My girlfriend has a 1997 1.6 carisma GL which has an engine fault I am trying to get to the bottom of. The symtoms are:

1: Stuttering performance through the rev range especially 2nd to 5th Gear
2: fuel economy is poor (much worse than my Prelude!)
3: Idle speed is above normal and varies randomly

I'm convinced that it is a fuel problem, however I'm also convinced that it is an ECU fault. In other words - I don't know. The car has done 156,000 miles and has had this problem (as well as a few significant others which I am dealing with) for a while. The suspenstion problems are easy to fix - it's booked into the local garage :D But this engine fault is trickier. Two experienced mechanics have looked at and said exactly the same thing - take it to mitsibushi! I dont wanna do that. In my experience (and with other dealers too (peugeot)) they are expensive and not very good. The last sensor fault it went in for it came back with a temp gauge at full when starting from cold (sloppy workmanship soldering onto the water temp sensor!) and it did cost some!

Any ideas are much appreciated. Hopefully one of you looking at this will look and say 'I know what that is!' and tell me how to fix it, not mentioning take it to mitsibushi!

what I've tried so far:

replace fuel filter
replace spark plugs
cleaned PCV Valve, hoses, throttle body, and inlet manifold with spray stuff for such tasks.
check every sensor is connected.
reset ECU.
put in plenty of so called injector cleaners.
inspected HT leads.
steam cleaned the engine and cleaned the inside (not contributory to finding the fault - but it was bogging!)
replaced o/s lower wishbone (ball joint), front brake pads and anti roll bar drop links.

to do:
replace front n/s lower wishbone ( ball joint ).
find out why the centre console illumination turns off!

Ok - gave in. Took it to Mitsibushi. The fault was one of the ignition Coil packs. They quoted to £240 to change - I went to a scrappy and bought one for £20! Was all fixed in under 2 minutes..... easy when you know whats up :)

Well done mate,nearly always better to get bits anywere but main dealer

I agree with not using the mitsibushi agents where possible. I have a mechanical insurance on my RVR which requires that the vehicle be serviced by the agents. Generally I would not have a problem with this but just about every time I have had work done I have had to take it back. They are also horrendously expensive. A while back I broke the front headlight lens and they quoted me NZD 600 plus for a new unit and a 100 odd to fit it and do alignment. I managed to get a perfect 2nd hand unit from the breakers for NZD 130 and fitted it myself. Had the alignment checked at the next service and it was 100%. They are also incredibly unhelpful when it comes to parting with information and seem not to know the product.
Not a happy shopping experience at all.... I am still trying to get a owners manual for my model and one agent told me he could get one from Japan, expensive of course, but I would have to get it translated into english myself, what kind of service is this. Information like users manuals should be free on their web page..

hi all im new here but this topic is very interesting to me i have been asked to look up prob for the carisma as my dad is having serious probs with his it still rattles like anything and has the very simptoms described above his is a 1.8 gdi but his a 51 plate only just had it over a year and i mean just .mitsi have de-carboned it replaced injectors .while it was still under warranty .but they have not done coil described above seriously he has had it back to mitsi with same prob at least ten times plus(no kidding) .even now it rattles still with original symptoms yet mitsi says THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH IT.one of there friends is a mechanic and says engine is knacked .but mitsi will do nothing.ANY IDEAS WHAT THEY SHOULD DO

i would have said adjust the tappets on the 1.6. you cant adjust the gdi tappets they are hydraulic.