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Question

1996 Mitsubishi Montero LS, 3.0 V6. Running rough, loss of power and feels like mult cyclinder misfires. Almost like running on 3 cylinders. PO300 code. Misfire stops temporarily when take foot off throttle, returns about 2 seconds after reapplying throttle. Replaced plugs and wires, intake manifold and throttle body gaskets and egr tubing on exhaust. Vehicle wont start at times in am either. Have to crank for extended periods and then truck starts only after "dieseling' for 10 seconds. Can get to start at times by leaving key in "on" position for a few minutes then attempting to restart. No trouble restarting if engine is warm and then shut off engine

Submitted: 35 days and 18 hours ago.
Category: Car
Value: $13
Status: CLOSED
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Optional Information

Year: 1996
Make: Mitsubishi
Model: MOntero LS
Engine: 3.0 V6

Already Tried:
replaced plugs and wires. new o2 sensor, new throttle body and intake gasket. New egr exhaust tube. 2 weeks at local mitsubishi dealer....they didnt even attempt to fix what I told them was wrong with it just wanted to replace my plugs and wires again

Posted by Jan Andersson 35 days and 18 hours ago.

Answer

sounds like it may be a bad ignition coil pack. I think your model has 3 of them? One driving 2 cylinders. These were not replaced?

35 days and 17 hours ago.

Reply

No these were not replaced. I know what the coil packs are is there anyway to check their function? All of this just started recently and has been getting progressively worse.. How can I identify which pack may be at fault?

Posted by Jan Andersson 35 days and 17 hours ago.

Answer

If you can recreate the miss at idle, as it sounds you can, you can pull one spark plug lead at a time and try to start the engine again. Or you can pull a wire while the engine is running, be careful not to zap yourself. If you find a wire that has no or very little effect on how the engine runs, you have found your bad coil. Pulling a plug from a good coil would make teh engine run worse or stall, or not start nearly as well as it did.

35 days and 17 hours ago.

Reply

i do appreciate your help but cannot recreate the miss at idle. The miss only occurs under load while driving. Tried for an hour to recreate at idle at a local mechanic shop and could not. It was suggested to me the fact that it sometimes starts ofter leaving the key in "on" position could indicate it is a ECM problem. I had the PO300 cleared and fuel filter changedf also and truck ran well until I got on highway and then code returned and it ran worse than before. I am to the point now that I can only get truck to start after cranking for long periods and I cannot get it to accelerate unless the tranny downshifts. I also noticed that the misfire is not present when i am on interstate doing at least 70 mph. It just doesnt follow any trends

Accepted Answer

A weak coil may fail under high loads, and work ok at light loads like at idle or cruising speed with small throttle openings. At high loads, it takes more power to make a good spark jump.

 

Maybe a shop could check the coil packs for you with an oscilloscope.

 

If you had an ECM problem, I would expect to see more codes pop up. What you see are common symptoms for failing coil packs. Your problem is identifying which one is the culprit.

 

if you drive with this condition too long, unburnt fuel going through the engine and into the exhaust will eventually ruin the catalytic converter. That makes it risky to try and actually drive it with a plug wire disconnected.

 

One coil pack seems to run around $80 at Autozone, just as one example. Maybe you could buy one, and replace a coil pack in your engine one at a time to see which one was weak. Could be more than one, of course. The P0300 means multiple random misfires. if it was consistently just one cylinder, the last number of the code would indicate which one. Since you have a 300, it means it's at least 2 cylinders. Since one coil seems to run two cylinders in your engine, I think it's a good chance that's what's going on.

 

 

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Expert: Jan Andersson
Pos. Feedback: 100.0 %
Accepts: 
Answered: 10/17/2009

ASE Master Tech

20 years of automotive repair & modification, USA, Asian, Euro, old & new cars.

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