20 Most Recent 1998 Mitsubishi Eclipse Questions & Answers

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Overheating ignition coils can be due to a number of causes. The symptoms are always the same though: poor or non-existent hot engine starting and rough running and misfiring whilst running.

The first is simply due to age: if it's traditional "wet" coil filled with transformer oil, then the oil can either leak out or simply break down with age. If so, the fix is simply to replace it and there are often modern compatible dry resin coils which do away with the oil filling completely. Dry resin coils can also fail with age or hard use, but it's far less common than with wet coils. A failing coil which usually works perfectly well be over-stressed if the vehicle is left idling for long periods on a hot day, such as during summer traffic jams. In such conditions, the coil will usually recover if the engine is turned off allowing the coil to cool down, but the damage caused by overheating is cumulative and the coil will become increasingly prone to overheating.

The second most common cause is a poorly tuned engine (if the vehicle is equipped with a distributor). If the ignition timing is incorrect or if the points gap has lessened due to wear then the coil can be energised for too long and will overheat. Note that the points gap and distributor timing are related: if the points are replaced or re-gapped, then the timing MUST be checked and reset both statically (engine not running, turned over by hand) and dynamically (engine running). Incorrect timing can also be down to a faulty or non-functional ignition advance and ****** mechanism. If you do not have ignition contact points, then there may be a fault with the electronic ignition module within the distributor.

If the vehicle has completely electronic ignition with no distributor then it's possible for faulty components to cause overheating coil. Most incorporate a variable dwell feature which prevents the coil from overheating when the engine is idling for extended periods. But I suspect this does not apply to your vehicle as you refer to a singular coil rather than the multiple (dry resin) coil packs mounted directly atop the spark plugs as per modern fully electronic ignitions. In any case, diagnosis of a fault with this set up requires electronic diagnostic tools.

I hope that my reply has been of assistance to you; if so please take a moment to rate my answer. If there's anything I've written which is unclear then please add a comment asking me for further clarification.

You have an electrical short to ground on that circuit , do you know how to test automotive electrical circuits using a DVOM - digital volt ohm meter ? How to read a wiring diagram , so you know which circuits to test ? What fuse ? number an amp

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Check the RL switch an hazard switch

In theory you should be worrying about all warning lights but that is sometimes impractical when it becomes necessary to allow things to develop in order to find out what might be going wrong and wait until a decisive problem appears - often the expected problem never does develop.

I can't blame you for not wanting to scrap your car. I don't wish to insult you but you sound like a gifted amateur mechanic. The trouble with that is you missed out on learning the sort of core skills such as knowing how and why things work and how to puzzle things through to figure out what has gone wrong when things don't work. Electronics and computers have defeated many professional mechanics even though they often have access to the sort of test equipment denied to amateur mechanics. Because you probably can't check things through I guess you are spending frustrating time going around and around the same circle and you need to break that circle in order to make progress. Changing components hoping to strike it lucky needs a lot of luck to be successful and it can be expensive. Checking the sensors, the wiring, the supply and grounds in order to isolate the fault needs a systematic approach, a circuit diagram, a multimeter and some experience. Now is your chance to learn. The alternative is to bring in outside labour... Purely as a matter of interest, your car probably has an immobiliser that perhaps is in a bad mood.

Radiator is model specific. Yes you can get a used one

remove ecm then clean all plugs then reinstall tighter. works every time..

Standard transmission? If so, suspect a clutch issue. The tranny will most likely have to be removed to determine what has failed. Worn out clutch disk.... damaged pressure plate...... defective throw out bearing to name a few

If the timing is off a compression test won't help. The valves are opening to soon or closing to late. The test would be inaccurate. Recheck your timing.

Yes it does and the negative goes to ground.

Blown bulb.

Often there are not any broken parts when an engine is ran low on oil.. The engine never really makes it to far out of oil before it welds the pistons to the side walls seizing the engine tight. Every now and then a rod will break because at hiway speed the engine went empty the piston seized but the crank and rod did not thus pulling it with such force to snap it in half then producing sometimes a hole in the engine block, hood, oil pan where ever it decides to go. And this is about it Crank not often cam not often. Hope this helps

Engine cranks over three times an stops ? starter or battery cables . does it crank over slow ? Save yourself some money an take it to a ASE certified repair facility !

you most likely have a fuel supply or pressure problem 1, a shorted injector, (this caused all the other injectors to stop working or work very inefficiently) 2, the cam sensor (the ECM uses this as a reference in timing the injectors in conjunction with the ICM) 3, the lack of fuel pressure to them (all the many things that can cause this condition) 4, a bad ignition control module ( the computer uses the signals from ICM for a reference to time the injectors as it monitors and changes the ignition timing) 5, a bad crankshaft position sensor ( the ICM is using this to set the ignition timing and to send the reference signal to the ECM)

Since both ends of each vacuum line is important, it is imperative that you connect the correct line to the correct ports. A Chilton's manual for your vehicle will contain a vacuum diagram. Generally in today's cars these look a lot like someone threw a plate of spagetti on a picture of the engine; but with patience and not getting frustrated, you should find exactly where those disconnected lines should go. More than once I personally have had to remove all the vacuum lines and start from the beginning to get them all back in place. This is one reason your mechanic gets 'the big bucks'.. Good luck.