Car just shut off while driving?

[SupraSpooled]

1999 Eclipse N/T
160kish Miles
Speedometer has never worked.

A few months ago the car randomly shut off while driving and the
oil pressure light came on, car started right back up - No Codes
Oil pressure light goes back off.

Now about once or twice a week the car started doing that, but would
always start right back up.

Just this week my CEL would come on and off but didnt affect the car.

Now a few nights ago the car shut off as I was pulling onto my road
and now it won't start back up, I've spent about $300 on replacing parts
to no avail, please help I need to get back to work ASAP!!!!

Brand New Parts I've replaced in the past 2 days.
Coil pack
ASD & Fuel pump Relay
Crankshaft sensor
Cam Angle Sensor
(Just ordered a VSS, will be here tomorrow, doubt it will fix
the problem but it's worth a try I guess)

I checked for spark, and am getting spark in 2-3, first time I checked
for spark I seen a spark in cyl 4 but now I see nothing. So in 2-3 I'm getting
constant spark but in 1-4 it's dead?!

Any help is appreciated guys, I'm so done with this thing and it's like 5 degrees here.

 

[92AWDHX40]

All that replaced seems your throwing money at it find a local shop save time and money.

 

[SupraSpooled]

All that replaced seems your throwing money at it find a local shop save time and money.

I'd rather fix the issue myself, and not take the easy way out,
but thanks.

Anyone else?

 

[redheadbov]

When anything stupid like this happens I always check fuses first, then go from there

 

[SupraSpooled]

When anything stupid like this happens I always check fuses first, then go from there

Yeah I haven't checked fuses yet , as dumb as that sounds.
I'll get on that and report back.

 

[92AWDHX40]

I agree but you said asap I fix mine I was looking at your time constraints.you still may have a ecu issue.

 

[destruckeclipse]

So you get no spark on 1 & 4? Have you swapped the plug wires from to see if that gives you spark on 1 and 4? New plugs are only a few bucks might be a good idea to replace those.

You said the CEL came on again but didn't effect the car, did you actually pull it to see what it is? It could have told you something that may have caused this.

 

[SupraSpooled]

So you get no spark on 1 & 4? Have you swapped the plug wires from to see if that gives you spark on 1 and 4? You said the CEL came on again but didn't effect the car, did you actually pull it to see what it is? It could have told you something that may have caused this.

I didn't have time to pull the code because it would just randomly come on,
and at the time it wasn't an issue because I didn't notice any problems.
&& Now the CEL is not on so I assume If I tried to pull codes nothing
would come up right?

Checked all fuses, everything is okay.

Correct, no spark on 1 & 4, although I haven't checked
since I put the new coil pack on today.

I have not swapped plug wires due to the fact that since 2-3
are getting spark, my car would still beable to run on 2 cylinders right?

Also, forgot to add, since i've been trying to start the car it is
kinda backfiring once or twice while cranking.

Could this be an ECU issue?

 

[redheadbov]

You might be able to still pull the code up as a history code in the ecm, Im not 100% positive you can but its worth a try, also like the above posts switch over the plug wires so see if it changes anything, and yea i would check out that new coil pack asap

 

[izzieDSMER]

I'd check oil pressure if I were u. Maybe the car is turning off because it doesn't see enough oil pressure. I'd also check the oil sending unit and the connectors.

How's you're oil level doing?

 

[turboglenn]

OIl pressure would just blow the engine (smoke the bearing surfaces) if you didn't have it and it wouldn't be able to keep going again later without some seriouse noises and more..

ANyway, onto things to cheak, you have worked on spark so it's good to know you have a basic enough knowledge of howparts work and what's needed to run an engine, tha tbeing said, when it dies, how long did it normally take to start back up??? The cam sensors in the 420a have been som what notoriouse for troubles where they go out or get hot and fail, and although i havne't seen one directly with a bad ECU i don't trust any ECU that's in the engine bay when modding of a car starts and heat can affect the computer becaus eof a header with no heat protection to keep temsp from getting high under the hood.. most times i've had an intermittant failure from an engine that would start back up after it cooled it was usually coils getting hot.... But you really need to chcek, spark, fuel, mechanical timing and the rest of tehbasics, then when it dies check them all and see what changed. a good (or half good) OBD II data logger would go a long way to helping out. i'm sure some one on here is local to you if you can't afford one right now but when she'sback up and running they are worth having more thani can describe, (although i haven't been obdii in a decade )

 

[SupraSpooled]

OIl pressure would just blow the engine (smoke the bearing surfaces) if you didn't have it and it wouldn't be able to keep going again later without some seriouse noises and more..

ANyway, onto things to cheak, you have worked on spark so it's good to know you have a basic enough knowledge of howparts work and what's needed to run an engine, tha tbeing said, when it dies, how long did it normally take to start back up??? The cam sensors in the 420a have been som what notoriouse for troubles where they go out or get hot and fail, and although i havne't seen one directly with a bad ECU i don't trust any ECU that's in the engine bay when modding of a car starts and heat can affect the computer becaus eof a header with no heat protection to keep temsp from getting high under the hood.. most times i've had an intermittant failure from an engine that would start back up after it cooled it was usually coils getting hot.... But you really need to chcek, spark, fuel, mechanical timing and the rest of tehbasics, then when it dies check them all and see what changed. a good (or half good) OBD II data logger would go a long way to helping out. i'm sure some one on here is local to you if you can't afford one right now but when she'sback up and running they are worth having more thani can describe, (although i haven't been obdii in a decade )

Car always started right back up.
No questions asked and ran perfect.

Ever since i've had the car it would randomly get hot,
whether it was on the highway just cruising at 70-80mph
or sitting at an intersection. It never got dangerous hot thoug
because the fan would kick on and bring it back down, it does
this all the time though.

My neighbor has a really really nice scanner so im going to disconnect
the battery and let everything reset, then we are going to run the scanner
and see what it comes up with.

I still haven't checked the spark after changing the coil pack though
so I'm going to do that here in a bit as well.

I hear the fuel pump kick on, but I haven't checked if I'm actually getting
fuel, going to try and start it then check the spark plugs for residue.

Thanks everyone for the feedback, I really appreciate it.
Anymore advice is welcome.

 

[izzieDSMER]

It could also be you're pigtails. I remember my car would turn off because of the pig tail on crank sensor. It was old and brittle and one of the wires was broken.

The bastard would start right back when the wire would connect then die after some vibration.

 

[9secSLC]

Check for any wires with exposed wiring etc, could be grounding something out.

 

[SupraSpooled]

UPDATE:

Switched the wires around and still no spark, only in 2&3.

Just went down there to my car and had codes pulled.
No codes came up that would cause it not to starts, only thing remotely
that could cause it is some ABS Relay codes, and my speed sensor code.
AND it said ABS Internal ECU problem, which might be part of the issue
below.

Culprit?: I was taking the ECU out and unplugged it. Well, the top
plug had a SHIT TON of oil inside?!?!?! How in the #### does oil get inside?
It was all over the prongs and everything, I tried cleaning all the oil out and plugging
it back in, disconnected the battery for about 10mins to try and reset all the
codes, still no start.

Only thing next I know to do is replace the damn ECU itself?

I'm so stumped.

 

[9secSLC]

Sounds like the ecu got messed up somehow?

 

[SupraSpooled]

Sounds like the ecu got messed up somehow?

That is the only thing I can think of now,
before I wasn't too set on the bad ECU factor because
the only threads i've seen of those going bad
were in the 95's.

But now I have no other choice to think it could be just completely
shot, although if it was completely shot I was thinking other symptoms
would occur.

All I can keep doing is test & replace everything eh?

Anyone else have any other ideas?

After I figure it out i'll post back here for future references in
case someone else ends up having the same issue.

 

[92AWDHX40]

Ecu is where I would start when no spark at wires

 

[Lou98GSX]

your problem does point out to a bad ecu but you should fix the oil leak or the new ecu will end up with the same problem.

 

[SupraSpooled]

your problem does point out to a bad ecu but you should fix the oil leak or the new ecu will end up with the same problem.

Lmao what oil leak?
There is absolutely nothing around
the ECU that could leak into those plugs.

 

[Lou98GSX]

it doesn't have to be near the ecu it could be your oil sending switch leaking and the oil gets on the harness and works its way to the ecu . i have seen it many times .

 

[9secSLC]

Do you have anybody near you who could lend you their ECU?

 

[SupraSpooled]

Do you have anybody near you who could lend you their ECU?

Unfortunately no, I'm trying to find one on craigslist but no avail.

This one guy has a 99 420a Eclipse ECU for sale but it's for an A/T?
He said it will work but i'll have a rev limiter at 4500 which is okay
cause I don't ever have a reason to get on the gas anyways.

Will the A/T ECU work for my M/T?
They are the same year and same engine.

 

[izzieDSMER]

Yup that computer is gone. I'd say that oil shorted something inside.

 

[SupraSpooled]

UPDATE: Went and bought a used ECU from a 98 Eclipse 420a M/T.
Put it on and still no start, so I tried testing for spark again and I had spark
in cylinder 1!!!!! Not sure about cylinder 4 yet cause I was too excited.

BUT BUT BUT!!!! Here is where it gets tricky, after I found out I now have spark
in Cylinder 1 I remembered that I forgot to put the camshaft angle sensor back on .
So after I put the cam angle sensor back on(The old one, because the new one I bought I
took it back) So again after I put the cam angle sensor back on I checked for spark
again and now there is no spark on cylinder 1?!

Summary:
I have spark in cylinder 1 with the cam sensor off,
No spark with the cam sensor on?

So now what i've came in to conclusion is maybe the wiring is bad?
Anyone else have some input?

Tomorrow I'm going to borrow a volt meter or whatever they are called and
test the pigtail itself, does anyone know where I can find out the voltage/ohms
that need to be going to the cam angle sensor? Sorry i'm not very electrical inclined .

Anyone?