Hey allz, im having some small problems with my 89 TP, the first one the car overheated, and i found that the thermo fan temp. switch was faulty so bought another one at the wreckers for $10, (vs autobarn $70 hehe) it works fine now,

1) but i bought a radiator cap from autobarn, is it the wrong one? it squeeals when the engine is hot, and the water doesnt return when cooled down.

2) sometimes the car wont start, i suspect a loose wire on the starter motor, as i cant hear the solenoid click in, i checked with a multimeter, power getting there ok but i cant seem to catch it when its not starting lol, is there anything else in the circuit between the solenoid and relay?

thanx for ideas in advance :D

try and return that radiator cap

the one you need must allow the coolant to flow in and out

check you thermostat... give the radiator a good flush

starting problems

metal bolt on terminals

clean off corrosion at earth points

check continuity along the live wire to the starter

inside the starter has plastic parts they may have broken

Thanx MB,

yeah the radiator cap looks different to the old one, a single seal, but the old one had a double seal, hmm it looks like the cap. i will go over the connections, gee its hard to get to the starter motor lol.

oh one more point, it stalls when you do a combo of things, full wheel lock and stick it in gear. (its auto) it seems to get a lot of drag in gear, is there an adjustment? or are the revs just too low? its sits at about 850 out of gear, but in gear about 500, and with full lock, well zero hehe.

thanx in advance:D

Starting issue is 99% the solonoid, if the gears inside are broken it simply will not work.

The stalling issue, clean your throttle body, check your rotor and cap, plugs into tb and dist. The rubber boots on these perish and then the terminals corrode.

Thanx MM,

Umm, i dont think the solenoid was even powering up, cos normally, the dash lights would dimm when the solenoid energises, even if the main power connections are bad right? and when i put my multimeter in the spade lug, suddenly it started, so i am suspecting a bad connection on the spade lug. i want to go for the easy checks first, hmm looks like a hard job to get the starter motor out, is it accessed easier from the bottom? id hate to remove the EFI manifold.

With the stalling, when the steering booster is under load, eg full lock, + put into drive, sometimes it stalls, i noticed though, that there is a lot of drag from th gear box, the car lurches when put into drive, and you seariously gotta keep the foot on the brake, its a lot more drag, than my other 2 autos (both mitsubishi).

stepper motor on the throttle body

make sure it retracts as you start the car

pluss stuff above

Since it is an auto, there is a neutral safety switch that disables the starter when the transmission is not in neutral or park. Sometimes the switch needs slight adjustment. I often have to jiggle the transmission lever when starting mine if the starter doesn't work immediately.

The starter can be taken out without removing anything else. It isn't easy but, working from the top, once you undo the two mounting bolts, you can manoeuvre it out beween the transmission and the cooling hoses etc.

If you can hear the soloniod click then the issue is inside the solonoid, at the contact end there is a contact that supplies power to the starter, the process in short involves, you give it juice, the soloniod pulls back which engages the drive gear, then when it reaches the end it contacts and supplies juice to the starter itself and off it goes. These contacts after time start to get burnt and thus do not contact.

Starter is very easy to remove, 2 14mm head bolts on the bell housing, the support bracket for the inlet needs to be moved, take out the bolt on top, loosen the bold down bottom and swing out of the way