Hey guys!
As the subject of ththe thread states, I'm new to Mitsubishis but not new to cars. I've been considering snagging a GVR4 for a few years but life/moving has always seemed to have gotten in the way...until recently.


I've found a 1991 that has a few issues; ABS issue and AWS issue.

After doing some digging on this forum. It seems as if people delete the ABS fairly often, why? Bad system? Not worth trying to fix? Are there common issues that sometimes are east to fix?

Same with the AWS. Are there common issues that are easy to fix? If the actual issue on this car is not worth fixing, can I just pull the lines/rack? Do I have to replace the rear diff? Rear subframe?

Like I said, I've done some searching and read multiple threads but the ones that I read, nobody really addressed why they were removing the above items...but more so just removed it.

Any help is much appreciated! Feel free to post thread links for I do not mind reading, I just havent really found the answer to my questions yet.

Thanks!

Check this out, see if it doesn't answer your questions. click

Mind you, I still have ABS and 4ws. I am not recommending, just answering.

thanks for the link!

I went through and read it, obviously...BUT do you happen to know of a thread that addresses common issues with both systems? I mean, I wouldnt mind keeping them if I found out that to get them operating would be a simple fix. I just do not know how to diagnose the issue on these vehicles to pinpoint exactly why they arent working.

I am unsure at to how to diagnose these symptoms. The only issue I've had with with system is low PS fluid due to some leaky seals. That made the 4ws light pop on, refilled it, and it went away. Hardly comprehensive.

The 2 channel bias ABS has been shown to actually take a greater stopping distance than without, as well as most parts are NLA. In some instances, when ABS failed, it locked up all four corners when the driver applied the brakes.

As for 4WS, its prone to leaks and parts have long been NLA. Mitsuturbo on here recently rebuilt his 4ws rack and pump, it was quite the process to source compatible joints and even had to get one of the seals made.

The 4WS only activates above 30mph and simply forces the toe in 1.5°.

If you wanted to delete it, just remove the lines, plug the hi/low ports on the front rack and remove the rear rack.
Just leave the pump in place on top of the diff, or like most folks you could sort a complete 4 bolt diff assembly and then no more top hole to worry about.

Thanks for the info!!

Also, another thing that I just noticed. The valve cover is NOT red, like I see in other Galant VR4s. It is silver with red lettering that says, "16 Valve" at the top and "DOHC 2000" on the bottom. After a quick google, it appears as if this valve cover is what came on the Eagle Talons? IF, and I say IF, this motor was swapped out of a Talon, is there anything that I should be looking for, for better or worse?

Thanks again and sorry for the "ignorant" questions. Just switching to a new platform and I have not had time to figure out the ins and outs just yet.

Yeah that's the valve cover found on the DSMs (eclipse/talon/lasers), it's not a big deal and overall the engines are the same if they swapped another 6 bolt in from 90-92 DSM, just minor differences on some things that are chassis specific but nothing to be overly concerned about.

Or the valve cover cracked/broken bolt holes and they simply replaced with what they had or retained the original valve cover for another car.

The 4WS really has only one common problem, corrosion and leaks. I have many usable parts from a complete system I took off a good car years ago. Some of the lines and such I have sold though. If you can locate any leaks and really want to keep it, you can possibly find an industrial hose supplier to make pressure hoses for you. Return side low pressure is not so necessary to have OE equivalent parts. Most of the fittings are 14 x 1.5 mm inverted flare on the pressure side.

Simplest disabling is removing the pressure lines from the front rack that go to the rear, plugging the with oil pan drain plugs, disconnecting the tie rods from the rear trailing arms (wire them out of the way, rack can stay in the car). Also plug the two return line ports at the ps fluid reservoir. You can go much further than that, but that is about the minimum. There is also a pump on the diff that may cause problems if running with no fluid. Can't recall that for sure. Anybody else?

I have ABS parts too depending on what it is doing. I left it on one car where it was working fine, but removed from another car when the hydraulic unit went bad.

Awesome!

Thanks for the input/knowledge!

Quoting iceman69510:
. There is also a pump on the diff that may cause problems if running with no fluid. Can't recall that for sure. Anybody else?




It will be fine if it's left up top, that's how it was on my first vr4 when I got it and continued for the next 3yrs in my possession which included a cross country trip from VA to WA and numerous trips to WI from VA.

Soooooooo....I will start a thread about the car and its progress but I have a question to ask first;

When the key is turned, I get nothing. Like, not even dash lights. My plan is to pull the motor to make it easier to get to the harness BUT I was wondering if theres anything that I could check first?

The clear topped fuses in the engine bay do not appear to be popped. Next thing I'm going to do is check grounds. How many are in the engine bay? Which ones should I be focusing on first?

Again, thanks!!!

check interior fuses and make sure all the fuses in the engine bay is good. There could be a number of things that are causing things like grounds as you already noted. The Chassis harness and engine harness are separate things, so you don't really need to pull the engine for this problem.

Quoting BlackHornet:
Soooooooo....I will start a thread about the car and its progress but I have a question to ask first;

When the key is turned, I get nothing. Like, not even dash lights. My plan is to pull the motor to make it easier to get to the harness BUT I was wondering if theres anything that I could check first?

