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MIVEC not working

Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2004 6:19 pm
by fto12345
Hello,

Sorry but I thought I'll raise it up here again as I realised there were some people with this problem but don't seem to have any resolutions apart from going in to north shore mitsi...but don't really want them to take the car without my self really knowing what is going on here.

There are no warning lights for me and the mivec just doesn't come on.
When I rev it in gear the small cam just continues past the 5krpm and keeps going with the small cam....there are no rush of air sound either....

Any ideas?
Or any one with this problem got it solved?

Thank you,

Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2004 6:26 pm
by ruchi
how high can you rev?

Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2004 7:21 pm
by fto12345
Well last I tried really reving it was before the mivec went out completely.

In first gear, I reved till about 6krpm and it started to bounce....which never happened before, then ever since I didn't get mivec completely.

After that I have tried to rev it up to about 5500rpm and maybe even close to 6krpm and still no mivec.

Before it was coming in and going kind of thing and then from one day short after it just stopped working....

Don't know what the problem is....
:evil:

Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2004 10:52 pm
by ruchi
sounds like a limiter is kicking in which either means the car thinks the engine is too cold (sensor issue) or there is an issue with the power from the alternator to the ECU.

Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2004 12:52 am
by indyfto
Sounds like the problem I had with mine a month ago. The Mivec just failed to engage one day and never came back. I could rev to around 6500rpm in any gear then the limiter would kick in. I did however get the detonation sensor warning light from a diagnostic check come up. Sure enough the problem was exactly that. Had the faulty knock or detonation sensor replaced and Mivec was back as good as new. If this is your problem be aware that the sensor is literally buried into the middle of the block of the engine and labour is very intensive for a relatively cheap part.

Hope that helps...

Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2004 2:32 pm
by RichardH
Try the diagnostics test for getting out engine ECU codes...

http://www.ftowa.com/html/workshop/workshopart07.html

Let us know what magic number comes out!

- Rich

Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2004 3:33 pm
by fto12345
So all it requires is that you connect that pin with a copper wire and earth that and with the ignition on, without starting the engin I assume, the warning light will flash according to the code?

Has any one tried this?

Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2004 5:38 pm
by RichardH
Yeah... that's why I wrote the article! :)

I manually disconnected the Knock Sensor, drove for a bit, got a low rpm limiter with no power, then tried this wire connecting thingumy. And got the 'Detonation Sensor' code.

Easy....!

- Rich

Posted: Wed Jul 21, 2004 5:04 pm
by fto12345
Great.

So just so that I don't damage anything...
I just open up underneath the steering column and get any copper wire and plug it in to the bottom last right hand side pin and connect it to any metal part of the body to earth it and I should get these blinkings?

Thank you,

I will try this very soon.
:wink:

Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2004 2:36 pm
by fto12345
Ok,

I have tried what Richard had told me to do....

And I get nothing....

I get the no code signal.....that is signals every second constantly....

So I guess that means none of the sensors are wrong....

So what is the problem then?

Also, I have a drive of it again last night and I could feel the mivec coming in, but it's so weak that you can hardly notice it!

However, before it really didn't work at all!
But now, it does come in, but it's so weak!

What's going on????

I might try and get some ideas here on the forum until Wednesday, and if I still don't know what's wrong, then I'm taking it to Northshore Mitsi..

But it'll be great if some one here has any idea...

Thank you,

Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2004 3:12 pm
by twistea
maybe put the car on the dyno to see how much of a problem it really is. that way you could be certain how the power is affected at the mivec changeover point....

Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2004 4:38 pm
by ruchi
So can you now rev the car all the way to the red-line?

Before, when you couldn't rev the car above 6K, had the engine warmed up or had you only just started the car?

Same Problem

Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2004 11:39 pm
by csvperformance
My mum (im 15) has just recently bought a FTO GPX and I was wondering whether it was normal or common to rev limit a 6.5k RPM? it only occasionaly does it though. Could it be because it is cold? Will it show a signal if there is something wrong thanx
P.S If you have any answers send me a message please.[/b]

Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2004 1:19 am
by Boris
Ok, hold on, i think your problem isn't quite similar, this thread is about MIVEC not kicking in, I think your problem if I understand it correctly is that you car hits the 6.5k and a limiter kicks in, now this could happen for a number of reasons.

1: You are not warming your car enough, tell your mum to take it easy.. gee... the fto has a default limiter at 6.5k when the car is still cold. Most people here normally give the car 15mins before the engine even seeing the 5k mark... remeber an fto isn't like a falcon, *8k rpm is quite high, the car has to be completely warmed up, before you redline it.

2: One of the critical sensors could be malfunctioning, cos normaly if one critical sensor goes, then the limiter at 6.5k kicks in.

There are a few threads already out there about this topic, but I though I would just give u a brief summary. Hope this helps, and welcome to the club btw. :)

Thanx

Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2004 3:51 pm
by csvperformance
Thanx for that, It ain't too bad of a ride. We took a R33 Gts-T for a spin but it didn't turn as many heads :)

Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2004 6:54 pm
by fto12345
Ok guys, sorry about the delay in reply.

I found out what the problem was.

My clutch was worn out so when it got to the mivec range it slipped so bad that the mivec was kicking in but you just couldn't feel it!
That's all.

However, now I have a different problem....well not completely.

After changing the clutch, as this seems to be the only problem I went for a ride and it's been couple of weeks at least since I changed the clutch, the mivec seems to be very weak compared to what I used to have.

I can definately feel it now, but it just isn't as strong as before.

Before I could hear the air roaring in...now it's more subtle!
But you can still hear it but not as loud!

Any ideas?

Thanks guys for the advice, much appreciated!
:wink: