I Need a Car Guys Help!

[Luckris]

Just got a Mitsubishi Eclipse today, 5 speed manual. Everything great, but the interior lights don't come on, neither to the back lights when I turn the lights on (front ones light up). But the biggest issue for me is you only move the pedal an inch or less before your at full throttle, same with the brakes. I'm not joking, no push back, just a loose pedal, with less than an inch until full throttle. 

 

I mainly want to get the gas and break adjusted so I have more room to press the pedal down, but got no idea if it's possible, but I need it done. Also the back lights to work when I turn on hazards,or indicators. So I'm thinking a fuse or something, loose wire somewhere maybe. But can t be done with the gas an brake pedals? (think interior lights are also working just on a broke fuse maybe) 

[LeKnightHawk]

It is possible to have the brake and has pedal adjusted. Some people love them lose because they love to go fast easier than usual I guess you could say..

They are probably loose because someone was having fun with their sports car.  

 

(I know how to drive a manual but I am not sure on all the facts about them. When braking, you should push in the clutch. Are you doing this? It may be why the brake lights aren't coming on when braking at night? Idk. I hope I could help.)

[Geekazoid]

It pays to try before you buy.

[DigitalHermit]

It should be easy to get the pedals adjusted... (Haven't done it myself but the mechanic was able to get it done in less than an hour)

 

As for the electronics, you can check the fuses yourself... The box will either be under the hood or somewhere under the dash on the driver's side...

 

If there are no blown fuses, change the bulbs... If they still don't work, have someone check out the electricals...

[Prokart2000]

fix it?

[Luckris]

@LeKnightHawk 

got it. Brake light are most likely fuse, and thank goodness I can get the pedals adjusted! 

 

@DigitalHermit

fuse box is right under the hood, easy to get to. I'm going to have to get the lights working and all first so I can drive it around, but still need plated and such. I'm so happy the pedals can be adjusted if your correct. I don't like how short of a response they are right now. 

 

@Geekazoid 

I did. It's an amazing car, and an amazing deal for the money I payed. 1997, 74,000 miles, no rust, great shape, just they guy modded the cat back exhaust, and added a performance rad, cold air intake, performance headers, and some other things I forget what he said. Just needs some love under the hood, that's all. I'm just not used to the acceleration from the short amount of gas I can give it.  

 

uploading a vid of the lights, hold on a sec, I'll link it in a sec (might be processing) 

 http://youtu.be/jLfYPZDFypU

[LeKnightHawk]

Totally of topic, but I just noticed I watched your DayZ video "I'm not loud" about a month ago. Now I know who it is. You're awesome dude.

 

[BulkFish]

Start by checking your fuses, then your bulbs. I highly recommend getting a light tester and poking the small metal tabs on both sides of the fuse while still in the vehicle, this will tell if there is power on both sides. I have seen fuses that at first glance appear fine but are actually f**ked. If all your fuse's are good then go around and check your bulbs. Look for broken filament or coloration/blackening of the bulb.

Fuse panel for 1997 Eclipse:

http://i.fixya.net/uploads/images/dc457db.gif

 

I am not familiar with eclipse's, but I am pretty sure the only adjustment you can do on the throttle is cable tension and idle speed. A high idle should be pretty noticeable, see what revs the car is sitting on at idle, should be less than 1000rpm. As for the cable tension, see if there is any floppy play in the throttle, either backwards or forwards. You can also check this by looking under the bonnet and finding the throttle body (should be at the back of the engine, where the intake pipe goes onto the intake manifold) and see if the cable attached to this is loose or has any play in either direction. That is if it is a cable throttle and no a drive-by-wire setup. 

[HippY]

@LeKnightHawk

 

if you use the brake a switch switches and brake light goes on.

Clutch is a completely separate thing, it is there to disconnect the gearbox from the engine

 

you can use them separately, easily

[BulkFish]

^ on that note, @LeKnightHawk you shouldn't really be pressing the clutch whenever you are braking, only when you are changing gear or coming to a complete stop. 

[Speedyv]

What I'd recommend is joining a Mitsubishi Eclipse forum, there are probably tons of them, people on there can tell you I it's a common problem or if they have experienced it.

[techswede]

Well this seems to be pretty sorted.

But i'll be lurking if you need any more help

[cae]

Don't look like stock lights. Bet the ricer you bought from mucked up the wiring. Good luck, but yeah, Eclipse specific forum.

[Luckris]

@LeKnightHawk 
That's cool how that worked out!  

 

@Bulkfush

The rear brake lights work, just not when turning the night lights on. Same with interior. So It's either a fuse, or loose wire. And thanks for the fuse box layout, I'll go check the fuses later. 

 

@cae

I don't judge (well I do judge console players) but, I don't really think of ricers like that. If someone wants to make their car look and sound the way they want, hell I don't care. I don't get why people think ricers are bad. Everyone has to start somewhere. 

