G'day im new here,
i have an 89 TP magna fuel injected.
and im having alot of trouble getting it started, so please help if you can.. :cool:
It was running fine the last time i drove it, then dad got in to move it across the yard and it stalled when he started it the first time, next time it was ok, but when i went to drive it the next day it wouldn't start.
we started off checkingthe plugs which were fine. the leads, one of which was stuffed so i bought a whole new set. the coil which i thought must have been stuffed was ok. the distributor rotor had the locator lug on the inside of it broken off so that was replaced, i tested the power transistor which at the time i thought tested dodgy so i replaced it, but it was ok too. i used the self diagnosis plug yesterday which indicated no faults. i've checked for air leaks between airflow sensor and engine, all ok. it's getting fuel, i can tell by the smell and also the vapour from the plug hole when doing spark test, not sure if its too much on not enough fuel, so could be a problem there. i cleaned the air filter, checked for leaks around plenum chamber, there was one, but is now fixed.
My battery was kinda okay, but is now completely shagged, which i've heard the ECI needs a minimum voltage to work properly, but even with jumper leads and i big battery it won't go.
A guy at work today suggested it could be the automatic choke, as his brother had the same problem on his magna.
i haven't yet tested the ECI, i'll look at that tommorow

Appreciated the help,
Cheers, Dan.

yep battery is your best bet. Ensure that your exhaust pipe and air intake is NOT blocked up. Might wanna check your fuel pump and fuel filter while you're at it. Good luck !

A guy at work today suggested it could be the automatic choke, as his brother had the same problem on his magna.
i haven't yet tested the ECI, i'll look at that tommorow

Appreciated the help,
Cheers, Dan.
efi magna dont have automatic chokes only carbys either way i couldnt see that stopin it from cracking over

with the battury, when you crank it over does it sound like the starter motor dies off if so chances are it is the battury if it doesnt it should be fine

if its manual try push starting it if you can if it goes then maybe check things like the start motor

hmm i cant really thing of any thing else as youve done most the stuff i would have said

yeah, the efi's start immediately, ecu compensates for everything at key start.

thanks,
It cranks over alright, just doesn't fire. i'll occasionaly get a pop from it but thats it.
in the manual it says i have to depressurise the fuel system before working on the filter etc, and to do so i need to have the engine running. is there any other way i can do this without the engine running.
mine is automatic and yes when it turns over it revs a bit then stops and revs and......... so seems like the battery there.
how do i check if my exhaust pipe/air intake isn't blocked, what would block it?
after my post b4 dad informs me that only carby engine have a choke.... doh :D

serious head scratching stuff

your cat could be blocked, if its factory, then it could well be blocked.
air intake not much could block it, just makes the car guts more fuel the more choked the filter is.

...in the manual it says i have to depressurise the fuel system before working on the filter etc, and to do so i need to have the engine running. is there any other way i can do this without the engine running.
If you don't de-pressurise, the fuel lines will still have some pressure
and the petrol will squirt everywhere when you first open a banjo.

So don't smoke when doing it!! :P

You dont lose too much fuel when changing the fuel filter with a presurised system.. dont worry too much about it... as mentioned before.. just dont smoke..

Its only a safety feature :P

Try cleaning your distributor cap.

Try cleaning your distributor cap.
Done that...
the points are worn a bit, at what point should they be replaced, and would that be a problem?

Done that...
the points are worn a bit, at what point should they be replaced, and would that be a problem?
Your Magna does not have "points".

(Only old fogies like your dad would know what real 'points' in the dizzy mean. lol )


Dizzy cap could be cracked or gunked up which leaks electricity.
Could be worth cleaning it up and making sure its doing its job ok.

Your Magna does not have "points".

(Only old fogies like your dad would know what real 'points' in the dizzy mean. lol )


Dizzy cap could be cracked or gunked up which leaks electricity.
Could be worth cleaning it up and making sure its doing its job ok.

