Limp mode?

[D_BLOCK]

Ok so i just brought my young fella his first car , a 2003 mitsi lancer coup , no its not a Holden but many of us have more than one make of car so I figure no harm in asking.

Anyway its pretty mint apart from losing power at 40kmh or 3k rpm (which ever comes first) . I have hooked up 2 different scanners and cant get a link to see what codes it throwing , it does however have the neutral light on the dash blink when it goes into limp mode.

Using the auto , 1st and 2nd gear makes no difference to power but going up into 3rd or drive makes a thud with slightly more power .

The lady i brought it off reckons the mechanic said there is a known fault on this year , model etc and there is a "chip" that fails at around 200XXX km but the car is only at 170XXX , and the said mechanic reckons $240 to instal a new chip and do a reset and it should be all good . Im thinking it must the the pcm she is thinking of but it cant be that cheap for a new one .

Thoughts lads?

[D_BLOCK]

bump for info

[dnos]

if there's no special security on the car you could try a different ECU, perhaps one from the wreckers with the exact same set up as yours?

[D_BLOCK]

I may have to . I just tried the diagnostic scanner at supercheap and that wouldnt communicate with the ECU either. I dont think there is anything special about the security , the key at least looks very basic with no chip etc.. and theres no built in alarm either.

[D_BLOCK]

ive just gone out and put a meter on pin 16 (power) of the OBD2 port and have 0.04 so pretty much no power , not sure where to go from here?

[dnos]

Maybe the ECU is unhealthy? The OBD2 wiring will come straight from the ECU. Maybe the problem is power to the ECU? Bad earth, weird voltage at the revs you mentioned? Impossible to diagnose from behind a keyboard. Just throwing out random ideas.

[D_BLOCK]

All help appreciated dnos :yup:

I found a pinout so tomorrow once I get over bathurst celebrations i'll also test for resistance on the comms wire and test for proper earthing .

[Bling Bling]

Mitsubishi Magnas were notorious for computer problems to.

[D_BLOCK]

Ok for those that may run into a similar issue , I pulled out the after market radio and suddenly got power and comms to the ECU , it looks like a dodgy speed sensor module is causing the limp mode . Have one coming from Brissy so should be good as gold tmrw.