 

 

 

To everyone, I also can't quote people, gives me a no_permission error. 

 

But here's a vid of it at idle, you can see the tail lights work when I press the brake. (yes I know loose wires and junk, but still working on things in there. I Haven't even got it plated or insurance for it yet).

 

(hazards and front lights on at night) youtube.com/watch?v=jLfYPZDFypU

 

(cold start, rev, and rake lights) youtube.com/watch?v=bje_ZjmqiOY

[cae]

 

It's even worse than I imagined! Torq Thrust style on a Mitsubishi!

 

Good luck with that wiring. Cold air intake is where the stock air box is; that short ram is just getting hot air from the radiator - good place to start with idle issues. In adding "performance brake pads," did they forget to bleed the lines? - good place to start with crappy pedal feel.

[Luckris]

@cae 
I know I got to move the intake, but I'm out of money for now. Brakes I got no idea if they where properly maintained. The pedals are so stiff though. And just by tapping the gas, it revs itself almost to red line. The revs keep going up, even if my foot is not on the pedal, but that's just the throttle body. Well I hope it is. 

 

Wires are a mess, but if I can cable manage a fully filled ghetto style tj07, I should be able to get this. 

[cae]

I would try to get a stock intake air box and all the stock connections. When you have money, check junkyards or pick-n-pulls. Full brake fluid flushes are around $100, and they'll probably find other stuff wrong with the system, or you can look up on how to do it with another person and save a bit of money. As far as the wires go, it's not about making it pretty and tucking it away, it's about making sense of what the previous owner did, where he hacked into the stock harness to make all the custom lights work, or at least attempt to. Did he follow the Chinese directions? Were the Chinese directions even correct? Sure, some fuses might have blown, but why did they blow, and how do you keep them from blowing?

 

Proper way to deal with issues like that:

[Luckris]

I would try to get a stock intake air box and all the stock connections. When you have money, check junkyards or pick-n-pulls. Full brake fluid flushes are around $100, and they'll probably find other stuff wrong with the system, or you can look up on how to do it with another person and save a bit of money. As far as the wires go, it's not about making it pretty and tucking it away, it's about making sense of what the previous owner did, where he hacked into the stock harness to make all the custom lights work, or at least attempt to. Did he follow the Chinese directions? Were the Chinese directions even correct? Sure, some fuses might have blown, but why did they blow, and how do you keep them from blowing?

 

Proper way to deal with issues like that:

I would like to just do that, but I need this car, moving out of parents house into an apartment early next year. So I'm just going to do my best to fix it up. I'm not at all good with cars yet, but my uncle has been fixing, building cars for years. Since he was a teenager, so I'm just going to go to him, and work on it with him a lot. Me and my uncle and flush the brake fluid, and I'll let him look at the wires, and have his best opinion on what to do. The car can be used everyday for work and back, I'd just rather fix it up first. 

[cae]

Learning experience! In buying a used car, I'd want to have at least $1000 set aside to address its issues, on top of the cost to replace all fluids (engine oil, transmission, power steering, coolant, brake), because the previous owner probably didn't. The $1000 would likely be for a set of decent matching tires and an alignment, with enough left over for one or two major mechanical fixes. "Custom" stuff should be a giant red flag.

 

I'd tackle brake lights first, followed by the brake pedal, then the idle/accelerator issues. They're all safety issues, but that's how I'd prioritize it. Give your uncle my condolences. :lol:

[BulkFish]

@Luckris the lights definately sound like a shitty earth. Dig around in your boot and try and find wires that come from the taillights and go to the body, clean that connection. Also make sure bulbs aren't corroded, and make sure there is an earth strap that goes from the engine to the body somewhere.

I am at work so I can't research it for your eclipse, but alot of throttle body's have a sort of slow release valve that releases the throttle slowly so it is smoother between gears. If this is blocked it will hold the throttle open. See how many (if any) little rubber hoses go to the throttle body. I am guessing they are around the wrong way.

Shitty brake fluid will make your pedal spongy, not stiff. It can also cause brake failure at high temperatures as it is hygroscopic and absorbs water, and as it gets hot that water turns to steam and compresses. Brakes may be sticky from lack of use. Also the pedal may be out of adjustment. I vote you find a workshop manual online and have a read. Link me to it if you find one.

On phone no proofreading don't judge. Haha

[Luckris]

@Luckris the lights definately sound like a shitty earth. Dig around in your boot and try and find wires that come from the taillights and go to the body, clean that connection. Also make sure bulbs aren't corroded, and make sure there is an earth strap that goes from the engine to the body somewhere.

I am at work so I can't research it for your eclipse, but alot of throttle body's have a sort of slow release valve that releases the throttle slowly so it is smoother between gears. If this is blocked it will hold the throttle open. See how many (if any) little rubber hoses go to the throttle body. I am guessing they are around the wrong way.

