QuestionDear Linda. I have a Mitsubishi Mirage 1997 1.8. 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). In addition, to this day, I do not have a problem starting the car first thing in the morning but after that, it is trivial. One time, it just died on my while driving and I had to pick it up the next morning (it started as if nothing was wrong). Also, if I drive the car, lets say, to the grocery store, and it does not start normal when I come back out (the shaking start) then I would fumble around by disconnecting the negative terminal of the battery and disconnecting and connecting sensors and reconnecting the batteries negative terminal…then 8 out of 10 it would start without the shaking! 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. I have also cleaned all the connectors that I could physically get my hands on. Any help will be greatly appreciated on what seems to be a lost cause.
AnswerGerson: This on again and off again problem is something that seems to run in these cars, you fix something and so sure it was the problem then bang a few days later something else shows up. You say you have coded the car a few times, but it just might be that you problem is with the computer. It controls everything, and Mitsubishi did farm out the building of their computers to another company which did not make very good ones; with times a piece will start to leak into the computer and it will kill off that computer. This shows up in so many ways, because of where this piece is leaking and what part of the computer it is hitting. So have you had just the computer tested? Have you ever been anyway near the computer as sometimes you can smell the computer as it has a burnt wire smell or when you start the car have you hear a odd noise in the dash? The computer along with all kinds of sensors sets up how the engine as how it should run, the shaky thing sounds like the computer is not reading something right and so it is not setting things right. So the engine is not getting enough fuel, stark or air to run right. The on again and off again to me points to that computer.So the car stops on you that would be the computer shutting everything down for whatever the reason but by the time you come back to the car it has reset its self. You might have to cut that thick tubing and really check all those wires then just replace that thick tubing. Still I hate to make you do more work then need be then this sure sounds like a computer problem to me. You know it takes three things for a engine to run stark, air and fuel but the computer has to put all that together in the right order to make that engine run right. The fact that when you unhook the neg cable of the battery and wait a bit; then the car starts. Well you have reset the computer and so then the car starts. My son had a car with some of these same problems and he about went nuts with that car. It would play all kinds of game, one day when it was running really good he traded it off. But still he was pretty sure it was the computer, but had spent so much money fixing all kinds of things before he would listen to his mother. But then he just gave up and started again with another car. Not that you should do this but I am pretty sure his problem was the computer. But listen these computers are costly, but if you do replace the computer you could either have it rebuilt many companies on the net that will do this. Or you could get a new one, but make sure you get the right one for your car and year. I have had people write to say they borrowed one from a friend's and put it into their car; but did not fix a thing. Well you just can not do this. Every car is different and they all need their own computers. Oh one other though to check would be vacuum leak, they can be off again and on again things, due in part to the weather. But very hard to find and so might have to let a shop look into that for you. Are you sure after the shop fixed the car, they hooked very thing back up? Had a lady the other day, that had a another shop work on her car. It just died close to our's and we found a few things that that other shop had not bothered to rehook. Maybe with the idea of making a bit more money off this gal. I don't think shops treat woman very good. But that is whole another story and I best not go there today. I guess the computer would be my guess because it controls so much. I always thought that this year car has one camshaft postion sensor but that is something I will have to check into. How old is the timing belt its self, you know some say 100,000 miles for one of those but I say 60,000 miles have you changed your's yet? Thought I would mess with your head and add something else to think about. :o) Do have a good Saturday, sounds like a warm day and gee, I can go for that. Hope this helps and God bless: Linda
