QuestionDear Anthony. I have a Mitsubishi Mirage 1997 1.8 . I have
been troubleshooting the same problem for about 3 yrs now.
This problem started back in October of 2007. First of all,
I got the check engine light on my car. I thought it would
be due to its yearly tune up (cleaning the injection system
as well). So I thought I would take it to the auto shop
within a week. Before the week came to an end, I ran out of
gas and had to put fuel by using a fuel canister. After
this, the car would not turn on and if it would turn on, the
motor would be shaky (as if running on one ignition coil vs.
two). At times, it would start as if nothing was wrong and I
could drive it all day, but if I turned it off then it was
trivial as to whether it would start again or do its shaky
fit. So as soon as it started without a glitch, I took it to
an auto shop to get the tune up I promised it and to get the
belts replaced along with a new gas filter. The mechanic
mentioned that they had trouble starting the car and they
recommended changing the ignition coils along with the
ignition switch. I chose not to do anything further and took
the car home. A buddy of mine helped me out a bit and we
verified that the fuel pressure was at its recommended
level, and we also checked to see if all the injectors were
passing fuel. They checked ok but we also saw that only one
ignition coil was firing. I took the car to AutoZone to get
it coded and it came back with a misfire detected and a
camshaft sensor problem. I read about the camshaft sensor
symptoms on your earlier Q/A and they matched exactly what I
was going thru. I ordered a camshaft sensor and bought the
Chilton book for my car. I replaced the sensor and WOW; it
fixed the problem…but only for 1 week before the car started
getting shaky (especially when the motor is warm). I took
the car back to AutoZone and got code PO340 “The PCM
determined a malfunction exists in the electrical circuit
for the camshaft position sensor A”. Does my car have 2
camshaft position sensors? (one inside the timing belt
housing and another on the driver side of the motor near the
crankshaft? Is this problem related to the dreaded PCM
problem that I have read so much about on my type of car? I
checked the wiring to the camshaft position sensor and I do
not see any tears or frayed wires. I can only look so far at
the wiring because they all go into some thick tubing wire
harness. A couple of months ago, I replaced the ECU Computer
(the one under the glove compartment)I have also cleaned all
the connectors that I could physically get my hands on and
also replaced and swapped ignition coils and the ignition
itself and to this day, the car starts shaky. Any help will
be greatly appreciated on what seems to be a lost cause.
AnswerGerson,
I'm not sure if I can be much help. But you may want to inspect our ignition timing. If the tensioner is not working properly, or the timing belt has slipped a tooth, the engine will be shaky. When the engine is cold, the the emissions sensors and air intake sensors are basically not regulating the air/fuel ratio that that computer controls. But once the engine reaches normal operating temps, the computer(s) and sensors take over. So this could be a problem with the mass air sensor, TPS, or other air regulating sensor that could be passing the wrong signals to the computer, which could throw off the air/fuel ratio. This could retard the ignition timing and cause the cam angle sensor error code to be thrown. Since you have a Chilton's guide, it should instruct how to test those sensors. Hope some of this may have given you some more ideas.
Good luck!
