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| What is WRONG with my colt? http://www.4g61t.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=39047 |
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| Author: | poomwah [ Thu Aug 07, 2014 8:02 pm ] |
| Post subject: | What is WRONG with my colt? |
I have the craziest issue with my colt. It is an 89 colt DL wagon (NON Vista), 1.8 liter SOHC (4g37) , 5 speed , awd, about 185k miles. I got the car early last week. The only modification was a switch under the dash that turned the radiator fan on. It ran SOMETIMES. It would start easily every time. Had a great idle. Throttle response was great. Little bit of smoke when you first started it (valve seals I'm guessing). Here's where it got weird. For the first couple minutes of running, it was fine, after that, if you ran it hard, it would be fine, you could wind it up through all of the gears, no problems. It would still idle good once you slowed down. BUT, if you accelerated gradually, once you got over 35, it would die. No sputtering, just died. If you waited a couple seconds, then turned the key on and off it would restart as soon as you turned the key back on. Then if you accelerated hard or stayed under 35, it would keep running. If you accelerated hard and got past 35, whatever speed you tried to maintain, 50-60-whatever... it would die, but intermittently, could be a couple seconds, could be ten minutes, but it would happen. When it happened, it would be the same thing, wait a couple seconds, turn the key off then back on and it would instantly restart. If you didn't turn the key off then back on , you could leave it in gear until the car stopped and it wouldn't start. RPM didn't matter, it would happen in any gear at any rpm. I couldn't find any wiring issues except for the fan wiring and a broken wire on the capacitor on the distributor. I soldered that back together and it didn't make a difference. The ecu had a label saying it had been remanufactured in 2011. I checked every fuse I could find. I was taking it for a test drive after checking some connections under the hood. Same thing happened like usual. Fine for a couple miles, then died, restarted, died again, did this a couple times. then it wouldn't restart, and hasn't restarted since. I'm getting fuel to the fuel rail. Judging by how strong the fuel smell is after cranking for a bit, I'd have to say its getting fuel into the cylinders. I have NO spark. Checked first at the plugs, then checked at the coil. Put a new ICM on today, still no spark. I have power to the + lead on the coil. I checked primary and secondary resistance on the coil and both were well within specs. The ignition relay clicks when I turn the key on, and something under the dash near the ecu (POSSIBLY the ECU itself) clicks when the key is turned to the start position. The engine cranks over normally. CEL comes on when the key is turned on but goes off if you wait a few seconds. What do you guys think? ECU, Ignition relay, coil (could it be bad even though the resistance tests checked ? any way to bench test a coil to make it fire?), distributor (any way to test a distributor? could the distributor be ruled out because there is no spark at the coil? or does the pickup in the distributor tell the coil when to fire?) does an 89 4g37 with a distributor and external coil have a crank angle sensor or cam position sensor or is that function the job of the distributor?) any help would be greatly appreciated. I really love this car and have big plans for it, but I can't just throw money at it replacing parts hoping it fixes the problem. Worse yet, I don't want to be replacing parts that are going to get destroyed because I haven't fixed the problem. Thanks everybody |
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| Author: | Flying Eagle [ Thu Aug 07, 2014 9:34 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: What is WRONG with my colt? |
Pull the ECU from the passenger side A-pillar. 10mm on the end of a 1/4 drive racket, or a 10mm wrench. Inspect for fishy smells, appearance of leakage from the capacitors. If the board does not smell clean or like the rest of the car .... age does wonders for plastics and foams. ... suspect an ECU issue. |
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| Author: | poomwah [ Thu Aug 07, 2014 11:08 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: What is WRONG with my colt? |
Thanks Eagle, I pulled the ecu, it looked awful on the inside, definitely has seen a LOT of repair inside it. But there was no smell. crazy thing, all the books say like you mentioned, the ecu behind the passenger kick panel. mine is on the driveshaft tunnel behind the stereo. |
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| Author: | Mechacode [ Fri Aug 08, 2014 4:50 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: What is WRONG with my colt? |
The random dieing sounds like a plugged fuel filter. Have you dropped the tank to check out the pump? If it sat for any time, it wouldn't surprise me. |
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| Author: | thomcasey [ Fri Aug 08, 2014 6:15 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: What is WRONG with my colt? |
Yup^^^^ I would look at pump and filter replacement, along with ECU. Sounds like the setup is the same as a 1.8 dsm |
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| Author: | poomwah [ Fri Aug 08, 2014 11:51 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: What is WRONG with my colt? |
previous owner SAID he replaced the pump and filter with no effect. If it was fuel starvation, wouldn't it happen under heavy acceleration? I'm trying to find an ECU for it, but so far haven't found the right one. |
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| Author: | poomwah [ Fri Aug 08, 2014 8:26 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: What is WRONG with my colt? |
ITS RUNNING!!!! someone suggested that the coil negative terminal shouldn't be hot while the key is on, and that despite passing the resistance checks that the coil was bad. So I changed the coil and it fired right up!! I haven't had a chance to test drive it yet to see if the other problem has been taken care of. I want to wait for daylight in case I have to tow it home again, LOL. funny thing, even with the new coil, the negative terminal of the coil is hot, LOL |
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| Author: | poomwah [ Fri Aug 08, 2014 9:55 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: What is WRONG with my colt? |
I couldn't wait to test drive it. I'm too impatient and took a chance. I just got home from a very fun drive, let the car sit and idle for about 10 minutes, drove it for a half hour, let it sit for about 15 minutes, drove it for another 10. NEVER died !!!! I am so excited. And the craziest part, it was with the old coil! While it was idling I started tapping on sensors and such to see if I could get the engine to die. when I tapped on the coil wire, it would stumble, I jiggled the cord and the car died. That easily, the signal wire came off the coil. I tightened the plug up and put it back on. Drove it, and it runs great! I'm going to solder and heat shrink some new ends onto the coil wires tomorrow. |
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| Author: | Mechacode [ Sat Aug 09, 2014 12:56 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: What is WRONG with my colt? |
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| Author: | Sunchaser [ Sat Aug 09, 2014 1:30 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: What is WRONG with my colt? |
Happy to hear another happy colt on the road |
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| Author: | poomwah [ Sat Aug 09, 2014 1:45 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: What is WRONG with my colt? |
thanks guys, make that RIDICULOUSLY happy :] we just got home again, had to find an excuse to go for a drive so we went to taco bell and took the long way there and back :] |
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