Questions and Answers
Galant Fuel Problem
Q. Dear Vincent Ciulla, I've owned this particular vehicle since the beginning. A 1991 Mitsubishi Galant LS with a 2.0 liter engine and manual transmission. 146,000 miles and Fuel injection. It has A/C, but it's not sure about ABS brakes or not (it may not matter).
....and it has definitely had its share of problems. For starters; it blows a ton of gray smoke out when I crank it up and we know its got problems there, but that being pretty major (rebuilding the engine-from what mechanics have said with a heavy price tag). Computer rebuilt a year or two ago, used transmission about 2-3 years ago.
But that's not the problem, what happens now sounds very similar to the "vapor lock" from things I have read on your web site, but my mechanic's said that's rarely the problem if someone comes in claiming that's the problem. Well, I took it in. He could make it act up (not start after running the car a bit), but he could never diagnose the cause of problem. One thing is it'll start up after an hour or two of waiting. It also started up when he removed one of the fuel injectors and gassed it. Of course then the fuel injector cable when back on.
Anyhow, this is a first taking it into a shop and them not being able to determine the problem. I took it to another place as well earlier-a few months ago (just for the convenience sake--when it would surge and stall out) and all they could do was scratch their heads, replace the spark plugs, and put some gummout in the fuel tank (all that was around 2,200 miles ago).
But both mechanics have said Mitsubishi are infamous for bad electrical circuitry and don't give you adequate information to diagnose such problems and I wasn't willing to go into 500 labor just searching for a problem they may never find.
I don't know where else to go with it. Though it's had it's share of problems. It's such a comfortable ride. I haven't found anything else out there that is as smooth and in the price range. Any help you can give me would be much appreciated.
Thanks a lot,
JamieA. I guess the first thing I would check is the fuel filter on the fuel pump itself. From Mitsubishi:
When diagnosing conditions affecting the vehicle's fuel system, a common item of replacement is the electric fuel pump located inside the fuel tank. On many of these fuel pumps, simply replacing a clogged fuel filter will bring them back to normal operation. Since the filter is attached to the bottom of the fuel pump, it is easily clogged if contaminated fuel is added to the tank.
Remove the fuel pump from the fuel tank and inspect the fuel pump filter. If the filter is clean, replace the fuel pump.
If the filter is dirty and clogged, replace it according to the following procedure. Also, check for contamination in the fuel tank. If necessary, clean the fuel tank.
This pertained to 1985 to 1993 Galants.
It is also possible that the injectors themselves are bad. While they may be operating correctly electrically, they may fail mechanically.
Additional Information provided courtesy of ALLDATA
