I've been having a problem the last couple of weeks with my car. Its a
97 Mitsubishi Carisma, 1.6 petrol, with 85,000 miles on it.I first noticed a problem while driving the engine managment light was flicking on every now and then while driving, this happened a couple of days running but there was no apparent issues, no mis firing or cutting out.
After a few days I found the car would start and cut out straight away if I was starting it within a few minutes of stopping it e.g. driving to shop, running in and coming out to find it was going nowhere. After a few minutes the car would start fine and drive fine but with the engine light pretty much constant.
I rang around a few garages. Most said their computers would not interface with the car due to its age. One guy guessed that it was the throttle position sensor as its the most common fault.
The length of time after which the car will start has gotten longer and longer, now up to 3 hours. I did a few checks myself on the car while it won't start. I found that the left hand coil on the engine is not energising when I turn it over, I switched the 2 coils around and this is still the case. I checked the input to the coil and the signal to energise the coil is not being sent when the engine is turned over.
My best guess is a sensor on its way out somewhere but after that I'm clueless.
Any ideas?