I was just cruising home as usual when my engine started sputtering and then died. I pulled over to inspect, thinking it was an intercooler pipe but it was not.

My oil pressure gauge did not do anything unusual. I checked the oil, its right under the lower tick mark

Did I do what I think I did? what can I check before I have it towed? Im going to pull the spark plugs to see what I can see.

The engine feels like there is no compression when I crank. It sounds almost like a dirtbike that has been flooded.

please help!

 

Check the coil and or spark..

 

Does the car turn? Do you hear fuel pump going.? Any fuel? Dime lights , let us know

 

*Start Fuses

Fuel pump

Coil pack

Crank sensor

and Cam sensor

...sorry double post

 

Id check fuses as stated above assuming that you are sure that a IC pipe did not blow off

If "engine picture" fuse is blown look at the rear O2 wiring

 

Double check that your timing belt is still intact.

 

Timing belt is still in one piece. I pulled the COP, inspected the plugs, replaced them, pulled the negative off the battery, and checked fuses.

When I tried to start again it made an horribly loud POP, sounded like a gunshot

 

Ok, I just noticed that I have a slight amount of oil pressure while cranking.

Immediately after it died, there was absolutely no oil pressure, I definitely remember that

 

Fuel pump is humming during cranking

 

No SES light on either

 

If you don't hear any knocking noise, then atleast it isn't the dreadful spun bearing . Also, just because the piping isn't hanging, it still could be you piping. MAF sensor hate any gaps in the piping. Speed density you can run without a lower piping at all if it fell, I've done it lol . But, you might wanna also check your resistor pack located on the firewall passenger side. The pack has 2 resistors that each resistor controls 2 injectors. What tends to happen is one of the wires will corrode off and then your car ends up running like a wrx lol. You could get a replacement from the stealership or grab a part number from them get one off of mitsubishiparts.net. Then when the replacement comes in, use a silicone sealant to seal the top of the pack where the wires go to prevent it from getting corroded again. Or instead of wasting money on replacing it, just buy some high impedance injectors (like some FICs) and remove the pack all together if that is the issue .

P.S.
If it is the resistor pack, you can do a quick fix to drive around normal by taking the broken wire and soldiering it to the other wire GOING INTO THE SAME RESISTOR it corroded off of. You don't want to soldier it to the other resistor putting extra work load on it since then it would be controlling 3 injectors if you did that. This is how the stealership quick fixed my friend car when it happen to him and while he waited for the part to come in. Then, when it happen to mine and I knew how to quick fix it myself til I replaced it. Hope this helps.

 

In that case you've got a hole in your engine somewhere, then. Should be pretty obvious.

Get the car home, and do a leak down test.

 

I was hearing ticking as I was losing power, but I dot hear anything like rod knock during cranking.

There's also no oil leaking anywhere, so it's hard to imagine a hole in my block, unless there could still be one that doesn't leak... I didn't look at my exhaust but from the pop and from cranking there is no smoke

 

Scary feeling I bet as your car lost power. I know how you feel. In my eclipse I experienced a somewhat similar moment when my car all of a sudden just shut down, meanwhile being in the fast lane it turned out I needed to replace my crank sensor. My car wouldn't turnover whats over after it shut down.

 

Car turns fine, there's just nothing going on.