Hey guys.

I was wondering if anyone else has had issues with their Ralliarts having trouble starting in winter.

This has happened to me about 4 times now. The starter seems fine, but the engine just doesn't kick in, as if it's missing gas or I dunno. (I'm not the most knowledgeable person around when it comes to engines). I pretty much had the starter going for about 5 seconds, then waited a bit, and tried again. Every time, the car started with a bit of trouble, almost sounding like it was going to stall on the second try.

After this happened to me twice, a friend suggested I wait with the key in the "on" position till a couple of lights in my dash turned off before starting the car. This seemed to work at first, but it's happened twice since, now.

I took a mental note of the outside temperatures every time it happened to see if there was a pattern. At first, it was about -7C, then -13C, -18C and this morning, -5C so it doesn't seem temperature related. It actualy started fine at -30C last weekend. I pretty much always use 94 octane fuel.

For the hell of it, I checked what kind of relay I had for my fuel, and it's the blue omron one and not the previous black ones.

So, anyone have any thoughts on the matter ? I have to bring the car in for maintenance in a couple weeks anyways, so I'll have the dealer check it out, but figured I might ask here in the mean time.

 

It sounds to me like its not getting enough gas. It also sounds like you're letting the fuel pump prime everything before starting.

Are you running any mods?

 

Get a fuel pressure gauge and hook it up. Maybe your gas is freezing, it happens.

 

I had that happen to me twice in one day but that was about a month ago. But nothing since. I've got no mods. Sometimes what happens is that the computer reads the temperature when the car is turned off so it will start it thinking the temperature is the same as when you turned it off and adjust the internal components likewise. But that was how cars were a few years ago. Unless you literally cannot start the car I wouldn't worry about it. If there's no check engine light the dealership can't do anything. Tell them anyways just to document it for warranty purposes.

- Ralliheart

 

maybe it's your battery? my first thought was the Fuel Pump Relay, but if yours is blue, then you should be fine (Only the Black/Green had cold start issues IIRC). I'm running the Green relays on my Evo, but haven't had a problem.. until this week, my Evo never saw negative *F, but it's still starting fine

 

My car is 100% stock, and I doubt it would be the battery since the starter is running fine. Also, the car is only 6 months old... hehe

 

How does that not look temperature related...just curious?

-30C works fine
-5C thru -18C doesn't work

 

I had the same problem. Trust me it is the Fuel Pump Relay. You have a black fuse and you need to change it to the blue one. Once I did I had no more issues.

Go to page 4 https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ev...age-4-a-4.html

http://www.sr20deracing.com/looneytu...002_relays.pdf

You can buy the part from Mitsubishiparts.com they are like $15 a piece depending on if you want to change everything. You only need 1 which you will swap out your current black one for a blue one. It is the same fuse as the DRL's.

Part# is 8627A024

Here is the pic I took. The blue one is the one you are changing. It is normally black.

 

My previous reply mentioned to say was replace all your green relays with blue. Also the big black ones with new ones. They all were recalled for starting issues if you look at my links. I get the rest of my parts in tomorrow.

 

It works most of the time actualy. But it happened randomly in a range of temperatures from -5 to -18C, and when we got that one really cold near -30 day, it worked fine. I mean, I start my car up, what, close to 20 times a week and it's only happened 4 times in the 6 months I've had the car.

And PCToolsWiki, as I mentionned in the initial post, I already have the updated relays in my car. (Blue ones)

 

You updated all your greens to blue? What about the big black ones to grey? Like the MFI? There all recalled

 

My car came with the updated relays.

 

just because your car is new doesn't mean it isn't the battery. I know there are several people who needed to replace their batteries soon after they bought the car because the car was sitting on the lot & the battery drained.

 

All updated blues?

 

Ok, so it's kinda hard to tell colors in this picture, but I guess you can figure it out.

The big relay at the bottom right of this picture is the MFI Relay.. That should be a "Grey" color (not black). Also, the 3 green relays in the picture should be blue.

If you have 4 blue relays and 1 Grey MFI Relay, then your relays are all up-to-date. If not, then they are not.. This does not guarantee that the relays are the problem (I still have a black MFI Relay & only upgraded a few of my original black relays to green (not blue) and I don't have a problem with cold starts. I had one day where the car nearly didn't turn over, but it was sitting outside in below freezing temperatures/snow all day & my Evo is used to sitting in the garage!

EDIT: I found a "better" picture with an explanation of the relays.. the 4 greens in this picture below should be blue & the black MFI relay up top should be grey. I think I mentioned this earlier, but the Green relays have been known to fail in cold weather also.. so if you have any green relays, those could be a problem.. Simple test to see if a relay is bad: Remove Relay & shake it gently next to your ear. If you hear "sand", then the relay is bad.