My mum drives an auto 92 UF Nimbus. About a year or so ago we had an incident with the gearbox (pin bearing collapse and domino effect) which resulted in our car of the road for a week, with a new gearbox (and the same gears). That ended up costing about $2k-$3k.

A few days ago I was with mum, and while going round a roundabout the ignition cut out, and most of the dash lights came on (ie fuel etc). This had never happened before! So we start her up again and she sounds a bit weird, and we decided to take her home to see what dad says. Dad comes home, and says we should take it to Skipper Mitsubishi (where it was bought from and is serviced, and who did the gearbox).

He takes it there the next day, and they service it and say they'd like to run a diagnostic check on it. Dad gets a call later on saying they didnt run the diagnostic because they found the idling speed for the engine was wrong. So they fix that up, and send him home with a $230 minor service bill. All is good . . . apparently!

The next morning is my English Lit exam, so i get in the car, and as mum's reversing i can hear somethings not wrong - the tacho keeps dropping on its own accord. So we sat there watching it idle at 750rpm, then it would drop way below 500rpm, then back up to 750rpm, and down again. This is one sick car! (not to mention how stressed i was about the exam).

We called Skippers again, and they said that like it overnight to test it fully. Oh the pain! Can any of you smart mitsu-tech-heads think what could be causing this problem?

well from the sounds of it its something to do with your air sensor/ecu. Probably more likely your ecu considering all the lights flashing. Seems as though the ecu is unable to read the air flow and hence is just sitting there trying to keep the engine going.

well from the sounds of it its something to do with your air sensor/ecu. Probably more likely your ecu considering all the lights flashing. Seems as though the ecu is unable to read the air flow and hence is just sitting there trying to keep the engine going.

Yes that sounds very right. specially when its idling so odd... my money is on GaMiSou's theory ;)

or the air sensor isn't plugged in!!

we forgot to attach the hose after changing my mates gearbox and it idled real bad before dying!!

Manual

Not good peoples! The idling motor has carked it! (or thats what Skippers told us). $660 for a reconditioned one with three months warrenty, $1100 for a brand new one with two years warrenty. The folks have decided to get a new one put in for the long run. Add this to the $4000 that the gearbox cost us (thats the actual figure) and you have to wonder if its worth it? All those japanese imports (Toyota Estema) are driving down the value of these cars. Oh well.

that is truely harsh :(

excuse my ignorance, but how many motors does a car have under the bonnet?

several motors - 1 engine - i think!!! i dunno!! it is all too hard!!

Manual

you idiot manual :P

1x main engine
1x water pump
1x power steering pump
1x oil pump
1x something pump
1x something else pump

oh, and the thiggin pump.

yeh the Idle Speed Control Motors(ISC) is a pretty common fault with the mitsu's . If you have a spare one one around (most mitsu dealers would as they are always being replaced ) you can determine which coil is the faulty one in the ISC motor, dismantle and unsolder it and then swap it with one from the spare ISC. There is 4 coils in the motor and it is usually only one that open circuits. Description is a bit vague but if you ask a decent mechanic or dealer to do it, it may save you a shit load of money. It's how we help our customers out as the genuine price is ludicrous.

thanks scubasteve - i showed my dad the post, and when he picks up the car tomorrow hes gonna ask for the old ISC, and if they refuse (so that they can break em down, fix em, and re-sell) he's gonna kick up a fuss :lol: .

we never resold em, we just swapped em over to get the customer out a bind, only charged the 20 minutes labour it takes to swap it over.

ever worked on a nimbus? very cramped in there. I remember it cost $90 installation charge for a $9 part.

Yeah my magna has the same problem if you switch it off and leave it for 10 minutes then start it somtimes the idle is all funny and its shit but even when you try to accelerate the engine just doesnt want to go so i dont think my problem is the ICS motor , i got mitsubishi to run a diagnostic and they think its my computer which i thought so too

Right now im a bit annoyed. We finally got our car back, but when dad asked them for the motor, they said "It's yours for $75". Dad asked them and they said that they had it "sent away for assessment". If we were going to put a new idling motor in, why send it away for testing?

nah man dont accept that - if you paid for a new one they have no right to keep the old one - its yours remember !
i would tell them you want it back otherwise contact consumer affairs or something cos it sounds pretty damn dodgy to me!! sounds like they see some value in keeping your old part and wanna keep it - unless they genuinely discounted down the new part as a changeover or something (doubt it!)