Will not rev past 3500 RPM

Tiny
GLEN DOUGLAS
  • MEMBER
  • 1995 MITSUBISHI FTO
  • 2.0L
  • V6
  • 2WD
  • MANUAL
  • 100,000 MILES
Engine will not rev past 3500 rpm (engine limiter?). Fuel pump/engine control relay switches off and on as it limits, warmed up, no error codes.
Wednesday, October 18th, 2017 AT 9:41 PM

9 Replies

Tiny
STEVE W.
  • MECHANIC
  • 13,014 POSTS
Looking at what little information the service manual shows I would start with testing the TPS and the APS to see if they are in range and the intake air and coolant temperature sensors. From the information those seem to bee the controlling items for the limiter. This is assuming a stock engine with OEM tuning.
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Wednesday, October 18th, 2017 AT 11:37 PM
Tiny
GLEN DOUGLAS
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Thank you for your response.

TPS tests okay, no APS (non-tcl), coolant and Intake temps both in spec 2.5k at 15-20C. Alternate ECU makes no difference, engine loom has been swapped out as well. Engine starts and idles smooth, responsive to throttle but immediately shuts off at 3500 rpm. When this happens it appears that the ECU loses power completely.
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Thursday, October 19th, 2017 AT 5:04 AM
Tiny
STEVE W.
  • MECHANIC
  • 13,014 POSTS
If the ECU is shutting down it is not the limiter, it only cut the fuel by stuttering the relay to the pump not killing the ECU.
Does it shut it off regardless of how fast you apply throttle? And how does it recover? When the rpm's drop does it start running again or is it up to 3500 and off until you restart?

What does the battery voltage off the alternator show as it shuts off?
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Thursday, October 19th, 2017 AT 7:46 PM
Tiny
GLEN DOUGLAS
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  • 5 POSTS
No matter how fast you apply the throttle it shuts off at 3500 rpm. Engine runs at everything below 3500 rpm. Voltage at the battery is 14.49 volts and is stable when it limits. Drops to 13 volts at engine shutoff. Charge voltage is 14.4 volts no matter the rpm.
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Thursday, October 19th, 2017 AT 8:29 PM
Tiny
GLEN DOUGLAS
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Took a short video of it happening.
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Thursday, October 19th, 2017 AT 8:56 PM
Tiny
STEVE W.
  • MECHANIC
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Well that isn't something you see every day !
I'm going to dig through the book, at the moment the only thing I can think of is something strange like a cracked part that centrifugal force is moving and killing the voltage to the ECU.
How about sticking a VOM on the power and grounds to the ECU and see if the power is dropping out at the ECU. That would at least give a starting point. Then it would be unplugging sensors and seeing what happens.
You could try an odd test, pull the drive belt off the front and see if it revs then. That would at least eliminate those items from being a problem.
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Friday, October 20th, 2017 AT 11:55 PM
Tiny
STEVE W.
  • MECHANIC
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Have you had any luck on your end finding the problem? I've gone through the book and there isn't much in there. The one thing that I did see was related to the limiter. It is supposed to activate at 7000 rpm on a cold engine. You are having this issue at 1/2 that speed. Makes me wonder if the signal for that isn't something to do with the problem but the book doesn't really talk about that, only that it's part of the ECU.
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Friday, October 27th, 2017 AT 6:50 PM
Tiny
GLEN DOUGLAS
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Apologies for the late reply, yes I ended up sorting it out. I went through every manual I could find as well with no success. All I could think of was a bad earth so I added another strap from the body to the manifold. Problem solved. Thanks for your time :)
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Saturday, November 4th, 2017 AT 4:42 AM
Tiny
STEVE W.
  • MECHANIC
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Great to hear. Gotta love how companies hide info at times.
Thank you for using 2CarPros. Com
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Saturday, November 4th, 2017 AT 9:48 AM

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