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GVR-4 Intermittent no start, I'm stumped

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Nate355RS

Proven Member
446
50
Oct 25, 2012
Salem, Virginia
I have Galant VR4 and I can't seem to find the cause of an intermittent no start. When I try to crank it one of three things happens:

1. Nothing.
2. I hear the relays click but the starter doesn't turn
3. It fires right up

If it doesn't turn over I just keep turning the key off and on until it finally cranks. I've checked the starters and relays and they seem to be good, so I'm thinking it's something to do with the Apexi turbo timer the previous owner installed.

I attached a pic of the turbo timer wiring. The black and blue connector above my hand is coming straight from the ignition switch. The white wires at the bottom of the connector are spliced into the blue, red, green and white wires in my hand. Red always has 12volts, blue and green only have 12volts when the key is turned to on. Not sure if this is how it's suppose to be hooked up or if it's my actual problem, so I'm open to any help you guys can offer.
 

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Mine is doing the same thing. I also have a turbo timer installed.
 
Can anyone tell me if that's a plug and play harness? Looks custom to me and I'm not sure how to uninstall the TT so I can see if that's the problem.
 
Was it at to mt swapped at any time? I had the same exact problem
 
I believe is because the car will start with the clutch disengaged. But I couldn't find the clutch safety switch or the connector for it, I assume it's fairly well hidden or the previous owner removed it.
 
The switch is down on the pedal assembly and bypassing it is simply hooking the wires together. The problem is likely elsewhere in the system but I'd check the bypass connection first before chasing anything else. I had one a few weeks ago that was doing what yours is doing and it was the clutch switch bypass connection.
 
Is the switch normally open or closed? I found one switch that is closed when the clutch is disengaged but opens as soon as the pedal is pressed. I think that's for the cruise control cutoff but I'm not sure.
 
Yea that should be for cruise iirc and the safety switch on the bottom of the clutch pedal stroke. If it's bypassed the switch probably isn't there but you can look at the pedal and see the tab that would have pressed it and find the switch location and wires.
 
Is it connected directly to the clutch pedal or is it on/close to the firewall? Sorry for the ignorance, I've never seen a stock version of one on these cars so it's a little hard figuring out where things were when they were stock vs. where they are now.
 
It's not on the pedal, it's on the pedal assembly. There is a tab that protrudes off the pedal to contact the switch. Your switch is probably gone so you're just looking for the threaded boss on the assembly where it used to be.
 
The clutch safety switch is bypassed and doesn't look like that's what causing the problem. I also bypassed the turbo timer and it didn't fix it so it looks like it's something down stream of the timer. Any clue where the power goes after it gets past the turbo timer? Or is there anything else specific you think might cause this?
 
I thought mine was the solenoid and think it still might be. I redid my negative battery terminal and seems to start every time. Just today it did it again. I will Prob swap the starter solenoid and starter the one I'm using is from AutoZone and has a warranty. This is what I replaced last year when I first started having the problem only solved it for X amount of starts.
 
The starter and solenoid are new and tested good. Not sure what the trigger wire is.

Following sounds I found out that if I turn the key slowly I can hear two sets of relays clicking. Soon as the key turns a little a round relay near the fuse box always clicks. Then when I turn the key a little more one of the relays in the attached pic always clicks. Sometimes that's all that happens. Other times I hear a large relay somewhere behind the radio click. And other times I hear that large relay click and I hear power get to the starter but it doesn't turn over. And other times I hear all the relays click and it fires right up. Not sure if that makes sense, but the problem seems to be between the starter and the ignition switch. Maybe one of the previous owners tapped an ignition wire as a keyed power source and whatever it is pulls just enough draw to cause this mess?
 

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It's done this with two different starters and solenoids on it. I replaced it earlier in the week and had Advance bench test it this time to make sure it worked before I put it on. It's possible it's a bad solenoid, but with it doing this with two different starters and bench testing correctly I'm not to sure. It's there another way to check?

What's voltage does the solenoid need to trigger the starter?
 
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