2000 eclipse excessive pinging.
 

I bought a 2000 model eclipse with the 4g64 single overhead cam automatic. This car had been sitting for about a year undriven. The previous owners said it just would not start one day. I got it home and put a new negative battery cable on it and got it running. It sounds funny when it is spinning over like it's not getting enough volage to the starter but thats another problem. Sometimes when it starts, it's like the starter is running the motor and will eventually catch up and idle. It idles fine but when you rev it up in idle, it has a little pinging going on. It is not very bad when you drive it when you first start it and has not warmed up yet. When you drive it hot, it is excessively noisy. It is definately not a knock but a preignition or detonation problem. It sounds like the ecm is not advancing the timing enough to compensate for the extra load on the engine. I have tried another ecm, verified the timing, and performed a top engine clean to remove excessive carbon from the piston tops and the bottom of the valves. Nothing has changed. Oh one more thing, the fuel tank was almost empty when I got it, I put half a tank of 93 in it. Any help or ideas would be helpful.

RE: 2000 eclipse excessive pinging.
 

Its called lifter tick. Common, and totally harmless.

RE: 2000 eclipse excessive pinging.
 

No, it's definately not a lifter tick. I have had a few cars that have had lifters hammering. This is definately a preignition "ping" or knock. Very loud and it's not rpm specific. It greatly increases the more load you put on the car. If you feather the car around with maybe no more than 15% throttle, no noise. But even under normal driving conditions, it gets really bad. Especially if you come up to a hill. I was looking for the knock sensor on this engine but have been unable to find it. Is it equipped? The dealer said the car was equipped with one. I am beginning to wonder if it is a logic problem with the ecm or junk signals from the cam and/or crank sensor? Not properly adjusting the timing?I swapped ecm's with a "known good" one (in my brother's ecm pile) but what are the chances of getting another ecm with the exact same problem?

RE: 2000 eclipse excessive pinging.
 

Can you record it?

Do you think you spun a bearing?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIg16-sjeo8 This is what lifter tick sounds like in these motors.

RE: 2000 eclipse excessive pinging.
 

does it get softer after you do an oil change?

RE: 2000 eclipse excessive pinging.
 

Ok guys, I thinkI may be on the right track. I forgot to mention this I am a 7 year lexus Senior/Master tech. I specialize in engine performance and diagnosis. But I have worked on nothing but toyota/lexus for the last 7 years. This helps me but with no factory scan tool (only a code reader) or factory service manual at my disposal I am reaching out to you guys who have Mitsubishi experience for advice. Anyway, this car is driving me nuts. I just spent about 2 hours looking at every sensor and vacuum line, inspected the harmonic balancer for drifted timing marks, just went over everything. I had a brain "fart", lets put the fuel system into "safe mode" I unplugged the MAF and got the car to start. It idled funny but idled nonetheless. I went to drive it. PERFECT! No pinging all the power was there, and it ran beautifully. You could smell it was running rich but lets me know that the pinging is not timing related but fuel related. Running lean causes combustion chamber temperatures to rise causing the infamous pinging. This could be too much air or too little fuel. I got 3 codes with it unplugged p0100 p0105 and p0110. But no light. Duh, I forgot about the 2-trip. Drove it again, light popped on. Are the air flow meters on these cars usually problematic? And it still takes too long to start. Could a faulty air flow meter cause this? I am stuck in "toyota diagnostic land" and am having problems finding the proper diagnostic procedures for a Mitsubishi. Thanks guys for any input.

RE: 2000 eclipse excessive pinging.
 

Wow thats a new one on me.

I don't think it was faulty, it appears that it just needed to be reset.

Glad it all worked out, sorry I couldn't be more help.

RE: 2000 eclipse excessive pinging.
 

I see bad maf's all the time making the car run lean and pinging. But mind you I work on fords lol.

RE: 2000 eclipse excessive pinging.
 

Thats the GM MAF for ya. POS

RE: 2000 eclipse excessive pinging.
 

Well, I put a new MAF on today. No good. Still pinging. Also the hard starting seems to be getting worse. I tried something. Sometimes when the car warms up it may or may not start. Sometimes you have to let it cool off. I unplugged the vacuum line from the fuel pressure regulator to boost the fuel delivery just a little bit, Starts hard but starts everytime. When it is having it's hard starting it sounds like it's only hitting on 2 cyls. Ok so I have excessive pinging with MAF plugged in and hard or sometimes no start with fuel pressure regulator fully plugged in. Runs and drives perfect with the extra fuel from the Maf unplugged.Any more clues? ECM? I'm lost and about ready to give up and sell it. I've been working on this thing for weeks with no luck just lost money.