me and my mate were about to install an alarm system onto my TH Magna, so we probed a few wires to check what was ignition etc etc, and part of this installation was going to be a car-start system, so we tried powering the ignition without the key in the ignition...

NOW... the car will crank over and start for about 2-5 secs then die... if i try to start again it will just crank over.. if i take the key out then back in, the car will do the exact same thing.

it seems the longer i leave it, the longer the car will run without dieing, but it still barely reaches 5 secs...

any ideas? could one of the sensors have gone and this is just a major coincedence? or have we triggered some sort of anti-theft system? any help would be great coz my dad has gone away for the week so i got no wheels at all!

cheers!

Sounds like it is your immobiliser kicking in and cutting the engine.

The reason I say this, is because, the standard immobiliser works in conjunction with your key.

Your key has a small "chip" in it, programmed with a code that will only work with your car. The ignition barrel contains a reader for this "chip". If there is a problem with this system the immobiliser will activate and cut the engine.

Could be the problem....:confused:

Its hard to say what whats wrong but I would be close to 100% sure that you have damged something in the electronics while you were doing your moduification. These electronics are very sensitive to any stray voltage or current. Your best bet (before you do any more damage would be to take it to a mechanic who can access the fault codes from the cars computer. Its not a hard job if you know what you are doing. I am not trying to make you feel bad but the electronics side of any modern car is an area where you must be sure of what you are doing before you go mucking around. Hopefully you may have only blown a fuse or an important circuit has been broken or shorted out. As I said hard to tell. Good luck.

Nigel

yeah thats the only thing we can think of.... when we probed the wires we were only using an LED test light with an built-in circuit breaker, so nothing would have been shorted or fried, and once we were done, all the wires were taped back up so everything is as how it was before.... aRGAhHGHGG!!!

but i also thought that if the immobiliser was cutting it, it wouldn't let u even crank the engine?

Your best bet (before you do any more damage would be to take it to a mechanic who can access the fault codes from the cars computer. Its not a hard job if you know what you are doing.
ummm... the car doesn't move :cry: i'd raather not tow it at this point... i think thats the last option


I am not trying to make you feel bad but the electronics side of any modern car is an area where you must be sure of what you are doing before you go mucking around.
my mate is a proffesional alarm installer (thats his job!) and has installed this system on many other cars without this problem....


Hopefully you may have only blown a fuse or an important circuit has been broken or shorted out. As I said hard to tell. Good luck.

well... we checked EVERY fuse in the car but they were all fine.... everything else works 100% perfect! :cry: :cry:

Do you know how to access the fault codes ?

unfortunatly only mitsubishi dealers have access to the MUT-II device that lets u diagnose everything... which is also what u need to fix everything that is described in the workshop manual

did u call the raa but 60% off the time it is the other end of the car makeing the problem

no, unfortunatly i'm not a member of the RAA...

Ive got a TE, I dont know how much different it is to a TH in terms of fault diagnostic codes, but if you have a Gregories manual you can access the fault codes. Its not terribly difficult. If I can remeber correctly you short out a couple of pins in the diagnostic connector and then the engine symbol on the dash flashes in a particular way. These flashes are then checked against the code in the manual and relate directly to what fault exists. All I can imagine that Mitsu do is have a an interface that diectly tells you in plain english what the fault is. No need to interpret the flash codes against a book.

Nigel

thanks nigel, i might have to check that out!



i also noticed 2much lurking around these forums, if i remember u had the same problem a while ago?

um my car / computer has been playing up recently, i'm very sure it's something to do with the chip reader. cause i'll turn the ignition and it will just crank and not fire. it's crap!

I have tried a few things, but i'm going to order a new key from mitsu (i didn't get a spare when i bought it)

But the last thing that made it work was an overnight ECu reset. disconnect the battery overnight, and then try again, my car works fine once it's started, it's just the starting injector sequence that seems to be stopped by the inbuilt immobliser.

i think it's time to upgrade to a wolf 3d. and get some positive mainfold pressure, (well it's on my mind. no more of this crazy mitsu computer!)

at least your car will start!! mine sucks...

i left the battery disconnected overnight, but it still did the same thing in the morning, might have run for a little longer, but that was it..... it seems the longer i leave it, the longer it will run before shutting off.

it's strange. cause when mine was playing up it wouldn't start.
it never stopped working.. neway.

have you tried making everything back to standard and trying again?
other then that i'm not sure. (i hate when your car does start. i think that i have been close to kicking in a panel) due to frustration

it's strange. cause when mine was playing up it wouldn't start.
it never stopped working.. neway.

have you tried making everything back to standard and trying again?
other then that i'm not sure. (i hate when your car does start. i think that i have been close to kicking in a panel) due to frustration

yeah everything is back to standard... we didn't even get to install the alarm... just probed wires...


although i did just have a brain-wave.... anyone else ran out of fuel after installing white dials? i'm not sure how the fuel gauge and warning light works on these, but i installed them about a week ago... and the fuel gauge is pretty low... would it be enough to make a difference?