The clear topped fuses in the engine bay do not appear to be popped. Next thing I'm going to do is check grounds. How many are in the engine bay? Which ones should I be focusing on first?

Again, thanks!!!



Make sure you actually have a good ground with the condition of the bolt, and threaded hole on the chassis side. The cable should show no signs of being frayed and the green death.

You will likely have a ground going from the transmission case to the frame, the intake manifold at the throttle cable adjustment bolt to the firewall, some have a ground wire from the timing belt mount to the frame driver side, and there should be a rather large wire grounding the starter/trans case bolt on back to the frame near the battery and air flow sensor area.

No need to pull the motor to get to the harness, as you just may confuse even more of the parts and locations that are cemented in your mind as of yet.

One step at a time.

There is a bolt in fuse in the engine bay fuse block and it should be marked ALT on the cover. Make sure that has proper continuity and IS actually bolted down by following the harness it locates in (positive feed to the alternator).

Lastly, if none of that works out in your favor, the ignition switch could be disconnected or contacts worn out internally which in theory is as simply as finding the FSM and testing continuity across a pair of wires that should get some as a result of closing the key circuit.

So, was able to mess with the car for a little bit tonight.

I got the ignition switch unplugged and was testing with the multimeter to see continuity on the different wires when the key turned. I did not have any luck and so I can only assume there are relays in the switch itself?

I do have a powerprobe and so I was wondering if anybody could tell me where the 12v+ comes in from the engine bay to power the dash lights. I could disconnect that plug and use my probe to give 12v+.

The reason I am thinking this way is because today while I had the key turned on and I was poking out with my hands and multimeter, the wipers kicked on for a split second. I scratched my head for about half a second but then checked the wipers were, in fact, not off. So they picked up power for a brief second. After I did some more poking around to try and replicate this again, I took my power probe and touched it to the seat mounting bolt and instead of giving me a ground signal, I got a 12v+. Because of this, I am wondering if maybe the rats that chewed on some wires in the engine bay shorted out a hot wire to a ground and that is why my power probe yelled "+" when it shouldve been yelling ground. This could also by why my wiper motors engaged for a split second as I was poking around...no?

There are no relays in the ign switch. You should see continuity on the correct terminal positions depending on the key. You should need no power to check continuity.

Well, in that case, the ignition switch is coming off!!!

Thanks!

Will report back

Ok, so after further inspection....

...the positive terminal always had continuity to the negative terminal. I began unbolting the wires to the fuseable links on the 12v+ side. I seem to have lost continuity when I unbolted the 100amp.

So, I started reaching throughout engine bay but couldnt get to too many items and so I went drastic and pulled the motor. Now I can see everything!! Going to give the bay a quick cleaning and get some twigs and whatnot out.

Few questions:
What all is the 100amp hooked to? This could give me a ballpark place to look at and address.

Also, what all do I need to hook up/unhook to test my dash lights before putting the motor back in? Unplug a specific harness plug from the ecu? Anything?

Thanks!

and, an update

So, checking continuity again and I am getting a signal when I touch the connector at the engine bay fuse block, the 60 amp fuseable link.

I then disconnected the white/red stripe:
-no signal to ground from positive terminal. this tells me if its between the big fuse block and the car (not the short amount of wire from the positive terminal/starter and chassis.
-I get signal to ground from the white/red stripe


Next thought was, "what all does the white/red stripe power?"

I then disconnected that and I have signal when touching the white/red stripe wire that connects to that link. I get signal when touching the white/redstripe with the 10amp (AC clim), 10amp (high beam), 15amp (fog lamp), 10amp (tail) spade fuses.

I pulled all of those fuses and still get signal to ground from white/redstripe.

I then pulled all 6 of the round metal relays on that fuse block and still have signal to ground from white/redstripe.

Was able to spend a few more minutes in the car and decided to see what the under dash fuses were doing. I disconnected the ignition switch at the connectors. I then started to check continuity to ground with the fuses in and all were getting signal. I then pulled all of the fuses and started to test the connectors, the missing fuses are the ones that I was getting a ground signal to. I then replaced the other fuses and didn't have signal to them anymore. So, according to the fuse box lid, the missing fuses that are getting signal to ground are:

Radio (10amp)
Gauge (10amp)
Wiper (15amp)
Room, Clock (10amp)

Mind you, last time I was poking around these fuses with my multimeter, I had a battery hooked up in the engine bay. After I found out that my grounds were feeding a 12v+, I stood up from the floor next to the car and then the wipers turned on and my passenger seatbelt retracted up as if it was locking a person in. I quickly shut the battery off

side question:
I see the on the layout labels that there are 2 blank spots. I then noticed that I have a 30amp fuse in the middle row blank spot and then a 25amp fuse in the lower row. Anybody know what these are going to? Are these normal fuses for these spots?

I now see why you pulled the powertrain, that's some serious carnage. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif

The inside/interior loom and connectors look good, so at least you got that going for you.

Once the engine compartment loom is repaired, you're probably going to be good to go.