FTO Drivers Club, Western Australia

[Steven Lee]

I raced with my Mivec V6 for a short distance of about 500metres in quite a high engine rev recently. My engine started to develop problem soon after the incidence and became so serious that it die off wheneve the car stopped. It has no idling speed at all. Its idling speed goes up and down like having problem breathing before cutting. My mechanic could not [/b]locate the fault.
Further to these, the exhaust emits thick black smoke and strong smell of unburnt gas. The spark plugs were blacken despite being replaced.
I did not come across situation with this car before the race.
I would appreciate it very much if anyone could enlighten me.

[RichardH]

The idle speed controller (ISC) could have failed. It's a stepper motor that manages the air bypass at idle.

The engine ECU checks the mixture at idle using the oxygen sensor, and richens/leans the mixture by increasing or decreasing the incoming air via the ISC's "stepper motor" position. If it's really rich due to the ISC being stuffed, it could explain the choked up carbon deposits.

The stepper motors used on the FTO were crap to begin with. Mitsubishi's factory units were stupidly encased in an aluminium shell, which acted like a heatsink. They just cooked. The failure rate is so high, I'd say there are two types of FTOs - those who have had an ISC failure, and those who are going to have an ISC failure.

You could try cleaning it - some people extend its life a bit like that - but the original unit is a piece of turd, and simply begs for replacement. A replacement ISC will have a bakelite shell, so it doesn't fry.


There are more pics, how-to guides and other things around the traps in regard to this dodgy little part. But your mechanic will know it, no probs.

Hope this helps!

- Rich

[Steven Lee]

Hi Rich,

Thank you so much for your timely rescue. I am going to meet up with my mechanic soon to troubleshoot the stepper motor and the related components. I hope that it contains only mechanical problem for the time being. I hope my theorectical prepareness would help the mechanic to trouble shoot the problem. Somehow, this problem is a direct consequence to my suddent short dash few days ago out of fun which I had with another driver as stated in my previous post.
Once again, your advice is appreciated. I would feedback after trying it out together with my mechanic.

Steven Lee

[Guest]

Hi Rich,
I tried Yesterday as suggested but did not manage to rectify it. The stepper motor plunger was clean and functioning ok. Here are some new indicators:
When we removed any three injectors input for 3 of the 6 cylinders while engine was running, the idling became ok and normal, even without the strong exhaust odour. But the moment we fix back the 3 injectors( any 3 of them) which we have earlier removed, the thick black smoke and gas odour came back, and the idling jumping and engine cut-off again.
Hence, we assume that the fuel injected into chambers must be over supplied, causing the idling to have gone mad. However, we can maitain good idling speed but not during driving with just 3 out of the 6 injectors in place.
Further more, we cannot locate the reason the malfunction in controlling fuel supply to the chambers via the injectors.

Any clues? I am

Steven Lee

[RichardH]

Nope... No clue. Sorry. If it were my car, it would have long since been in at Crockenberg Motors by now!!

- Rich

[Steven Lee]

Thought of doing so, and use my 40 year-old triumph spit fire for the time being.

Steven