LOL ok, i guess it's obvious that i really dont know what im talking about but atleast im having a go instead of just sending it to the dealer, which i can't afford btw :confused:

I've given the dissy the once over and can't see any cracks, i scraped some of that stuff off those things inside the dissy.
maybe i should replace the plugs too.

I had a similar problem with my second gen and it was found to be that the 5th piston wasn't blasting. I shot down to the mechanics and hooked up new plugs, dizzy cap and cables and it went like a rocket. Hope that helps.

Does it attempt to catch for 2-7, then stall?

If so, I'd agree with Astron Boy. The cat has collapsed, and blocked.

(Yes. It happened to me. Twice now, on two cars)

could be a number of things. A car will still start and run even if the cat is collapsed. It just looses alot of power.

Could be : fuel pump/pressure reg
dizzy cap/rotor button
effects module (in dizzy)
ecu
tps
air flow meter
plugs/leads
or any other sensor on the car. a vacuum line may have even come
off somewhere
it could even be something inside the engine has failed,

Easiest way to find it is to take it to a workshop and have them diagnos the problem then fix it yourself.

One thing to try hold the throttle wide open and try starting it.
BTW efi cars do have an automatic choke, hence the reason they idle high when there cold.
alot of people refer to it as cold start. In most cases they have a cold start injector and restrict the bypassed air into the engine when its cold. Or they have an enrichenment circuit for cold start. all in all its still "chokes the car" but does it "automatically".
Otherwise the car would run like a bag of turd if it ran rich enough for cold start all the time

I removed the fuel filter, a little fuel dribbled out without depressurising, but no big deal.
the colour of the gunk that came out of it suggests that it needs replacing, about $40 from supercheap for a new one.
i'm also going to buy a new battery tommorow, what CCA should the battery have, and is it wise to go a bit more CCA/plates than reccomended? as the suggested type in the shop looks quite small?, is standard duty ok or should i go heavy duty?

I removed the fuel filter, a little fuel dribbled out without depressurising, but no big deal.
the colour of the gunk that came out of it suggests that it needs replacing, about $40 from supercheap for a new one.
i'm also going to buy a new battery tommorow, what CCA should the battery have, and is it wise to go a bit more CCA/plates than reccomended? as the suggested type in the shop looks quite small?, is standard duty ok or should i go heavy duty?

How often do you use the car? (If alot I would pay the extra $ and get heavy)

Are you/do you use it out in the bush? ( If yes go heavy duty)

Least you know it will last longer.

ALWAYS heavy duty mate - only use standard in little cars like hatchbacks and stuff, go for the highest CCA's you can afford, but at least the recommended CCA of course! - if you have an aftermarket sound system, it is wise to have a high CCA battery - mine is 480CCA in a 2000 KJ Verada, tis a big son of a b!tch, but if I ever have trouble starting, it will crank over for a fair while !

I removed the fuel filter, a little fuel dribbled out without depressurising, but no big deal.
the colour of the gunk that came out of it suggests that it needs replacing, about $40 from supercheap for a new one.
i'm also going to buy a new battery tommorow, what CCA should the battery have, and is it wise to go a bit more CCA/plates than reccomended? as the suggested type in the shop looks quite small?, is standard duty ok or should i go heavy duty?
bigger is better i say. ive got the yellow top optima in my tp but u wont find them for under $300 if ur lucky. i got mine new foe 150 cos i know the bloke and the money went to there xmas piss up so i got a new one with warrenty , i was stoked cos normally he charges $350

Exide make a 550cca batery called e550h. there a good heavy duty battery and there only about $120. Ive got one in my tf, works a treat.

YAY it works :thumbsup:
I bought my new battery and fuel filter from Burson auto parts, which mind you was much cheaper than super cheap. I ended up getting a Century battery with 305 CCA, which i think is reccomended size, anyway it was about $80 and a similar price at supercheap would only get a no-name type :disgusted . i have a basic aftermarket sound system that doesn't use a lot of power, but i do have 4 driving lights, which are of course off 2 seperate switches so i only ever use one at a time. maybe a bigger alternator is on the cards.

