Mitsubishi Colt playing up | Technical matters | Back Room Forum

What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks

Wed 28 Jan 2004 15:58

Mitsubishi Colt playing up - Rosanbo

Anyone familiar with the Colt?

W reg year 2000 1.3litre 12Valve? fuel injected.

Cold starting became a problem a few months ago (when the weather turned cold)

It started ok and then when the acceleraror was pressed it felt like it was running on 3 cylinders. This happened until the engine got warmed up. Recently I have been starting it and leaving it to idle for ten minutes before driving it off, this warms up the engine, there is no problem if this is done.

I have been trying to work out what it is and came to the idea it might be the idler control. My suspicions have been further confirmed this morning when for the first time I started it and immediately increased the throttle to about 2500 rpm, and keeping my foot constant at that point....this had the effect of showing me that with every \"shudder\" or \"jump\" (the effect noticed when running on 3 cylinders)that the engine made, the revs increased a little bit...so the revs were increasing in steps until the engine was running fine, I had not moved my foot atall. This gave me the impression that a valve was slowly opening up in steps until it was fully opened. Obvioulsy this valve should open up immediately on start up because the engine is cold, but for some reason it is sticking. I think it is the idler control valve.

Problem is I am not familiar with this engine and I don\'t know where it is.

So I would like you to help if you have any other suggestions or you know what I should be doing.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Wed 28 Jan 2004 22:04

Mitsubishi Colt playing up - Martin Wall

I'm no expert but I had similar problems in mine a year ago - I thought it might be damp in the HT leads so I sprayed them the night before with WD40 and it was fine the next day. When was the car last serviced? As they are usually mega-reliable people (myself included!) often forget that they do need servicing every 9000 miles according to the manufacturer....

good luck!

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Thu 29 Jan 2004 22:18

Mitsubishi Colt playing up - Martin Wall

Did you try the WD40? I had the same symptoms as you and that fixed it. After I got the car serviced the problem never returned....

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Fri 30 Jan 2004 11:09

Mitsubishi Colt playing up - Rosanbo

Thanks Martin,

Ok heres a more detailed story. Some time ago I noticed it doing this the first thing I did was check the plug leads and compression.

No1 lead had been shorting out on the cam cover. and no1 piston had no compression.

So I put new cheap plug leads on (originals too expensive) and sparkplugs renewed. Drove the car for a while and the cold start problem went away. Later I checked no 1 compression again and found the pressure had returned to normal.

A little bit later I found the cold start problem had returned, but this time I broke one of the cheap leads when I was doing my testing.

So now I had convinced myself it was the idler, I had forgotten about all the above. and have been afraid to touch the leads again incase more broke. (I refitted one of the old leads in place of the broken one.)

Ok I will buy a new set of Mitsubishi leads regardless of cost.

Mitsubishi leads cost about 70 pounds
Blue print leads are too long and cost 28 pounds
leads I have fitted are the right length but the quality is visibly poor cost 12 pounds.

Thanks again for your input.

P.S. for anyone interested my theory on the compression is that when the cylinder was misfiring the unburnt petrol was washing the bore out, and when it started firing properly again the bore was eventually lubricated properly, hence, the compression returned.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Fri 30 Jan 2004 19:33

Mitsubishi Colt playing up - Martin Wall

Curious as my leads were never replaced yet the WD40 did the job - as far as I know my 7 year old model is still on the original leads!

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Sun 25 Jul 2004 00:43

My Colt problem - Rosanbo

I have been here before a long time ago.

I asked about a cold start problem my Colt was having.

W reg 1.3 12v Colt

was missing on start up, it gets worse in cold weather and clears up after two miles when engine is warmed a bit. Or if at start up you just put your foot on the accelerator and keep it in one position about 2000rpm the revs, ( as the engine warms up), jerks up in three or four stages to about 2600rpm (without moving your foot.

I did a service to it and changed plugs and leads when it first happened it went away and came back a few weeks later.

Since then I have been living with it. I have done a couple of compression checks, the first showed a piston to have low compression, resolved momentarily with a bit of oil - diagnosis piston ring worn. On other occasions the compression check has shown reasonable results.

I have now solved this problem for those who want to know such things,... I recently had the problem (even though it is summertime) and I was doing the trick of removing the plug leads one by one with the engine running. plug lead no.4 removal made no difference..hooray a clue! removed the plug and it was a bit oilly put the lead on it and started it up and watched the sparks ok - or so it seemed.

I Replaced the plugs, problem was solved on the following days. three weeks later same problem - looked at plug a bit oilly again.

My friendly mechanic says it could be piston ring, valve seal or head gasket. I have yet to do another compression check just to see what the latest results are.

I will post my new compression test results later. It is better to do a test with the engine hot - yes? and all plugs removed. Trouble is on the Colt I don't know where the fuel relay is so I disconnect the fuel injectors, this seems to work but I'd rather do it via the relay.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Fri 30 Jan 2004 21:46

Mitsubishi Colt playing up - Civic8

Not certain about your motor.but sounds like HT short.while problem occurs switch off take out plugs one at a time.the one that is wet ie has petrol on it is the one that is not firing
from what you said is No1 need to look back at distributer cap.take it off check for what looks like grey/white deposite on the segment to each cylinder.
if it has that scrape off using either smooth emery or small screwdriver using side face.As dizzy caps do suffer from this
if that won`t cure it need to look at coil.It is possible it is shorting during warm up.if none of those LT side but I doubt it?

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Mon 2 Feb 2004 14:16

Mitsubishi Colt playing up - Rosanbo

Thanks for your input mech1,

This morning I was taking each lead out one by one with engine running, 4 went worse, 1 went worse, 3 no noticeable change, however, upon refitting (3)the engine improved. This could have been coincidence with the engine warming up, - tommorrow I will start with 3 and go to 2 next.

Martin, There was evidence of the No 1 lead shorting to the cam cover (a burnt edged shiny spot) just where the lead touched the cam cover.

I've had enough of this fault and I don't want any permanent damage done to the engine. I will be ordering new leads today. I just dropped in here today to see if anyone had mentioned anything new or where to get cheaper better quality leads.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Tue 3 Feb 2004 12:16

Mitsubishi Colt playing up - Rosanbo

Ok I put off buying the new leads once more,

So I could check again this morning. I started to remove lead 3 first and today the engine went worse and when I put it back it was still spluttering, by the time I tried to remove no.2 the engine was running ok. It is warming up much quicker these days, I guess it is because the weather is warmer at the moment.

So once again I am convinced the problem does not lie in the leads, there appears to be something which quickly loosens up when you start the car from cold. possibly the alternator or steering pump is a bit stiff when cold?

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Tue 3 Feb 2004 12:45

Mitsubishi Colt playing up - Aprilia

So once again I am convinced the problem does not lie

in the leads, there appears to be something which quickly loosens

up when you start the car from cold. possibly the

alternator or steering pump is a bit stiff when cold?

Unlikely.

Most likely a fuelling problem or possibly even head gasket weep (does it lose any water?)

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Ask Honest John

Sell Your Car

Real MPG

Fuel Calculator