Car won't start, need help

[Sergio Bernardo]

Hey , everybody.  

I finally bought a dsm, 90 Eclipse.  The car was working fine for about 1.5 months; I have replaced the battery and the spark plug wires.  

About a couple of weeks ago, the car began to require a few more cranks ( 3 - 6 seconds ) to get started.  Also, when I was in idle at a red light, the car's RPM dropped and it stalled, luckily I got it started and did not have problems for the rest of the night.   This morning , I started the car , while in idle I turned on the defrost and lights and it then the RPM dropped and the car turned off.  

I managed to get it started and drove it around for a while , but now the car will crank but won't start at all.  I got a guy to give me a boost but it made no difference.    

Any suggestions would be much appreciated,
Sergio Bernardo

[Mike Meron]

take it to a mechanic
 :laugh:

[Zak Mach]

make sure your battery treminal is nice & tight.. happens to me sometimes .. just found the terminal was loose..

whats your car idleing at???

[Marty van den Bosch]

Check the fuel pump - there is a testing plug on the front firewall. If you hear it but get no fuel, replace the filter.

Is the air filter wet or really dirty?

[Aaron Moore]

The only thing that fixed my similar problems was replacement of both the battery and the alternator at the same time.

[Sergio Bernardo]

I confirmed there was spark and fuel was being sprayed as well.  Kinda of a weird problem.

Oh yeah, on the instrument panel , there is an orange light on the left bottom side, looks like a jail cell, with black horizontal lines at top and bottom with a butch of vertical black lines.  What does this light mean?

I think I will take it to a mechanic, which shops in Burnaby are good?  Towing it to Top End would probably cost alot so if anybody knows a good shop in Burnaby that would be great.

Thanks,
Sergio Bernardo

[Graeme Shaw]

That's the Rad light.  You go to jail for not filling it.

[Kevin Standeven]

are you sure there aren't other lights on, but faintly? if the alt is going, it often throws a 3 light code.

[Mike Schmid]

Could the mitsu engineers have picked anymore cryptic a symbol for the coolant light?  I mean seriously... I know it's supposed to look like a little radiator but I know I've personally seen at least a dozen posts by people wondering what the orange merry-go-round, jail-cell, line-thingy etc is...

 :roll:

[Graeme Shaw]

Merry go round, jail cell, parthenon, courthouse, olympiad...

I think Mitsu engineers just did what engineers do.

"Hey, I have this great idea!!"
*two hours of explaining*
[other engineers] "Oh, yeah, that's a great idea!  People will get it in no time, it's totally intuitive!"