Electrical Issues

[Navysteveo87]

Hello all. I'm new to the website but not to the Mirage. I own a blue 2015 DE 5 speed with 172k on the clock. (Purchased new in May 2015 from Mentor Mitsubishi in Ohio)

On January 23rd the car began struggling to accelerate (felt like I lost a cylinder) then the check engine light came on and immediately started to flash. I took it to advance auto parts and they scanned it then told me it was code P0301 (cylinder one misfire). The next day I took it to my backyard mechanic and he replaced the ignition coils/spark plugs and rescanned it and code P0261 showed up and said it was something electrical. I then took it to my local mechanic shop and they couldn't figure it out. They told me it was either bad wiring (broken or corroded) or the ECU is defective. They wanted to order me a new ECU but for $1100 I passed on that.

Last week I purchased a used ECU from eBay for $100 (1860C141) and I'm going to have Diehl Mitsubishi program it (by my vin) and install it. They quoted me $300

My question for the group...does this sound like a failing ECU or a bad wire somewhere? My appointment with Diehl is next week and I really hope the new ECU fixes the problem

Oh yeah. I'm still driving the car. (80 miles roundtrip a day to work) The mechanic shop was able to make jumpers from #3 injector to #1 injector. This now gives me a little more power but still struggles going up hills (once I'm on the highway I can do 75-80 mph in about 30 seconds and been getting 19 mpg's too lol)

Thank you in advance for any help

P.S.

I read over this guys thread as he was having the same issue as me.

https://mirageforum.com/forum/showth...ire-corrosion)

[Fummins]

Welcome! There have been a few people pooping up lately with similar issues. I've seen wiring problems in these cars in two places. One behind the drivers kick panel and the other along the wiring harness that runs along the front of the engine. THe kick panel is prone to getting salt and snow kicked behind the panel or runs down the floor and into the lowermost connector corroding it and setting off random codes. I'd be looking at engine harness in your case. Cut the electrical tape off, remove the zip ties starting at the alternator and look closely at the spots where the harness was zip tied. It's far more common to have a broken wire than an actual failed component on these cars.

https://mirageforum.com/forum/showth...ectrical-Issue

It looks like the shop jerry rigged your wiring. I would not do that for fear of causing more problems like destroying the ecu by feeding power or ground where/when it shouldn't have it. Hopefully it's resilient to assbakwards fixes?

[Navysteveo87]

Fummins, thank you for the reply. I have doubts of it being the ECU (see pic below)

Also, there was an electrical issue that had a recall on it back in 2015. My dealership installed a waterproof shield on the connectors (maybe to help protect the ECU?) anyways I hope other people see this thread if they're having the same issues as me

I've already reached out (via PM) to both Eggman and Johnny since they're both kinda close to me here in Ohio but I wanted to see if anyone else was having my same issue before I take it to the dealer. Thanks

[7milesout]

I think Johnny just worked through this, very similar thing, with another member. My gut tells me, you have the same issue, a damaged wire or wires. But exactly which wire? Seems like maybe it's a different one that the previous member (something like the.me).

Maybe we should make a sticky that identifies these locations where wires are going bad with some recommendations to try to prevent the damage.

[Navysteveo87]

Yeah i've been keeping up on that thread and saw that he fixed the issue. Johnny is 90 minutes from me... Maybe I will run up to him this weekend (if he's able and willing to take a look at it). I'm kinda dreading taking it to the dealership because I don't think its the ECU

[Eggman]

The mechanic shop was able to make jumpers from #3 injector to #1 injector. This now gives me a little more power but still struggles going up hills (once I'm on the highway I can do 75-80 mph in about 30 seconds and been getting 19 mpg's too lol)

Why not take a close look at the wiring harness? Especially the ground wiring as noted in the Massive Misfire thread. Who knows, it might save you some time & trouble.

[Navysteveo87]

I looked at the ground wire pic he posted and all looked good. I will have to check out the wiring harness. Thanks for suggestion

[Fummins]

My bad, I didn't read through your entire post. Just skimmed it...Reading is hard. I thought you didn't have the ecu code until someone started jumping wires around.

Regardless, it's still likely just a broken or corroded wire. Just ignore the 2nd paragraph in my last post.

Here's another thread about crappy wiring
https://mirageforum.com/forum/showth...t-overcharging

https://mirageforum.com/forum/showth...ttery-Light-On

[Johnny Mullet]

I would bet it is a wiring issue. You need to unwrap the entire harness to inspect the wires and might even have to tug on each individual wire to find a break.

[Navysteveo87]

I agree Johnny. I got the new ecu in the mail today but i dont think it's that and dont wanna waste $400 on replacing it for nothing