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MANY NEW PARTS LATER AND CAR STILL WONT START! NEED HELP!

1K views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  bobby5.0 
#1 · (Edited)
Hello, I'm having a problem with the car. It will not start and run. Just cranks. I am completely out of ideas at this point so any help or ideas on what to try next would be extremely appreciated!!

the car: 2000 fed spec Eclipse GT with manual trans.

Car has 145k on body, does not have original engine.

I have only put about 2k miles on it since buying. ran good overall, just had a rough idle. As i am all about preventative maintenance, I decided to do a full tune up on the car.

Initial observations:

car had original timing belt, original plug wires, cap and rotor. the belt especially gave me the inclination that the engine probably has between 80 and 100k miles on it.

Parts replaced:

Full timing set (new gates belt, new water pump, new idlers, and new hydraulic tensioner)

While I was there, I went ahead and changed the cam and crank seals.

After getting the timing cover back on i installed a new power steering pump and lightweight aluminum underdrive crank pulley along with new serpentine belts.

Then i moved back up top where i replaced valve cover gaskets, and did an ignition tune up consisting of ngk iridium spark plugs, vms racing brand 10mm plug wires, beck arnley distributor cap and rotor.

Since i was in no hurry, i decided to do a GTS upper intake swap as i already had the upper intake off anyway. I thoroughly researched the swap to make sure i didn't miss anything needed to make it work correctly. as part of it i did the egr delete, plugging the exhaust manifold and installing a breather on the egr tube from the intake. after the intake swap was complete, i also installed a cold air intake setup.

What happened (THE PROBLEM):

After everything was finished (car sat for approximately 2 months), i started the car. it had a slight fluctuation in the idle, which i just chalked up to the ecu having to adapt to the increased air flow. I had the car idling for 20-25 minutes while i topped of the coolant and power steering. Then it was time for a test drive. I made it about a mile before the car acted as though it was running out of gas. It died and i had to coast it off the road. The car had very little gas, so i assumed what little was in it when i put it in the garage initially had potentially evaporated out. I put gas in the car. it did nothing but crank over. had to drag the car back to the house and put it back in the garage.

Steps taken toward FIXING the problem and getting the car to run:

First, I had my gf crank it over while i had the fuel return line pulled off. it squirted a decent amount of gas as soon as she started cranking it over so i ruled out the fuel pump failing.

the next day i tried the key just to see what would happen. car started for 5 seconds then died. tried the key again. just cranks. I then pulled a spark plug. it was wet with gas, leading me to believe it was an ignition problem. my dad grounded the plug on the intake manifold while i cranked it. the plug had good spark. this led me to believe i may have an issue with the distributor. i did some research and found a thread where a guy did a diamante intake swap and had a similar incident where it idled fine, then died on him while test driving. his solution ended up being replacing the distributor. i decided it was worth a shot. I installed a brand new distributor assembly from o'reilly's. after i got it done and the battery tray, battery, and air intake reinstalled, i tried the key. car started almost instantly, revved to aprox. 1500- 2k rpms (normal on initial start for most cars) then died just a few seconds later.

took the next step, as the entire ignition system is now brand new. i replaced the crankshaft position sensor as it was the only thing still "old" on the face of the engine. while i was there, i double checked that the timing marks were still lined up which they were. got that done, tried the key. just cranks. left battery unhooked overnight, tried key again today. just cranks. tried starting fluid in the throttle body just to make sure it was not a fuel issue. it made no difference. car still just cranks over.

I am completely at a loss at this point. my next guess is to try fuel pump but honestly know that i am just throwing money at it beyond this point without further insight. any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
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#4 ·
I have only pulled one plug so far, it was wet with gas and then when grounded it had good spark. no check engine light, hooked up obd2 scanner anyway and got nothing. when key is turned starter will engage and crank normally, just refuse to fire. keep in mind like I said it has brand new NGK iridium spark spark plugs, brand new wires, and whole new distributor assembly. which relay are you talking about? is it under the dash? I couldn't see any relevant relays in the fuse box under the hood. and thank u for taking the time to read and reply!
 
#6 ·
I have had the battery unhooked several times, and can't get it to start and run long enough to throw a code. I have only borrowed the scanner once but since then have still not seen a check light come on and stay on. and yes grounds are connected, to my knowledge there is 4 small wires the come out of the harness than goes across the intake which are hooked up, one from the backside to the fire wall, then the primary ground to block which has been replaced and I added an additional ground awhile back from negative directly to body so should be grounded well. but I was considering adding a ground from negative directly to the intake where the 4 small ground wires attach since I know their purpose to to ground the sensors on the intake.
 
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