1st day with a dsm...
 

...And guess what... it comes into my life in true DSM fashion... Broken.

Has an idling issue where it idles at 500rpm or lower, but if it goes lower, it stalls out. This is a mitsubishi 1.8L motor. Not sure what is causing it to idle so low. It runs fine on the highway.

Oh no! You got a 4G37 ( 1.8 ). Worst engine mitsu ever made besides the 2.6. Believe me, I had one for a very short time (about 2 months) and I hated it. Most likely your idle problem on that is a sticky IAC, in these cars, they are a screw type and are very hard to replace and cost a little over 200 bucks. If it is the mass air flow, you are in major trouble as they cost a little over 350 bucks.

Here's a list of what I put into mine and still had major problems -
Valve seals (they fail quite a bit)
The car has 2 timing belts (one is a standard belt, other a balancer belt, so if one snaps, the other goes)
The valve cover gasket leaked even after I replaced it
Did a full tuneup and after that it ran like crap (it had all the original parts on it , 135k miles)
And finally, I replaced the PCM because they had a bad batch of transistors in them (cost me 150 bux)

what year Geoff?

94... and it doesn't need to last me more than a month or two, so that is fine. I had a feeling that those two places were where I should start looking. And what is this talk of new parts? The car was bought for $400. I'll be walking the junkyard pulling all the ones I can and playing the "which one works" game.

Do a google search on "crank walk"

Dude, unless it's a 4G63, don't ever buy busted Mitsu with thoughts of fixing it. There's just too many issues.

DSM - cant spell disappointment without it!!!

i found out first hand. dsm=junk

well, it was said to be reliable when I bought it. and I just want it running to drive. might just turn around and sell it if I can. who knows. doesn't matter to me actaully.

thanks for the help.

Who was it that said it was reliable?
Like I said, the 4G63 is worth rebuilding, and the 3.0L Mitsu motor from the MOPARs is a good, reliable and fairly quick motor, with decent, if hard-to-find, aftermarket.
Find a TurboDodge and build that up. They're CHEAP to modify :shock: