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2G Car still won’t start

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98gstJames

Proven Member
215
41
May 25, 2022
WInchester, Virginia
Alright so I’ve been trying to get my car to start and I’ve done a lot, what does it sound like my car is missing now? I’ll add a video, I’m just lost

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So a definite big issue is coming from my valve cover… not sure how I didn’t notice it when I had it off for the hg, but it is cracked and it was definitely like that because it seems the previous owner tried to fix it with some epoxy of some type, so I’ll be getting a new valve cover on Friday.
 
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Another note, found a bit of a vacuum leak coming from the outer throttle body gasket im pretty sure so I went to look for one and I cannot find an exact match for oem, I looked on stm tuned but the outer gasket is discontinued so that sucks but also my car has me thinking that it’s running rich because I took a video yesterday and there was a little bit of black smoke coming out of the exhaust, but now my car is backfiring and sounds like a machine gun almost when I’m pushing the gas in, I’ll add a video.

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Here’s the video with the black smoke coming out.

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So I got a new outer tb gasket, I also put a new maf sensor on the car and that changed how it runs now, it revs a lot smoother now I just can’t get it to be like smooth as butter it’s like restricted I’m not sure how to describe it, I’ll add a video though.


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Here’s the video of my data log for the car.

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Load the log as a "picture" so we can look at it not just a picture of a log. There is a lot more information in it.
 
What do you mean? I can’t see the data when the car is off and I can go back into each log after but I can’t see all the sensors at once I can only choose two at a time, so I’m confused

I can load the charts like this?

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What tuning software are you using?
 
What tuning software are you using?
I’m not using any tuning software, I have an obd2 car scanner that I can see the data on my phone.

I’m not sure why my car is making the noise it is when it revs. It’s like back pressure on the exhaust but I’m not totally sure, anyone have any ideas?

I thought it was maybe my exhaust manifold but I checked all the bolts and they were tight, the flex pipe on the exhaust is leaking a little bit but other than that I cannot figure it out.
 
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I mean it sounds like the car is misfiring because you dont have the firing order from the coils to the plugs hooked up correctly. The black smoke is likely unburned fuel

So I would suggest checking your firing order from the coils to the wires to the plugs to make sure they are in the correct order

Can you post a picture of your engine bay so we can see that your vacuum lines are all hooked up correctly
 
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I have the coils set to the order of 4,1,3,2 and the rtv on the vc is not a permanent fix I just needed it to not shoot oil out the top just until my new cover comes in tomorrow.

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I think my machine gun almost sounded is being caused by my exhaust manifold gasket, I’m not sure what else it could be because the motor sounds fine it just starts when it goes through the manifold.
 
Maybe, but it sounds like it's missing to me.
Have you done a compression test lately?
I have not done a compression test but I can, but I put new spark plugs in the car yesterday and it still sounded the same, all cylinders were dry except cylinder #3 which had some unburnt fuel from the spark plug fouling. If it isn’t the car misfiring what could it be?
 
So the compression test came back as followed,
Cylinder #1-124psi
Cylinder #2-178psi
Cylinder #3-178psi
Cylinder #4-178psi
Worn compression ring on cylinder #1 maybe?

So with the blown hg my compression reading for cylinder #1 was 150psi now with a good hg in there it’s reading at 124psi, how could this be possible?
 
Next step is leak down test to verify what’s causing low compression on that cylinder.
I’ll need to get a leak down tester, but until then just fiddle with other stuff, I’m not sure why it started making the sound though because it wasn’t sounding like that not too long ago and then it just started sounding like that so I’m just trying to wrap my head around why.
 
Do a leak down test. I don’t even bother with compression tests anymore. The leak down test will verify the intake valves, exhaust valves, piston rings and if a hg is bad between cylinders. Not only will it verify if they are good, it will tell where the problem is between the four options I listed above so you are pointed in the right direction pre tear down. Anything under 15% I would say is fine, not perfect but it would not keep it from starting.
-Daniel
 
So I figured out my issue, I started the car and went and did the injector test, unplugged #1, car almost died so I plugged it back in, unplugged #2 and the same thing, I unplugged #3 and nothing changed, same thing with injector #4 so it’s either the wiring or the injectors itself, at least I know what the issue is.
 
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Ok two cylinders are misfiring. So, we know you have compression on those two so it’s just spark and fuel to check. If you think it’s the wiring, you could get a noid light set pretty cheap at the parts store to test the circuit. Or maybe use a stethoscope to try to hear if the injector is operating (or trying to). Lastly you could simply just swap it with one that did make a difference when you unplugged it and then try your test again to verify the injector is bad/clogged and moved locations.
 
use a stethoscope to try to hear if the injector is operating (or trying to). Lastly you could simply just swap it with one that did make a difference when you unplugged it and then try your test again to verify the injector is bad/clogged and moved locations.
If the injector is plugged, it will still click so the best "test" is move the injector as you said @Dericsh
 
Mark the injectors so you know where they were to start, swap the working ones from 1 and 2 into 3 and 4.

Good time to make sure you have fresh o-rings and injector insulators (the injector seals in the intake manifold) and while your doing that check that the wires from the injector resistor pack have battery voltage on them when the key is on. (#1=Red/Blue, #2=Green/Black, #3=Green/Red, and #4=Green)

The other wire on each injector goes to the ECU. You want to measure at the harness when it's disconnected from the injector. Also measure the resistance of the coil in each injector to see if any are open or shorted.

If any of the injectors are (open or shorted) there's no point moving them around, just replace them.
 
So I got the injectors to work, I pulled them out and got a can of brake clean and rigged up a 9v battery to clean them, got them to spray a good solid stream and so I put them back in the car, started the car and voila, the misfire wasn’t there, it’s just idling at around 1800rpms so I’m thinking it’s the iac sensor but I would like your alls opinion.

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Yep sounds healthy now, good job sir. Sometimes the car will high idle on its own if you fixed an issue. Try unhooking the battery to reset ecu settings, it may be idling high thinking the previous issue you fixed is still there

As mentioned make sure the fuel injector o rings are seated and not causing a vacuum leak

Depending on how much you adjusted on the car you will want to double check the simple things now to lower the idle before you replace parts

Check to make sure the throttle body is fully closed, while the car is running try to push the throttle body closed. Some times the throttle cable can get out of adjustment and drag the throttle body open a little bit

Make sure the car doesnt have any vacuum leaks under the throttle body to the egr valve or the evap system
 
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