MANYBREWS?? 90 ES no start

[dirtyspence]

Hi !

My son and I have a '90 Galant ES... we've had it about a year and it has around 150k on the clock. The car is an auto with most all options and is VERY clean

We've had various mechanical issues over the past year that have somewhat soured us on the car, but, we;re still pluggin away.

Some background on issues taken care of over the past few months...

New/rebuilt ECM last summer
Newly rebuilt head/gasket December
Brakes recently

Of late the car has been having intermittant issues that we've been unable to pin down. The 4spd auto will not always shift into O/D ... this problem comes and goes making me think it's not a hard part issue ,but, an electronic control? TCM...OD switch...other control?

The fuel injection system has an intermittant heisitation when the accelerator is depressed...it only does this initially then pulls strongly...?

Newest issue is a non fire! Just out of the blue the car will not start. It cranks and acts as if it wants to start , and gas odor can be smelled ,but, it's just not firing. As noted above the ECM is fairly new, the plugs/wires/timing belt are les than 6mo... where else should I look????

Any thoughts/insights welcome!!!

Thanks for the site!

...Hourglass113 said I should ask MANYBREWS opinion ... THANKS!

[Faction]

althought im not manybrews, your tranny not shifting into O/D is a problem i had before. it is either a blown fuse and/or electronic control problem. or even worse sometimes it can be the O/D solenoid (if this car one, but volvo cars 89 and older have these) hope this helps. ALSO if you have a O/D light that comes on but dosent turn off when engaging O/D its a fuse related problem

[ken inn]

what do you mean by the ecu is new? brand new from the dealer, or new rebuilt? every galant vr4, and all of the 1g t/el/ turbos suffer from leaking capacitors. on the vr4 ecu, there are 3. in the early stages of failure, power to the mfi relay is intermittent, and you can hear a rapid clicking of the relay as power is cut on an off. the crap that leaks out of the capacitors eats thru the circuit board(there are 2 boards together) and attacks the circuit for the injector drivers. several vr4 owners have had reman ecu's that failed quite rapidly.

[dirtyspence]

Thanks guys...all places to start.

The O/D issue answers are intersting and would like a bit more info about how /what to check out exactly...THANKS!


THe ECM is a rebuilt unit from a place in Texas that was recommended by several DSM guy it ran in the neighborhood of $375bux. It is almost exactly a year old now... I guess I should find the paperwork and see if it's still under warranty (prolly 90days! https://www.thegalantcenter.org/style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif ... The whole leaking capacitor thing is a real bugaboo on these cars ... Mitsu REALLY hit a foul ball on these things! Where's Ralph Nader when you need him?

There is no clicking noise ,but, there wasn;t when the ECM went out last time either... shrug ... I was in hopes there was an easy troubleshoot to do to pin this down a little closer...ya know? https://www.thegalantcenter.org/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif

[manybrews]

Thanks guys...all places to start.

The O/D issue answers are intersting and would like a bit more info about how /what to check out exactly...THANKS!


THe ECM is a rebuilt unit from a place in Texas that was recommended by several DSM guy it ran in the neighborhood of $375bux. It is almost exactly a year old now... I guess I should find the paperwork and see if it's still under warranty (prolly 90days! https://www.thegalantcenter.org/style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif ... The whole leaking capacitor thing is a real bugaboo on these cars ... Mitsu REALLY hit a foul ball on these things! Where's Ralph Nader when you need him?

There is no clicking noise ,but, there wasn;t when the ECM went out last time either... shrug ... I was in hopes there was an easy troubleshoot to do to pin this down a little closer...ya know? https://www.thegalantcenter.org/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif
okay, first off.
is the trans TRYING to go into 4th? or is it mearly going into a "nuetral" like gear?

second, the ECMS arent really the issue. the problem stems from failing idle control motors. they are made of 4 coils of 30 ohms each. the coils would short out for whatever reason, increasing the amperage of the circuit. the transistors couldnt handle it, and POOF!
dead.
it would occasionally take out other portions of the ECM, too.

anyway, I need to know more.
do you have spark? fuel pressure? injector pulse? compression?
I cant just guess on this, because there are probably 150 different reasons it may not start.

