Major car problems

[vr4JoE22]

Ok heres whats going on my car has been in and out of the mitsubishi shop about 4 times with in a year I've only been able to drive it for 3 months out of the year the rest of the time its been in the shop.

First I've had a new engine put in the car, and my ecm fried my ecu and both had to be replaced
, second my transmission went out along with my transfer case, and new motor mounts,
third my transfer case agian and the engine was loosing oil with in 3 weeks,
fourth time I had to get 2 new turbos from A1 turbos dont know how good they are but they work, some wire to do with my ignition came loose, my tachometer stops working ( it worked for a while today when I got my car back but then the needle started to jump around and then stoped again) replaced my transfer case once agian.
Got my vr4 back this morning it was running pretty good, turbos spooled up pretty good everything looked like it was running like it should, but until I got some gas, before I took my car in the shop for the fourth time I had to put 87 octane in the car cause I didn't know if I could make it to the gas station or not, but I never did make it the car quit and wouldn't turn over. Today I put 93 ocatane in the car and about 1 1/2 mile from my house the car quits agian, I did get on it alittle but not that hard and it sounded like something came loose, the exhaust popped and the car died. I pushed it on the side of the road and I tried to crank the engine well it would crank but the engine didn't have enough power to stay alive and get the car rolling agian, so I stayed where I was for 40 mins. and tried to get it running agian but no luck, I got a real rich smell coming from my engine and exhuast and I'm blowing out black smoke out of my exhuast and from under neath the hood. The dealer ship said something about my precats being clogged up with oil they asked around and a diesel mechanic said that the oil would burn out and that my precats would be fine the way they are just give it time and they'll be fine.
I have know idea what is wrong with my vr4 I feel like I have had the worst luck with my car I hate Mitsubishi they don't know what the hell they are doing thier isn't any good mechanics around this shit hole town that I live in that know what they are working with I've already have spent $23,000 on my car to keep it running and all it does is goes back in the shop everytime I sit in it. I can't afford to get another car and even if I was going to get another car it would be another 3000gt vr4 if I had the money it would be a skyline GTR R34, but I love how the 3000gts look and handle its untouchable around where I live.

[Igovert500]

I hate to say it, but this is where you learn never to trust a thing a Mitsu dealership says. Generally, people assume because they are Mitsu, they know what they are doing. I can assure you 95% of the time this just isn't the case. Generally, they know nothing when it comes to our cars. Your best bet as of know is going to 3si.org, check out the regional sections...ask them where hte nearest decent trusted 3/S mechanic is...or if any of them would be intersted in helping you out. There are alot of great guys over there that are happy to help out a fellow 3/S owner for alot less $$ than a mechanic would charge. I'm sorry to hear that you have dumped so much $ into your car, and I'm really sorry to say that half the stuff you bought you probably didn't need to. Dealerships have a tendency to say "replace the whole thing" rather than fixing it...your tranny for example.

Also another thing...never put anything less than 91 octane into your car. I realize you were almost stranded...but IMO it is better to be stranded and pay for a tow, then gamble with your entire engine. If you boosted too much, you could get a serious case of knock and blow something up.

That thing about oil in your precats sounds like BS to me...I've never heard of such a thing...and even if that were the case, you'd be getting blue smoke...not black. You are running rich, something isn't right.

Transfer cases are under recall. So I hope you didn't pay for any work on them, as it is supposed to be covered and done free of charge. If you check out 3si or do a search on here, I'm sure you can find more info on that.

All in all, I'm really sorry to hear of your bad luck, but please learn from this and stay the hell away from the Mitsu dealership.

[vr4JoE22]

I talked to some friends tonight, and they all said that it sounds like either it could be a problem with my fuel system or faulty wiring ( my cars wiring harness maybe going bad) or my ECU that I have had sent off once to be rebuilt is going bad. My car is getting to much fuel and not enough air. My car is sitting at the dealership as we speak, I hope it will be the last time my car even goes near that place. I'm tring to find anyone that knows a good bit on the 3000gt vr4s locally it maybe in the next state but I'm willing to take my car anywhere but the dealership. After my car gets out of the shop I'm probibly going to buy another vehicle instead of using the vr4 as an everyday driver. I've got to get a good paying job so I can still upgrade and add the things that I'm wanting on my vr4 to make it look nice and drive like a beast so its basicly going to be my weekend car/ track car.
Thanks for replying and for helping me out. Props

[vr4JoE22]

bump

[92VR4Red]

Sounds like fuel too... if you say its smells rich and burning rich then it most likely fuel realted.
if its boggin down bad and poping then its running TOOOO rich. i would chnaged sparkplugs and plug wires. then replace fuel pump and all the fuel lines(might be gloged) your FPR and injectors... i mean if you spent 23,000 to fix it so far then this will only be like 400 - 500 bucks.

[vr4JoE22]

Good News, my car is getting out of the shop tomorrow, the whole thing was water in my gas tank,and one of the pipes connected to one of the turbos, I didn't even think to check the pipes from the turbos I just checked the ones to my intercooler to see if the intercooler was still connected. I'm so stupid I should've checked the pipes from the turbo. Doh! I also had to get new spark plugs put in they were a freebie
The Bad news is my Tach is still acting up on me, it wants to work then it doesn't want to work and when it works the needle jumps to 9k on the rpms? What is the cause to my tach acting like that? Do I need to replace my ECU

[vr4JoE22]

Another problem I failed to mention is my transmission, The gears on my car are getting really tough to get into is this due to low fluid in the gears? Do I need to replace the syncrhos?

[Twizted_3KGT]

Didn't you just get a new tranny???? I gotta say you have possibly the worst luck with this car i've ever seen, I thought I was bad, but you take the cake.

The wires to the tach are probably shorting out, giving it full power aka 9k rpms, I wouldn't think it's tied into the ecu though i'm not sure.

As for your tranny it could just be fluid, definitely check that first, but it would be very common if it was the synchros.