOM to the pos batt cable and your red lead to pos terminal on battt. This is the total amount of amps your vehicle is drawing, I'm not sure what the reading is supposed to be but if its like 5, 10, 20.....etc amps start pulling fuses until you see the amps drop on the DVOM when you see a big drop you have found the circuit that is killing your batt. Hope it helps.

Let me make sure I understand you correctly. You want me to hook up the negative battery cable to the new battery. Then turn my Multimeter to amps and connect the negative lead to the positive cable (not connected to the battery) and the positive lead to the positive battery post. After that I pull fuses one at a time and wait for the amps to drop?

What do I do when I find the culprit, if there is one? Should I just post my findings here? May be another three weeks until I can afford a new battery and a new manifold. In the mean time I'm riding my Ninja to and from work.

 

[Sharpie1983]

Let me make sure I understand you correctly. You want me to hook up the negative battery cable to the new battery. Then turn my Multimeter to amps and connect the negative lead to the positive cable (not connected to the battery) and the positive lead to the positive battery post. After that I pull fuses one at a time and wait for the amps to drop?

What do I do when I find the culprit, if there is one? Should I just post my findings here? May be another three weeks until I can afford a new battery and a new manifold. In the mean time I'm riding my Ninja to and from work.

You got it. yea post what you find I dont have a schematic, so I won't be able to tell you where to look when you do find what is drawing your batt. But I'm sure someone does and can tell u.

 

[TalonDraukner]

Well, I took my battery down to Autozone and had it tested. Bottom line, it is toast. Hopefully this is the reason for my random loss of power. Should be picking up a new battery Friday. Then I'll test the alternator and the fuses etc.

 

[TalonDraukner]

Wasn't the battery, ordering the new manifold today. Alternator is good too, but I still have to check the fuses. However, when checking the battery/alternator, the battery stay above 14 with the car running and around 12.4 with the car off.

 

[TalonDraukner]

Soooo, new manifold it installed, removed all of the leftover wiring from the alarm, replaced a burnt out relay, and for about two miles, it didn't act up. I tried the thing with the multimeter, but the number wouldn't stay in any particular area before I pulled any fuses. It was so erratic that I couldn't tell what it was at. Right now I'm thinking it is either a fuel problem (filter) or the alternator is bipolar.

Let me try to re-explain what is happening. When I start the car, everything is fine. A few minutes later, the RPMS start to act funny. They drop and kick up at random and while I'm driving the randomly fall and kick back up. This loss of power is annoying the crap out of me.

Fuel filter is cheap, so I'm going to replace that first. Hopefully it isn't the alternator, but that is the only thing I can think of.

 

[TalonDraukner]

As a close out, just in case someone looks at this. I found out that is was a vacuum leak from two separate hoses that was causing this and my intake manifold is also cracked and causing my car to overheat after long drives at higher speeds.