Shitty brake fluid will make your pedal spongy, not stiff. It can also cause brake failure at high temperatures as it is hygroscopic and absorbs water, and as it gets hot that water turns to steam and compresses. Brakes may be sticky from lack of use. Also the pedal may be out of adjustment. I vote you find a workshop manual online and have a read. Link me to it if you find one.

On phone no proofreading don't judge. Haha

 

I might have found a forum that can help me with me issues. I'll just have to make an in depth video tomorrow on everything about the car. The guy I bought it from drove it to my house, so it works just fine, but there's a few things it looks like he was working on, and never finished that I need to get looked at. I think I know how to fix the major issues, it's just small things like the radiator fans. There on a switch that connect to the battery, and I have to connect it and turn them on every time I go to drive the car. When I'm done I got to turn it off, and disconnect the wire so the battery wont drain. I found a blown fuse this morning, but I left the rad fan switch on, so the battery was dead. Replaced the fuel, charged the battery, but then I had to leave for work. I'm going to test this in the morning, see if any lights where fixed, and try to drive the car up and down the block. 

 

Do you know how to adjust pedals? I want to before I drive it so I don't constantly stall, or do peel outs then stall. :3

And about reading it over, I really don't care how your spelling or grammar is. Mine is shit. 

[BulkFish]

@Luckris the fans probably just need a relay installed. Thats a switch that only supplies power to them when the key is on. Do the fans turn on straight away when supplied with power? Or only when the car is hot. If they turn on straight away when cold a thermostat will need to be installed, so they aren't running constantly. Also it might be worth adding that for the thermo fans use a circuit breaker instead of a fuse. The fuse will generally burn out if used in this circuit.

As for the pedals look under the dash where the brake pedal is and see if there is an adjustable rod that goes into the firewall, take a picture and upload if not sure.

A relay tutorial to give you an idea:

[Luckris]

@Luckris the fans probably just need a relay installed. Thats a switch that only supplies power to them when the key is on. Do the fans turn on straight away when supplied with power? Or only when the car is hot. If they turn on straight away when cold a thermostat will need to be installed, so they aren't running constantly. Also it might be worth adding that for the thermo fans use a circuit breaker instead of a fuse. The fuse will generally burn out if used in this circuit.

As for the pedals look under the dash where the brake pedal is and see if there is an adjustable rod that goes into the firewall, take a picture and upload if not sure.

A relay tutorial to give you an idea:

 

That the thing about the fans. They are wired up to a switch that's modded into the car. If the switch is connect to the battery all the time ,it will drain the battery, even if fans are off. I'm making a vid on that soon. As for the pedals, I think that might be part of the throttle issue. it seems like the pedal makes the throttle stick open sometimes. But there is a weird reving and idle issue tied up with that. 

 

as for the pedals, what am I looking for to adjust, and what tools do I need? 

 

[cae]

 

The guy I bought it from drove it to my house, so it works just fine

 

Not what you should assume. It's easy to limp a car somewhere, especially a manual with functioning handbrake. :lol:

 

That the thing about the fans. They are wired up to a switch that's modded into the car. If the switch is connect to the battery all the time ,it will drain the battery, even if fans are off. I'm making a vid on that soon. As for the pedals, I think that might be part of the throttle issue. it seems like the pedal makes the throttle stick open sometimes. But there is a weird reving and idle issue tied up with that. 

 

as for the pedals, what am I looking for to adjust, and what tools do I need?

 

The circuitry for a relay like he was describing is hopefully still present, the fans just need to be wired in to that system (if it still exists). No video needed, the guy just did a shitty job wiring the fans. They shouldn't be always on or always off. That's what the thermostat switch is for. This stuff should be on your car already, just needs to be properly wired. A "new" hood, bumper cover, headlights, and radiator screams "I WAS IN A FRONT END COLLISION!" though, so some stuff might not be working after all.

 

I wouldn't start messing with the pedals just yet, they might not even be the problem. If it's currently capable of stopping the car, you want to maintain that state until you get the hydraulic system inspected. I'd certainly believe the guy not bleeding his brakes much sooner than pedals coming out of adjustment, unless the idiot has touched that, too.

[BulkFish]

@Luckris

What you are looking for is an adjustable pushrod that goes into the master cylinder. The only reason I suggested this is it is easy to check. Eliminate the easy fixes before going to the complicated ones. Pretty much though you are just looking for about approx 10mm of free travel in the pedal. However if you don't know what it is don't play with it.

Most cars on the road have never had their brakes bled, however it will give you the opposite effect to the one you are describing. @cae is probably right about the front end damage, so they may have replaced the k frame altogether. Which means all kinds of shit could be wrong.

As I said previously, those fans aren't currently running through a relay/thermostat. Either find the existing one, or install one. If they are after market thermofans, there is probably 2 plugs not connected nearby that were for the original ones.

Sounds like you need to go see a mechanic man.