Hi all

I have recently picked up a Mitsubishi Carisma SE 1.8 GDI. It was registered in Sept 99 but the number plate check states it was made in 97.

The car was an MOT failure and I got it for free from a friend :). I have had a full exhaust (cat back) fitted and a replacement mass air flow meter installed (from breakers) as the car failed its emissions and the flow meter had been previously highlighted as faulty. I have also had a full service done. The car has now passed it's MOT :)

Ok, the problem with the car is it will sometimes run great, fuel economy is great, responsive, pulls well then 2 mins later, it just doesn't feel the same. Mainly when holding a steady speed with revs between 2-3000, the car seems to loose power for a short while then pick up, then loose and so on like I was playing with the loud pedal. When the car is behaving like this, the fuel consumption is noticably lower, on a recent run, the car was showing it was doing 59mpg at 70mph, when the power fluctuations started, it dropped to around 37mpg (no change in pedal position or road incline etc).

Less frequently, the car seems to hesitiate and splutter under acceleration but again, only in the lower revs. Once the car gets past 3500-4000 it seems fine although it doesn't feel like it likes being revved beyound 5500 very much. The acceleration hesitation seems to happen more often when powering out of a corner for some strange reason.

I have read many pages of posts on here and have seen numerous comments about the throttle body being a problem but I do not have any idle issues either with stalling or high revving. I also seem to have the tappy noise coming from the engine which comes and goes regardless of engine temp - a good blast up the revs in second seems to help shift this but not always.

As replacement parts seem to be a tad expensive for this car, I would greatly appreciate any advice people could offer before I go spending anymore cash.

Many thanks

Paul

Anyone? :57:

hey there i carnt really be of much use as im no pro in this area but it sounds like what u have is simalair to me try this

http://www.mitsubishi-forums.com/index.php...16588&hl=tappet

im preparing myself to be seriously wrong lol

Hi thanks for the reply, I know what the tappy noise is and it's no real concern. My main issue is with the inconsistent running of the engine. It does however, seem to be slowly getting better - the garage disconnected the battery when the work was done so maybe it's doing it's reset thingy for the first couple of hundred miles (as read in other threads)?

The reason your car is a 97 reg'd in 99 is that it sat in a field in Holland while sales caught up with what the factory had produced. Carismas never really caught on and sale only picked up when they started heavy discounts in the late 90's. Mine's th same.

As for the symptoms you describe I've had exactly the same problems, what i've found is that a spell of fast motorway driving on a couple of tanks of Shell optimax sorts it. From the bits I've read its due to the sulphur in cheaper petrols building up as coke around the injectors and valves. A blast at higher rev's with a detergent laden fuel clears it out. You could also try taking the plugs out and using redex, I've seen it recommended but haven't tried it myself.

I've noticed the cornering effect too but the Optimax cured this too.

Apologies for my late response - thanks a lot mate will give it a try. With current price of fuel never gave any thought to trying Optimax, I save the good stuff for my fun cars :)

well i would use optimax, it might be expensive but so is a de-coke for over £2000 a time, these engines don't like been run on cheap supermarket fuels.

Well been on Optimax for a few days now and it seems to be getting a little better I think. Need to take her on a long run to really clear the crap out.

Thanks again for the help :)