Ive got a TE, I dont know how much different it is to a TH in terms of fault diagnostic codes, but if you have a Gregories manual you can access the fault codes. Its not terribly difficult. If I can remeber correctly you short out a couple of pins in the diagnostic connector and then the engine symbol on the dash flashes in a particular way. These flashes are then checked against the code in the manual and relate directly to what fault exists. All I can imagine that Mitsu do is have a an interface that diectly tells you in plain english what the fault is. No need to interpret the flash codes against a book.

Nigel


i don't have the gregorys manual, but i have the workshop manual (which tells u to use the MUT-II) i can remember seeing something like u were describing before.. does anyone know where to find this in the workshop manual?

yeah everything is back to standard... we didn't even get to install the alarm... just probed wires...


although i did just have a brain-wave.... anyone else ran out of fuel after installing white dials? i'm not sure how the fuel gauge and warning light works on these, but i installed them about a week ago... and the fuel gauge is pretty low... would it be enough to make a difference?
Oooh dear, a few times I have pulled my hair out trying to get to the bottom of a suspected engine/electrical problem only to find there was too little fuel or dodgy sender. Might have to resort to leg power and get $5 worth of fuel and potentially save yourself time and bigger bucks...good luck!!!

yeah i guess so... these legs could use a walk... i'm just REALLY hoping this is the problem... i don't want to have to patch up any holes in the wall like it did when i lost my license :doubt:

but if anyone else has ANY clues feel free to add them to my list of things to check! i hate not having a car, and it hasn't even been a whole day yet!!

anyone? :confused: :doubt: :cry:

ill ask around, lucky your on holidays aye ;)

this is a problem that i am all to familiar with

the factory imobiliser is an absloute pain, a simmilar thing happend to my ts at one stage, it turned out the factory imobiliser had severely shat itself, thing was, mitsu told me the dam thing wasnt even there!

thing had me stumped for ages

ok, the "Brains" for the imobiliser lives on the back of the ecu mounting (you have to take out the ecu to get to it) now, the ts one is fairly simple, it cuts 2 circuits, so 2 wire joiners later the car was running again, if your not real good at electronics and stuff it may be a job for the auto sparky, just ring them first and tell em whats up, if they dont know what it is straight away hang up, they will just stuff you around ( it took me a few electricians to work out my problem)

ill ask around, lucky your on holidays aye ;)

yeah i guess, although it would b nice to be able to drive.... and petrol is cheap for once! ahwell i could use the exercise!

I have heard something about the factory immobiliser that when it shuts down it does stuff similar to this - but i heard that its triggered if you try to start the car with the wrong key.. so maybe by trying to start it without a key at all has triggered it..
i think you need to take it to mitsu to be reset..
let us know how you get on

you have triggered the factory alarm. It will not start again until the car has been to a dealer to get reset. If you try to start a Mits without the key or use the wrong key the car will die. It will crank but won't run. Sorry

thanks heaps! the car is getting towed there 2day, so it should all be good hopefully! i guess i'll have to live without the car-start gimmick.... unless anyone knows anyway around it?

just an update...

apparently theres not fault codes coming up in the MUT-II, the keys have been re-programmed but it still wont run... apparently the spark just dies off slowly after starting...

any ideas?

The coil??

I know in a past case with a falcon, it was doing this. It would have spark, sometimes start and then would die...

Not really sure how this would be related to installing an alarm or an immobiliser but its a suggestion nonetheless.... :P

apparently the ignition coil and distributer is an all-in-one unit, and we were checking wires around there aswell, (but once again, nothing that could have really done any damage) so that could be the problem... but lets see what the 'genuises' at the mitsubishi dealer can figure out.

i was wondering if the Greddy Emanage would fix the problem? ie, bypass the factory computer and control it itself?

Any news on yer car yet?? Just seen this post saw it before but didnt realise it was you til i read it.Surely the mitsi mechs should be able to suss it out!Is it still in the shop? :confused:

yeah, i think i'm gonna get it towed home and leave it off the road for a while, seeing i'm probably going to have to change the ECU, i'm prolly going to get aftermarket (i know, i know, i have an auto, ;) doesn't mean that can't change)

the factory ECU would be about $2000 to replace, and that would be a pretty pointless $2K to spend just to have the car exactly the way it was... why not spend an extra grand or 2 and have a manual with aftermarket computer!?

and then again i might save more again and do some more performance mods, get the paint fixed... etc etc... theres so many things going thru my mind i don't know what to do atm.

i thought the ecu's were 'locked'? so they couldn't be transfered from car to car or something like that?

would be very nice to find something like that tho

..........at a mitsubishi dealership

AHAHAHHAHAAAA. not likely... i don't think i'll ever go back to one... $380 just to get the car looked at and for the monkeys to scratch they're head and tell me they know as much as i do.

Do you mean to tell me that they could not tell you what is wrong with it? I thought that these guys would be able to tell you for sure what was wrong with it for that price i would expect better than that.I thought these guys would be the experts! :confused: :confused:

yeah i agree, if its written in a book they can do it, if u can play lego, u can be a 'service technition'....

so anyway the cars gonna come off the road for a while and i'm gonna save for the manual conversion and maybe a few aftermarket mods (extractors, brakes etc) btw, how much is that single turbo kit gonna b worth ? ;) i can definately say RPW might benifit from this experience... i'll be in touch shorty

seeing the car wont actually be starting any time soon, i decided to change this thread to this one

http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8904