Re:2003 Mitsubishi Lancer OZ Rally cranks but no start

Hey there! I got a ‘03 lancer that cranks but doesn’t start and no check engine light comes on. I’ve gone through all the bases I could checking for blown fuses(none) checking fuel pressure and spark (both good) and timing (also good) what my tests did lead my to find were that only my #3 fuel injector is pulsing during engine cranking injectors 1,2 and 4 seem as if they pulse for a split second when I first begin to crank but nothing comes up after. Checked power to the individual injectors and it’s good throughout the line checked for grounding with no indication of a short I tested the vehicles ECM and the pins resistance numbers were off and I pulled a different ecm from the same model year lancer and still same issue but ecm came from a running donor car involved in an accident. At this point I’m at a huge loss and just keep retracing my steps thinking I might have missed something. Anything helps!

Do you have the ability to do a current check with a DSO? If not could you do a Fuel drop down test to see the difference in fuel pressure drop on each cylinder when the injector is pulsed with an injector pulse tool?

I don’t have a DSO all I have is a multimeter and basic tools

I have a feeling it doesn’t follow along fuel problem terms because I have noir lights and on injectors 1,2 & 4 the noir light won’t flash

The point of the fuel drop test was to verify the injector was actually working. Some cars the computer will kill he circuit to the injector if it is faulted. And will not clear out until fixed and codes cleared. 

It may be possible to clear codes. and then try the noid lite again. but you have to pay close attention because it does not take much for the computer to shut the circuit down. So it may only flash once or twice after clearing codes if the computer is shutting down the circuit.

I was able to change out the old injectors because the ones in the failed cylinders looking really crusty and if I manually ground the control wire I do get the injector to spray idk if that would tell you the same thing as a fuel drop down test

Forgot this was a 2003 I do not think they had that logic back in 2003 but could be wrong.

I’m not really sure either all I know is the control wire leading to the ecm isn’t functioning or something isn’t communicating to have those injectors functioning properly so the only one pulsing is injector 3

So that does start to push towards pcm drivers. But still could be a wire harness issue. I would check power and grounds for pcm. And see if I could find the injector control pins on the pcm and backprobe there to be sure pcm is truly not sending the signal

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As a way to bypass the wire harness I clipped the control wire on my #1 injector and routed and external wire straight to the harness connected right onto my ecm and still had no dice I’m not sure if I should do that with all 3 of the failing injectors but it still didn’t work. I’ll go ahead and back probe the control wires as far back near the firewall as I can I’ll be sure to write down every piece of information I can!

Could a problem with a crank and/or cam sensor cause the PCM to command only the 1 injector to pulse ?

Actually since you reported the coils were firing normally, I'm thinking this probably isn't the case.

Those injections are ground side controlled by the ecm. Each injector has its own driver. Use the good ground from #3 one at a time on 1,2 and 4 instead of cutting wires. This will confirm wiring and injectors are good.

My question. Does the donor ecm work on the other car? Hopefully it does and that ecm was not cooked from the problem with your car.

Need to do a cam Crank correlation as the cam controls the injectors.

Whats the history on this car? Has to be a reason those injectors shut down.

Are there any flat fuses near the battery? ANL or ANG type fuses?
If so, press or run your fingernail along the center to make sure the integrity of the fuse is good. Somtimes they get hairline cracks and can cause this.

Definitely check at pcm if you get pulsing or not. Is it turbo or not the diagrams differ for each. I would tackle the diagrams. I'm looking at injectors wiring now but need more info.