Car: 97 Mitsubishi Eclipse Sypder GST

No Mods

I recently came upon a 97 Eclipse that I have been fixing back up. The car sat for 4 years without running and I have replaced several things. One of the first things I had to replace was the Fuel pump.

Because the car sat for 4 years with gas in the tank, the Previous owners tried to run the car a few times and killed the fuel pump. I dropped the tank and cleaned the entire tank as a safety measure.

Since then I have replaced the spark plugs, spark plug wires, and have done a compression test.

The compression test was fine for the car.

My situation:

My car is underpowered, it does have a stock Turbo and when driving the car, The car does not respond to the pedal being pressed to the floor. My airflow gauge maxes out but there are no signs of change with the RPMs.

The car has a low idle around 400 to 500, when the AC is turned on, the idle drops down to nearly 0, but it does not kill the car.

I'm also having a random mis-fire that is causing the check engine light to come on.

I have run 2 bottles of injector and fuel system cleaner through the engine and I have had no luck on fixing this.

Now to the question,

I thought the problem may be with the fuel filter, since the pump was ruined, and I had to clean the tank from the old gas that sat for 4 years, is it possible the fuel filter needs to be replaced? And if so, could the fuel filter be causing all of these problems?

I called the Mitsubishi dealership today and spoke to the service desk about the fuel filter, they informed me that this fuel filter on my car should not have to be replaced, they explained that it should last a life time. I've never had a car where a fuel filter didn't need to be replaced but they said they would do it if I request it.

What would you do?

Thanks,

Joe

 

Yes. Probably a stupid dealership service writer told you that nonsense.

Replace the filter now. Try to flush the line from the pump to the filter too. Easy to do.

Make sure you use the right wrenches on those filter connections. Sometimes they're ungodly tight.

 

LOL whoever was at the sales desk is a moron replace the fuel filter!!!

 

I have replaced the fuel about 6 times since I have fixed it to a running condition. I have run fuel injector cleaner through it once and a fuel system cleaner through it once also. Both times I used half of the recommended amount of gallons of gas to have a stronger chemical combination.

I'm having the fuel filter put on today,

Is it hard to flush the fuel system? I'm not sure what exactly is envolved in doing so, I have run the chemicals through the system to attempt to clean it, but can someone give me a quick overview of what is performed in a true fuel system flush?

Thanks,

Joe

 

I was just thinking of disconnecting the filter and turning on the fuel pump for a few seconds. Fairly easy and quick.

 

I had the filter put on it yesterday,

It did add to some of the power to the engine,

But as far as the idle and the mis-fires, no help at all.

I'm going to try to flush the fuel system once the rain clears up this week.

Thanks for the explanation

Joe

 

I would say inspect and if necessary replace the fuel injectors. Even after running the cleaner through, if theyre faulty somehow just not letting enough fuel through to sustain the motor... idk maybe?

 

Yep, send the injectors out to get cleaned or just get another set used cheaply to verify.

 

Have you done a boost leak test? Is the bov recirculated?

 

I know Im prolly just compensating but if it were me I would look for a set of aftermarket/performance injectors. Its a turbo, its got potential.