Electrical Gremlins
Dec 6, 2009, 09:49 AM
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Electrical Gremlins
My car seems to have some little issues, hoping some members may have ideas.
On Monday my battery on the car died, to the point where it was no longer taking a charge. out of desperation i got a jump start. I drove it a mile up the road, died again, i got a jump took it 100m and it went dead. So just got it towed - figuring it might be a faulty Alternator, next morning swapped in a battery one kick started right up, tested for charging looked spot on. So i get the battery replaced they check the charge and say that its spot on as well. Following that the car still has a bit of hesitation and funny idle which comes when u remove the battery.
Friday the car seems to be driving ok, i take it for a bit of a spirited drive, i park up for an hour i get back in again it has the funny idle. I drive and the engine cut out i restart no problem. Next day looking into the issue i realize the trip odometer has reset, along with the radio stations. However the clock is still giving the correct time, so somewhere the day before there was a power loss. Once again the car drives with the funny idle.
That night i go to start the car and its like a weak battery. It only just gave the click from the starter. i check terminals, good strong connections i try again i get a more promising sound from the starter, i then try to look for loose connections from the battery, touching the wires seeing if anything moves, nothing does but i go back to start again and it starts right up one kick.
I am wondering if this is a grounding or connection issue or an ecu problem??
On Monday my battery on the car died, to the point where it was no longer taking a charge. out of desperation i got a jump start. I drove it a mile up the road, died again, i got a jump took it 100m and it went dead. So just got it towed - figuring it might be a faulty Alternator, next morning swapped in a battery one kick started right up, tested for charging looked spot on. So i get the battery replaced they check the charge and say that its spot on as well. Following that the car still has a bit of hesitation and funny idle which comes when u remove the battery.
Friday the car seems to be driving ok, i take it for a bit of a spirited drive, i park up for an hour i get back in again it has the funny idle. I drive and the engine cut out i restart no problem. Next day looking into the issue i realize the trip odometer has reset, along with the radio stations. However the clock is still giving the correct time, so somewhere the day before there was a power loss. Once again the car drives with the funny idle.
That night i go to start the car and its like a weak battery. It only just gave the click from the starter. i check terminals, good strong connections i try again i get a more promising sound from the starter, i then try to look for loose connections from the battery, touching the wires seeing if anything moves, nothing does but i go back to start again and it starts right up one kick.
I am wondering if this is a grounding or connection issue or an ecu problem??
Dec 6, 2009, 11:02 AM
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I would check your battery wires follow your neg. and see if its properly grounded. maybe your starter went to hell.. very unlikely but it is a possibility...
Dec 7, 2009, 08:08 PM
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If when it wouldn't start you get one solid click when you turn the key, it's your starter going up. The coils in the start heat up and can not make a good contact.
If when you try to start the car it just makes a fast repetitive clicking noise, the battery doesn't have enough power to start the car. This could be a weak battery from age or drastic change in temperature, or the alternator could be failing to charge the battery up properly.
Once a mitsu battery dies and it has to be jumped or replaced to get the car going they may exhibit poor idle characteristics as you have described. To try to fix this, try removing your throttle body and give it a thorough cleaning carefully removing the IAC and cleaning out it's port and any carbon build up on the pintle. Mitsubishis have a learned value stored in the ECU for IAC step position/count and when the battery dies it resets it back to original parameters. By cleaning the throttle body and IAC and ports, you are removing any carbon build up and hopefully returning these parts closer to how they were new which will work best with how the computer is responding. Keep an eye on your engine temps if you have to disconnect any coolant lines at the throttle body as this creates a chance for a air pocket to enter the cooling system. A new throttle body gasket would be a good idea as well.
I would try this and see if it fixes your problem. Good luck.
If when you try to start the car it just makes a fast repetitive clicking noise, the battery doesn't have enough power to start the car. This could be a weak battery from age or drastic change in temperature, or the alternator could be failing to charge the battery up properly.
Once a mitsu battery dies and it has to be jumped or replaced to get the car going they may exhibit poor idle characteristics as you have described. To try to fix this, try removing your throttle body and give it a thorough cleaning carefully removing the IAC and cleaning out it's port and any carbon build up on the pintle. Mitsubishis have a learned value stored in the ECU for IAC step position/count and when the battery dies it resets it back to original parameters. By cleaning the throttle body and IAC and ports, you are removing any carbon build up and hopefully returning these parts closer to how they were new which will work best with how the computer is responding. Keep an eye on your engine temps if you have to disconnect any coolant lines at the throttle body as this creates a chance for a air pocket to enter the cooling system. A new throttle body gasket would be a good idea as well.
I would try this and see if it fixes your problem. Good luck.
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