History = http://mx-3.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=65033
4/28/2013 =
![Image](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8399/8690593995_0df6ef7360_b.jpg)
So we sold the last GS SE - KLZE + LSD to another member here. He happily drove home from the Detroit burbs back to the Pittsburgh area. Gave him extra stuff, got rid of everything MX-3, sold off an intake manifold, some rear mud guards - basically cleared the place of all MX-3 stuff save for a K801 ECU for whatever reason. Even posted all my manuals for sale here to. Thought I was done.
See, we built the old car in 2009 and drove it until April 2013. My daughter was the last recipient of the car and even got her Michigan driver's license in the car. Good thing the tester isn't required to do emissions checks before the driving test. So she came to kind of like the car. Time goes on, she goes to University of Kentucky and its time to buy another car with unquestionable reliability. The old car had 166,000 miles on it and about 75,000 or so on the engine. Brand new? Well rust was creeping in and it needed to go to a better home. And it is.
So we are innocently looking at other cars for her and Jovian2k goes and posts this:
http://mx-3.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=80857
Well, we have rescued 2 others and the short story is that she really wanted her Raspberry Metallic car back. So you know what we had to do. We hauled it back to Michigan on Sunday, April 28, 2013. Here's the car's story - broken and with my embellishments but probably not too far from reality. This is boring so I am really documenting it for myself here - go below for the techie stuff.
So the car really does only have 77,000 miles on it. Here's what I can piece together - if anyone has a CarFax available punch in this VIN to corroborate - JM1EC432P0234007 and tell me how far off I am:
1) Original buyer bought the car in Williamsville, New York, a Buffalo suburb.
2) Drove it 57,160 miles and sold
3) Vehicle was sold in Dublin, Ohio on August 23, 2002, to owner number 2 who was described as an elderly couple.
4) Vehicle stopped running in 2012 with 77,000 miles on it.
5) Gentleman tried working on the car - looked like he was trying to examine valve timing
6) Front valve cover was in the passenger seat, distributor off and labeled, air silencer removed.
7) Supposedly the elderly guy got sick around the time he worked on the car and ended up, sadly, dying.
8 ) Wife couldn't come to part with the vehicle for a year and finally - probably - let it go for scrap to a dealer of "mechanic's specials".
9) Posted on Craigslist - not sure when
10) Jovian2k posts as shown above
11) We pick up the car on the 28th of April, 2013
When my son and I got to it tonight - April 30, 2013, as we have come accustomed to, we put everything back together after lubing the year long exposed cams on the front head and tried to run the car. After some effort the car started. We ran it at idle and it settled down and purred nicely. Maybe a miss on one cylinder but that should go away after a while too [edit 5/14/2013 - miss was self induced. Sometimes when you actually plug in cylinder #6's spark plug wire to the distributor it works better] . As it was warming up it simply turned off on its own. Its like ignition was cut but when it is in this mode there is quite evidently no fuel.
So - hypotheses:
1) Fuel pump - but it simply cuts out - doesn't fade to black like I would expect. NOPE
2) Fuel filter - looks original - need to replace that no matter what but probably is not the cause NOPE
3) Electrical - we swapped the K801 ECU with the known good one I have and same results. NOPE
4) Electrical - Crank sensor - highest priority right now. NOPE - but have a new one now
5) Infamous distributor issues? YUP!!
Objective, a fun reliable car for my daughter's next 3 (or 4) years. At 77,000 miles, if we can resolve this issue, it should last years.
Other known effort - it seems like these cars do not like to sit for long periods of time. The rear subframe and suspension is quite rusty. Good thing we are driving back from Arizona soon AND there is a V6 MX-3 in a yard ready to be picked. No rust there!! Goal is to transfer the whole Arizona rear subframe and suspension, less knuckles and bearing, to this car. Then, outside of a bit of rust in the lower front fenders (I'm guessing from plugged sunroof vent hoses), the car should be very good to go forward with.
More to follow. Pics to follow too.