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I have searched and read through some of the other threads regarding similar issues but nothing was quite exactly like this situation. I'd prefer to not have to spend much money on a full tune-up since the 4G15 is not long for this car anyway before it becomes AWD. Here we go!!!

So I am looking at picking up a local 91 Colt hatch. I will likely be driving this home if I can fix it on site and it may become my temporary daily until the swap, but I have no experience with the 4G15, and this one isn't running reliably at the moment.

The current owner says that it will start and run momentarily but will not remain running long enough to drive. The car has 187k on the clock so at this point I'm thinking it could be anything from plugs/distributor to fuel filter/pump/clogged injectors.

Suggestions?

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Who puts an Evo VII motor in a Colt? Oh yeah...

Head down there with your tool box and a vacuum tester and work from there. I don't know a thing about the 4g15 but you can pretty much figure out any problem with a DVOM and a vacuum tester. My 2 cents

-John

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89 Mirage Turbo-Money pit
99 Jeep Cherokee-1/4 Epic
01 Cobra-Too Thirsty
72 Dodge-Pedo'van

These cars are just like any other Mitsu from this era, check the ecu first. Its located under the passenger's side kick panel, up beside the glove compartment. Remove it (2 10mm headed bolts) and remove the case. Look over the board with a flash light and also check for weird smells. Even if this is not the problem its worth taking a look at before making the car a daily driver.

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93 Mitsubishi Expo LRV 1.8/manual
95 Eagle Summit DL Coupe 1.5/manual
01 Mitsubishi Mirage ES Sedan 1.8/manual

I'm with Chris on this one, most likely the ECU. It's a common issue on a vehicle that old, and the most likely thing that the previous owners mechanic would be unwilling to stake his reputation on telling him to replace it.

As a tech myself, the toughest thing to do is tell a customer they need a new ECU. It's impossible to test without an identical car, or a spare ECU sometimes.

You wouldn't be the first person to buy a non-running car on the cheap, then pop in an ECU and drive it home. LOL

I have bought a $200 mint csm this way. It sat for a year, the guy said it had trouble starting, the mechanic said it was a fuel pump, he said the symptoms were clicking and hard starting. I went down with spare ECU in hand and drove it away. When I started it he wanted me to give him more money..but he already signed over the title. I would have either charged him for the ecu, or called the cops if he got rowdy. If you do this, make sure you don't gloat as I think It could piss someone off a lot.

I also bought a csm and a scoupe from guy who had a junkyard in his back yard. for $300 total this way, the csm didn't want to start so I just moved the ecu from the scoupe and drove it back. then brought the ecu back to his house and got the scoupe. Unfortunatly the harmonic balancer bolt fell off ad lots of oil spilled out, but I drove back 15 miles with no oil in the engine(I didn't care as it was slated for a 4g63t swap that I had in my garage). I initialy went to just get the scoupe but saw the csm, and worked out a package deal. The guy was so amazed that I took parts from a Hyundai and got a mitsu working, that he wasn't that pissed that I got both cars for the price of a cell phone.

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Thanks for the heads up guys. I'm going to take a look at it this weekend. I'll check the normal fuel/ignition systems before I commit to anything with him and move on to the ECU. Is there anything specific on the board that goes? I wasn't sure if they were similar to 1G DSM's with leaky Caps or not. If it is a surface mount termination resistor or something like that it wouldn't be a big deal for me to refresh it either, I would just need to know what components to bring with me.

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Who puts an Evo VII motor in a Colt? Oh yeah...

pretty good chance its the caps if the ecu is bad. fuel filter and jinky distributer or wires can cause this too. Check to see if there is white smoke coming out of the exhaust after warmup, because with a bad head gasket, water can flood the engine when it gets up to temp.Your buying essentially a non-running car, adjust the price as such. a non-running csm anywhere is worth 200-250$. My experience with non-running cars is that they usually have other issues too that you can't account for because you can't give a full test drive.

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That's already what I was planning on offering him. I just don't want to get $500 into something just to be able to drive it around and save putting miles on my TSX when it will be swapped in a few months time anyway. We'll see how it goes.

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Who puts an Evo VII motor in a Colt? Oh yeah...