[zchb9]

im having same problem almost. i have spark and gas getting there it turns over and just won't start. i finally gave up on trying to fix myself and took it to a shop. they havehad it 4 days and can't figure out what it is. guess its either something wierd or there not to good lol. but my question is if the exhuast is plugged can that stop it from starting or something cause no one can figure it out. good luck with yours

[dirtyspence]

Thanks for looking MB... I'll look into some more info for you soon. I've been under the weather and the boy has been on a trip! https://www.thegalantcenter.org/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif

[dirtyspence]

mmkay.. We have NO spark from coil. I checked it with a resistance gauge set at 20 and then 10...nada. Sooo.. coil or are there still other things that can cause this condition?


As for the tranny when it fails to go into OD is just revs...odd thing is sometimes you can shut the car and then it'll shift fine for awhile...<shrug>


The se cars are sure a challenge compared to the old school stuff I'm used to working on eh? https://www.thegalantcenter.org/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif

[manybrews]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dirtyspence)</div><div class='quotemain'>mmkay.. We have NO spark from coil. I checked it with a resistance gauge set at 20 and then 10...nada. Â*Sooo.. coil or are there still other things that can cause this condition? Â*
</div>
lots. do you have an injector pulse? do you have fuel pressure?
these are all tied together in some ways.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>


As for the tranny when it fails to go into OD is just revs...odd thing is sometimes you can shut the car and then it'll shift fine for awhile...<shrug> Â*


The se cars are sure a challenge compared to the old school stuff I'm used to working on eh? https://www.thegalantcenter.org/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif</div>

you have a failed end clutch. the good news is that its actually servicable without trans removal. The bad news is that I really cant recommend this job to someone that isnt familiar with transaxles.
If I were working on it, I would replace your entire end clutch assembly (parts and labor about 350-400$, if I remember correctly).
Then Id recommend a trans service, just to get rid of any crud left in it.

[dirtyspence]

MB you're very patient! https://www.thegalantcenter.org/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif

At present I have no way to check fuel pressure...the loaners at the local A/Zs are all out of commission. The only thing I have to go on is the fact that there is a strong smell of gas when you try to turn the car over at all. (not technical but all I have to go on at present) ...

If you have any troubleshooting tricks for shadetree I'm ALL ears. OR if somoene can point me to a troubleshooting PDF, or webpage that'd be awesome too.

This nothering you once a day while only troubleshooiting one area will get tedious for both of us VERY quickly! :wink:

THANKS!

PS... I'll try and find a local Mitsu guy for the tranny ... thanks for the heads up!

[manybrews]

well, heres a shadetree trick, but its potentially not safe.
Remove the fuel "return" line (NOT the pressure line). Its the hose that comes directly off of the fuel regulator on the drivers side of the car.
Since its under very low pressure, it is only held on with a spring clamp that is easily moved with a pair of pliers (or something).
you will get a tiny bit of fuel that will dribble out. What you then need is someone to actually crank the car over whilst you watch it.
As the engine is cranking, the fuel pump will start, and you should see a noticable stream of fuel shooting out of the fuel regulator nipple. If this happens, you HAVE fuel pressure. this isnt the most accurate way of checking, but at least you know you have something there.
BE CAUTIOUS! this is not deadly dangerous, but you WILL be squirting raw fuel right next to the ignition coil assembly. Have something close to put out any fires that could possibly happen (im sure nothing is going to happen, but I feel the warning is a good idea)

the next thing you should do is check for an injector pulse. You need a LED test light, or a "noid" light (which is mearly a special test light of the correct resistance) to plug into an injector terminal.
using a regular test light is not recommended, as they are usually low impedance, and could cause ECU damage. all you would need to do is go accross one of the 4 injector terminals while someone cranked the engine over to verify if you are getting a pulse.

if you have both a pulse and fuel pressure, then you can head straight for the ignition. if you dont, you need to look elsewhere.

[dirtyspence]

I'm convinced that it is an ignition problem. There seems to be plenty of fuel....

I tried a new coil no go... next? https://www.thegalantcenter.org/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif

[manybrews]

my next test would be to check out the "power transistor" located right next to the coil assembly.
it is the part that actually activates both the coils from the signal it receives from the ECU.
I cant really give you a way to test it without a lab scope, though. before its replaced, I would have to verify power, ground, signal from the ECU, and total circuit connectivity at it.

[bongi]

https://www.thegalantcenter.org/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif I would recommend the end clutch repair suggested by manybrews, it worked for me! servcied it at 90,000+ miles and at 201,000 miles it is still running great. just driving it as a grocery getter now though. or sunday drive just to keep the battery healthy.