Apologies if this is in the wrong forum, wasn't sure ifn it went here on in the 2nd Gen, I understand if you move it

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Here's the saga...
Bought this TS Auto Wagon from a car yard in Sep, normally I would'nt buy a car from a yard, but my wife spotted it & the colour drew her attentsion, had a look & the body, interior, engine bay & carrage showed the car had been extremely well looked after. New timing chain, head-gasket, rear seal in box, new right-hand tie rod & dropped from $6900 to $6100 convinced me to get it...anywho, I digress :roll:

1st up, I'm use to the old grey & red motor era, NO experience with engines with all this pollution gear & computers, so I'm hopeing for some thoughts from you more *experienced* users :pray:
When we picked up the car, it was idleing a bit high, had it for about 3 weeks & got a tune-up (dynatune), all was well when we picked it up, mechanic also removed what I'm guessing is part of the air intake - see attached pic - claiming it would help the engine run better

http://img135.imagevenue.com/loc31/th_369ae_air_intake.jpg (http://img135.imagevenue.com/img.php?loc=loc31&image=369ae_air_intake.jpg)

Next day (Saturday), noticed it was running a bit rough but put it down to being cold, on the Sunday my missus left for a weeks training @ Wollongong (3hrs away), she rang me when she got there that the car had ran like a dog, got up to between 80 & 90 k's & it felt like when you get a "flat spot" in a carby engine...but of course this is the 2.6 EFI
Wife was talking to ppl in her course about the car, & 1 of the blokes there told her to take it to the mechanic where his wife worked, his diagnosis was the engine was WAY out've tune & needed new plugs - kudos to him, he didn't charge her - he gave it a quick/rough tune & said she'd be able to get back home @ the end of the week, but she was going on to Sydney to bring her Mum back for a visit (hoo-ray :roll: )
When she got to Sydney on the Friday evening, she rang me to say the car ran even worse & she wasn't game to drive it back home it was that bad :(
She found a mechanic @ Wenty opened on the Saturday morning who was willing to have a look, when the missus picked it up, he'd put in new plugs, told her it was running a bit better but still not 100% & said he wasn't sure...but thought it may be electrical & we're better off getting a Mitsubishi mechanic to check it over.
She got home in the afternoon & I took it for a spin, idle was eratic (neutral & gear), reverse out the drive, put it in Drive & it wanted to stall, power fluctuates & next to none under load (uphill) - could get more thrust from farting - kick-back & it would pick up (again uphill) for about 1 second.
Went & spoke to the car-yard where we'd bought it (30 day warranty), they had a look, said they figured it was injector/s & booked it in, got it back running smooth again & was told 1 injector was buggered & another blocked (remember, I know nothing about injectors or these newer type motors), idle was back to high
Had it back for about a week & I still wasn't happy - problem back, went back (to car-yard) & got their mechanic to come for a run with me, @ 1st he tried telling me it was lack of power because it was a 4 CYL, after driving 'round for about 10min, he started (reluctantly) thinking there was still a problem, started saying the CAM timing was probably out by 1 tooth from when they put in the new Timing chain in, booked back in & worked on, got it back & it ran alright again for a couple of days & then back to sh ite :(

So in summary:-

Bought car, idleing to high, had tune up & part of air intake removed
2 days later, driven 3hrs to Wollongong & drives like a dog, no power between 80 & 90 k's
Looked @ in Wollongong, rough tuneup & told needs new plugs
Driven to Sydney & looked @ with new plugs & told could be electrical
Back home it was looked @ & told 1 injector stuffed (replaced) & 1 blocked & cleaned
Looked @ again & told CAM probably out by 1 tooth from when new Timing Chain put on

Getting nowhere fast & lost ALL faith in Mechanics, next step is to book it into Mitsubishi & see what they say, NE1 here have a theory please

Okay i dont know if this well help u at all but check all the timing and idling speed at operating temperature, this may help a little bit. If you r still under their 30 day warranty take it back to them and book it into mitsubishi after (This way its free under warranty and if it doesnt solve the problem it doesnt matter cos its booked into mitsubishi) I suggest taking it to a mitsubishi specialist or magna specialist.

Cant help help u that much but sounds like u need all the help u can get, so that was my 2 cents. Good Luck

get the leads checked and replace the fuel filter

Maybe check what it was that was taken outta the air intake? just an idea but i think can cause problems, maybe not tho as it isnt doin it straight away...

i know this may be a looooooonnnng shot, but how aboot disconecting the battery for 15-20 mins and resetting the computer, if it is running fine after it has been fiddled with, but then playing up again up the road, it could be the computer trying to readjust the timing and ****ing it up brilliantly.

with efi cars, the computer can adjust the timing itself within a certain amount (only a few degrees) so if someone plays with the timing, makes it right, then the computer might start to try and adjust it and make it worse.

try it anyway, cant hurt. :)


(your wife may loose her radio presets though - sorry :rant: :bowrofl: )

Sorry for the delayed response, been out to Borroa(sp?) & the Weddin mountains with the fires

@ Magnus
After reading on the board about the fuel filters, off down the road today to get a new one :)
Hopefully that'll be it :pray:

@ FFEEkY
Loseing our presets is a small price to pay :)

Thanks all, giving me more options to try :thumbsup:

Can you make it a bit more clear exactly what the mechanic removed from the intake???

This may be the source of your problem mate....

I agree with those that query the removal of 'some part of the intake'

I had a TR 5 speed Man and removed both air-inlet resonators - ran so badly I immediately refitted them - result back to normal. (I had no particular issues at the time)

Even if you have other problems as well, the rule is to start by getting everything back to normal and proceeding from there.

Cheers, Buddy

Had a similar thing on my old TR magna 2.6 efi, basically it turned out to be the solenoid at the base of the throttle body that had sh!t itself causing too much air to be brought into the manifold, which had a shocking idle (occasional fuel smoke at the end) and it actually ran at 2,000 rpm idle when it totally packed in.
It ran rough as you mentioned initially, but was fine once warm and at running speeds , was purely like an idle solenoid.
If you have a good engine pic I can try and put a box around it for you, the pic at top of page is a bit hard to do it with!!!.
regards
Rich