1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse No spark or Pulse to fuel injectors

WALTERBIRM

MEMBER
1999 MITSUBISHI ECLIPSE
4 CYL
FWD
MANUAL
170,000 MILES

Help! My 1999 eclipse has no spark or FI pulse. I replaced the cam and crank sensors to no avail. I then took it to a mechanic. He said the computer is bad. I got a replacement - same thing. My mechanic said the computer is still bad. I got another one - same problem! I questioned the computer people - Solo Auto in FL - and they say they tested both units and they test perfectly on their bench test stand. My mech says they have tested all connections, all grounds, the hall effect switches from crank and cam to the computer, etc and they still think the computer is bad. Any suggestions?

5 Replies

KHLOW2008

MECHANIC
41,814 POSTS

Hi walterbirm,

Thank you for the donation.

Before occurrence of the problem, was any repairs carried out?

What are the test carried out apart from replacement of components?

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Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 AT 9:53 PM

WALTERBIRM

MEMBER
2 POSTS

No work has been done on it since about 14 months ago when it had a new timing belt other than oil changes. Details of the day this happened - the battery went dead and the car had to be jumped off twice before I had time to get a new battery. The second time I jumped it all it did was crank and never tried to start. At that point I checked for spark and there was none. At the shop they did extensive electrical checking - they see signals from the crank and cam hall effect switches to the pcm, power at the pcm, no pulse to injectors or spark. Cam and crank pickups replaced anyway and new battery now. PCM from Solo auto also.

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Thursday, February 18th, 2010 AT 5:35 AM

KHLOW2008

MECHANIC
41,814 POSTS

Well, 3 PCM and all are bad is hard to believe though it is possible.

When all things fails, the best way to go about it is to start from basics. Here are alist of possible causes and you should go through all of them to ensure that they are all working correctly. The onyly way to confirm if the PCM is bad is to plug it into a running vehicle and test if it starts.

DIFFICULT TO START/NO START (CRANKS OKAY)
"� Check idle air control (DC) motor (if applicable).
"� Check idle air control (stepper) motor (if applicable).
"� Check ignition switch.
"� Check camshaft position sensor.
"� Check crankshaft position sensor.
"� Check park/neutral position switch (A/T).
"� Check volume airflow sensor.
"� Check engine coolant temperature sensor.
"� Check power supply to PCM.
"� Check fuel pressure.
"� Check ignition timing.
"� Check for disconnected or damaged vacuum hoses.
"� Check for control relay malfunction.
"� Check for SFI system malfunction.
"� Check for fuel pump drive control system malfunction.
"� Check for ignition coil malfunction.
"� Check for power transistor malfunction (if applicable).
"� Check for fuel injector malfunction.
"� Check for PCM malfunction.
"� Ensure electrical harness, connectors and wires are not broken, bent or loose.

During the jumpstatring, was any error made while connecting the jumper cables?

Is the vehicle security system working correctly?

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Thursday, February 18th, 2010 AT 6:42 AM

WALTERBIRM

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2 POSTS

No error on the jumpstart. Don't really know about the security system, it has never gone off. The radio gives beeping that I assume are from the security system. We have another eclipse in the family that does exactly the same thing. Can I simply swap the suspected bad pcm into the other eclipse without fear of it failing? If so, I will swap out as a test.

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Thursday, February 18th, 2010 AT 1:37 PM

KHLOW2008

MECHANIC
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Yes, you can do so, it should not be a problem.

DO NOT use the good one from the running car onto the one that is not starting, we don't want to fry it if there is any shorting in the vehicle.