Longitudinal
New member
All,
I am contemplating the purchase of a non-running or poorly running GVR4 from a friend of a friend. I will preface my questions with this: I have worked as a mechanic, welder and fabricator for twenty years. I am very familiar with how cars work, but I lack specifics on the bugs that arise in Mitsubishis, particularly the VR4.
The car is a 1991 GVR4. I have not yet seen it in person, but I want to learn about what to look for before I go to look.
The story behind its not running is this: the owner bought the car at auction and drove it home. A few days later, it would not start. He replaced the ECU, but it only ran poorly afterward. He believes that the ECU was for an automatic car.
From what I have seen, ECU failure is surprisingly common for these cars. Now the questions:
Is ECU failure a plausible explanation for the car not running?
Is an auto ECU a plausible explanation for the car running poorly?
Would an auto ECU do any harm to the harness if installed in a MT car?
Can I reasonably expect to find a still-good correct ECU?
Which other models have the correct ECU? FWD manual trans turbo cars?
What else should I watch out for? I assume that power steering lines for the rear steering are leaking, and I know they are irreplaceable.
What are the expensive fixes?
I’m about to go scouring these forums to learn more about the cars. Thanks in advance.
I am contemplating the purchase of a non-running or poorly running GVR4 from a friend of a friend. I will preface my questions with this: I have worked as a mechanic, welder and fabricator for twenty years. I am very familiar with how cars work, but I lack specifics on the bugs that arise in Mitsubishis, particularly the VR4.
The car is a 1991 GVR4. I have not yet seen it in person, but I want to learn about what to look for before I go to look.
The story behind its not running is this: the owner bought the car at auction and drove it home. A few days later, it would not start. He replaced the ECU, but it only ran poorly afterward. He believes that the ECU was for an automatic car.
From what I have seen, ECU failure is surprisingly common for these cars. Now the questions:
Is ECU failure a plausible explanation for the car not running?
Is an auto ECU a plausible explanation for the car running poorly?
Would an auto ECU do any harm to the harness if installed in a MT car?
Can I reasonably expect to find a still-good correct ECU?
Which other models have the correct ECU? FWD manual trans turbo cars?
What else should I watch out for? I assume that power steering lines for the rear steering are leaking, and I know they are irreplaceable.
What are the expensive fixes?
I’m about to go scouring these forums to learn more about the cars. Thanks in advance.