4g61t.org

I know I do not have very many posts here on this site, but I'll catch everyone up. When I joined I spoke about getting a four door Summit. Well that came and passed. My friend got a new car and his mom's boyfriend wants it for either scrap or his own personal use, whatever that may be.

In August I got this 1994 Dodge Colt Base (I believe it is).



The next day I have the engine bay looking like this..



..because this..



..had this!



I got the engine bay stripped.



I painted the engine bay.



From there I bought an engine out of a junkyard for a decent price and this is the final product.




That picture has probably been taken in the last month. Now, I started driving the car. It ran like crap the first time I drove the car on the road. I blamed old gas that had been in the tank for this, plus very little gas at that!

So the first place I went was a gas station. I filled it with 89 octane, then put some gas treatment (NAPA Brand, red bottle), in it. I then got a rough/surging idle.

I drove the car maybe 200 miles that night. It was doing decent on MPGs but I knew it wasn't up to par. I only know that because I had to put more gas into the tank. Put it this way, it was $32.xx to fill it, when I "topped it off" it was $18.xx.

On the way home it threw a CEL. I went to a shop the following week to have the code read. With all the necessary connections the car called for, a shop tech could not get the ECU to communicate with the Snap-On scanner. He said to check for a fuse that would cause this.

People on other forums said they have never heard of such things. So I am lost myself.

I tried Sea-foam and that didn't seem to make a bit of a difference. If anything, since then the MPGs have gotten' worse!

Since last week when I was down to an 8th of a tank after filling the car on Monday (I parked the car Thursday), I was driving my GS-T. I bought a coolant temp sensor.



I thought the one that came out looked kind of bad. I disconnected the negative on the battery to clear the codes, and not 5 minutes after reconnecting the battery and starting the car, the CEL came back.

Alright I said, o2 sensor time. I bought a new one at work (NAPA), but had to order it from Atlanta. Okay, as long as it's right. Noooooooooooooooooooooope.





They ordered me a non-heated, two wire sensor. 100% wrong for this car. Alright, it is obvious by the amount of soot on the old sensor, either it wasn't working or the running rich situation for sure took it out. I had a spare used one from the junkyard motor in our shed. I grabbed that, cleaned it with o2 sensor safe Carb Cleaner and threw that in. Once again I had the neg. battery terminal disconnected to clear the codes as I worked on the car.

It cleared the code, I started it up and changed the distributors clocking to make sure it was idling and revving nicely. I also slightly adjusted the BISS screw.

Driving around town the engine has a shake to it. 50 MPH and above there is no shake. If anything, I noticed it was much more smooth than before. I almost want to say it has a little bit more power. I have no way to prove this though. It once again idles as it did before, and puffs black soot at idle. It, by smell, can be recognized that it is running very rich. And yes, the CEL came back on after about 5-7 minutes of driving around.

Now can any of you guys tell me where to look for this stupid "fuse" that would some how effect the ECU's ability to communicate with an OBD1 scanner, or just the port itself?

Or possibly give me a better idea on what could need to be replaced? I'm past lost now.

Thanks for reading my book!

Being that the car is a 93+, I searched the intarweb and found some back door links to this area:

http://tech.mirage-performance.com/Manu ... 0&%20Body/

You are running rich for a reason, so I suggest you check out VFAQ.com to see if the code reading tips work on a 93+ Colt/Mirage.
If that does not work with an analogue DVOM to get the long-short swings to indicate your codes per the FSM, then I suggest asking the guys at this forum; some of which are members here too.

http://www.mirageforums.net/

You may have to find out why a scanner will not read the DRB/DLC port, just to be able to get your code. Do not drive the car like this if at all possible, or take it to the dealership and find out what is wrong, so you can start off properly. Best to chug through the manuals and see what you can find on getting codes.

I know about the manuals and have looked through them a few times. I do not know where to look for mention of a fuse or something that causes the ECU to not send a signal to the OBD port. When you say go to VFAQ and see if the code reader tips work, where does one find the code reader tips? I've been to VFAQ I believe on 5 different occasions in the last 4 weeks and never once did I actually find any tips when it came to OBD1 ports or pulling codes.

I am already on MF, but the replying is hit or miss depending on the day or time of day. I have yet to receive a reply over there since yesterday with the new information. I'm starting to not know where to go to fix this thing.

I guess the dash is going to have to come back out so I can see if something is up with the ECU/wiring.

Following the pinouts for that car should allow you to trace and confirm power, gnd, and datalink integrity to the OBD port. Confirm the output of power at the port, confirm the ground circuit by supplying power through a test light, and trace the data line disconnected for continuity. Have you found the pinouts for the OBD port and the remainder of the car?
From my phone or I would be looking on the PC for those very things for you right now.

For shoots and giggles, some OBD ports use the cigarette lighter fuse for power.

I'm heading up to work on the car in a bit. I'll see if I can try these things out. I will report back on what I find. Thank you much.

Well I think I have have solved the problem. If what I am thinking is causing this, it would be all my fault. Durr! Lol Anyway, I'll try my hardest to accurately show you guys as well as explain what I did wrong.

This is a similar diagram to the one in which I was looking at tonight. For some reason I forgot all about the diagram decals from under the hood.



While I was looking at this, I noticed that the thing I bolted to the firewall was indeed the MAP sensor. I also noticed it was connected to the wrong vacuum line..or the source was wrong anyway. Here is a closeup of what the said "source" is supposed to be.



If you look at the MAP sensor and follow it on the "B" line, it brings you to the gas sensor or something like that. I forget what the diagram called it as the diagram is still in the car.

The major problem I have now is connecting the MAP sensor to this bung on the intake manifold. That and the car is running ROUGH. I also believe it has completely flooded with gas. The spark plugs were pretty wet and the oil sort of has a gas smell to it. My plan tomorrow is to get new spark plugs, and new oil. Then I can connect the MAP sensor correctly and hopefully solve the problem for good.

Well, that is good news. Double check all the vacuum tubing and check for cracks and leaks, even if they are in the correct locations.

More than likely you will have a car that runs right, when the vacuum lines are connected properly.

Oh I know the tubing is good. I replaced all of the old stuff with new vacuum line before I started driving the car. I also made 110% sure everything went to the right spots. It was just the fact that I didn't realize the MAP sensor was supposed to be connected to the "Gas Filter" as Mitsubishi calls it in their MD301903 "Vacuum Hose Routing Diagram", instead of just being tapped into any vacuum source. It all make sense now.

Of course no one has a clue where to buy such a thing (Gas Filter), so my plan was to use a brass fitting with an inline filter. Nope. At my work (NAPA) all we had was Standard thread fittings. I went to a major town an hour away and tried NAPA, Advanced Auto, Home Depot and Menards; none of them had metric fitting.

This is what I went to.



It should do the job..at least I hope.

Where does that sensor plug into?

What was wrong with the fitting for the vacuum line?