The diagnosis, i don't for one moment think it was one single problem, more like a mixture of problems caused by owner neglect :doh:

anyway here's what i Fixed etc.
-Distributor rotor was broken somehow, so it was replaced.
-Power transistor, which i thought was stuffed but was ok.
-Full set of new high tension leads, one from the old set was almost fully open circuit.
-Coil, which i thought was stuffed so i bought a new one but it tested the same as old one so it was returned unused, turns out i must have been using the wrong service manual.
-cleaned the air filter, it was pretty dirty, but wouldn't prevent it from starting
-One of the hoses to the f/inj plenum was perrished and fell off, so that was fixed.
-Fuel Filter replaced, it hadn't been replaced in atleast the last 40,000 km's, and was quite dirty.
-New battery, the old one was a bit dodgy, but i killed it completely over the last few weeks of trying to start the car, even with a second battery and jumpers.

Anyway it now runs the best it has in a long time, and i've also found a few other things that need repairing too, not only that i've learnt the hard way not to just change the oil and filter every 10,000k's or so.
it feels good to finally drive my own car again after about a month of borrowing my dads 4wd.

A big Thank You to you guys who provided much needed advice to me, it helped heaps, Cheers.

Dan. :cool:

Hey guys, i need some help again, about a month back my magna stopped again, this time i was driving it to work and the engine momentarily stopped, then a minute later it stopped completely. So i've been hunting around trying to find the problem, but with no luck.
The way it stopped reminded me of running out of fuel, so after i towed it home i checked the entire fuel system, the tank is full, the pump works, the filter is new, regulator works fine, injectors passed the test. But, there is no smell of fuel coming out the exhaust, could this mean it is the ECU not operating the injectors?
the battery is still new, all fuses etc. are fine as far as i can tell.
i thought that maybe the cat has collapsed, like someone mentioned a while ago, but i wouldn't be able to feel puffs of air out the exhaust, would I? i was going to take it out, but the nuts are rusted on, so i'll come back to that if one of you guys think i should.
I'm going to go take a plug out and see if any fuel vapour is present when i crank it over.

any other suggestions or ideas to what the problem is would be great.

Thanks,
Dan.

Yep, no fuel vapour in the cylinders and also no spark when i crank it over.
now i'm pretty sure it's the computer.
anyone have any idea what one is worth? for an 89 tp magna.

thanks.
Dan. :cool:

Your Magna does not have "points".

(Only old fogies like your dad would know what real 'points' in the dizzy mean. lol )


Dizzy cap could be cracked or gunked up which leaks electricity.
Could be worth cleaning it up and making sure its doing its job ok.


Hey I know what points are,......O....I see your point......errr carry on then lol

Everyone else seems to be on top of this one so this Ol' Foggy.....errrr Fart will say nothin :D

Yep, no fuel vapour in the cylinders and also no spark when i crank it over.
now i'm pretty sure it's the computer.
anyone have any idea what one is worth? for an 89 tp magna.
thanks.
Dan. :cool:

I have seen a Magna unable to start because of a faulty ignition switch. When the car was in the "ON" position all was fine but when cranking it the contact was broken for the ignition yet the starter motor kicked over no problems. We worked around it by leaving the ignition on and bridging the starter motor solenoid with a screwdriver and away she went.... well to Mitsubishi for a new ignition switch! FWIW - that was a TP.

I have seen a Magna unable to start because of a faulty ignition switch. When the car was in the "ON" position all was fine but when cranking it the contact was broken for the ignition yet the starter motor kicked over no problems. We worked around it by leaving the ignition on and bridging the starter motor solenoid with a screwdriver and away she went.... well to Mitsubishi for a new ignition switch! FWIW - that was a TP.

Sound familiar, but that wouldn't stop the supply of fuel through the injectors would it?
is there any way to check if it is the ignition switch?

Thanks,
Dan.

Well i fixed the problem, this time it was the distributor, it turns out i damaged the cover plate in the top of the distributor when i was looking around for problem last time it broke down, and this in time killed the sensor in there which stopped the signal for fuel and spark.
complete reconditioned distributor assemly from bursons $132.

Cheers.