I have a 97 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder and when I go to start the car in the mornig it starts fine, but lets say ill drive the car to the store then cut the car off then come ack out and try to start the car up and MOST of the time it will just sit there and crank like its not getting any gas, its gets even more worst if i pull up like at sonic and cut my car off an order my food then, then after about 10 or 15 minutes try to start it up it will sit there and crank and everyone jus looks at me its so embarrissing. So all in all the problem is from a cold start it starts fine but when driven then cut engine off then try to start back up, sits there and cranks, but when finally starts up black smoke comes out exhaust, and even sometimes when i finally get it to start you can put the pedal to the medal and it will go like 3mph then after a few seconds it will start running correctly but soon as you stop it might do it again.

Please any help would be appreciated I Will be a Senior in High School in about 2weeks and to have this happen in the school parking lot would be terrible.

Thanks Vic17

 

i had the same starting problem with my previous car (honda prelude), that was just a relay switch, a small 75 dollar replacement. as for the 3 mph and black smoke... not sure about the smoke but my friend had the 3 mph problem about a week ago and it was because of a bad fuel filter... that wasn't as cheap, around 400 i think... hope my info helps. check that relay for sure!!!

 

Sounds like its flooding out with the black smoke bellowing out after starting. Have you tuned it up lately? If your plugs are bad and arent firing properly then upon starting they will 'foul' out (a.k.a. so drenched with gas and built up with carbon deposits, they wont conduct the spark).
Giving it gas while starting will make things worse. If you havent replaced the plugs recently I would start there first. Those fouling out would account for everything you said its doing, smoke, starting after sitting a while and the 3mph deal. That would be the cheapest and easiest thing to do.

 

Hey RC, who did your friend take his car to that they charged him $400 to replace a fuel filter?[sm=proof.gif] WOW! [sm=jawdrop.gif]

 

if its black smoke then its not flooding out...white smoke is a rich mixture.... if its fuel related you prolly wanna do a fuel pressure test... see what it is cause when you let a car sit over night the fuel has time to vaporize...do the fuel filter replacement also.. it could be spark related... next time it happens pull a plug and check for spark...if no spark its an intrmittent ign. module or a faulty crank sensor

 

I wans't trying to imply that he was running rich. [sm=chairshot.gif]
'Flooding out' , to me anyway, means whatever fuel mixture (I assume stock) is not getting ignited. If fuel is not getting burned in some of the cylinders then it will weild itself by black smoke. It would be white and thus a 'rich mixture' if his ignition system was igniting it fully on all cylinders. But you can only explode so much fuel before your ignition fails because of 'to much fuel' or your plugs/ignition system are not working and then you, as I like to call it, 'flood your engine'. This leads him to your last sentence,

" It could be spark related... next time it happens pull a plug and check for spark...if no spark its an intrmittent ign. module or a faulty crank sensor"

Of course it could just be the cheapest and easiest thing to replace - spark plugs- before replacing modules and sensors.

 

pardon my words but! WHO THE **** WOULD CHARGED YOU $4BILLS FOR A ****ING FUEL FILTER???! HAHAH!!! THE MECHANIC GOT "PAID" BIG TIME.. next time homie you can just go to auto zone and they can even tel you where you can locate your filter free FREE!!!! and a fuel filter will only cost you at least $8.00 to $15.00. that's like $385 cheaper!! heheh ( that's enough money to buy your self something nice!!) peace!

 

I'm with antomx- the black smoke can indicate a flooded or rich starting condition. Try cranking the engine at full throttle to see if you can get it to run. It should at least sound like it's going to fire. If not- you'll need to find what component is missing during warm/hot restarts (spark or fuel). What i've seen many times in the past is a bad Coolant Temperature
Sensor which is always telling the PCM that the engine is cold. When the engine actually IS cold, the CTS will tell the PCM to add additional fuel. This will help the engine start up and be more drivable in an actual cold condition. When the engine is warm/hot- the added fuel can actually make it difficult for the engine to restart. If and when it does restart- the extra fuel being burned up will result in a black puff of smoke out of the tailpipe and a fuel rich exhaust smell. This is MOST common with the 420A 2.0L DOHC engine. Usually, the CTS reading is off because of coolant residue leaking onto the sensor coming from the Tstat housing or the radiator cap. If you find that this is your problem and your sensor is covered in green coolant residue- you've found your problem right there. Good Luck!

Joel, CA