Lancer 2003 Stutter

Mitstake

New Member
Hi Guys

Hope you can help ! ! Bought my daughter a 2003 Lancer vin says CS D6/03 but couldnt find a CS forum so I hope I landed in the right spot. Car starts and idles great but seems to feel like it is flooding if you put your foot down too fast, it starts to splutter and lose power. If you back off the throttle slowly this symptom goes away and it runs fine but prefers being driven in the higher rev range. I replaced the plugs and checked leads. Had the air flow meter tested it is fine. Cleaned the throttle body. Still no luck. When I replaced the plugs I did notice some oil around plug 2 in the plug tube, but the plugs all seem to be burning a good brown. My OBD scanner does not seem to work :( Any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
If it’s an 03 then it’s a CG Lancer, model ran from 02 to 04, practically mech identical to. CH Lancer 04 to 08, your OBD scanner won’t work on your cg or ch unless it’s an 2006 ch fitted with the larger 2.4 motor variant.
You will need a obd 2 code scanner running obd 1 protocol with Mitsubishi mut protocol.

If your after a code reader Fuel Economy Solutions are only ones I’ve found that sell the code scanners capable to do the job, range in price from aprox $400 up, more expensive readers like snap on can do it easily as well, not sure if scanner at supercheap will do it, no harm in trying.

You done obvious things right so far, if it’s running ok at revs unlikely fuel pump (but don’t discount it) have you checked coils ? Could be oil in plug tubes causing arcing, check Tos sensor and IAC motor.
Best if you can throw code reader on it, also air flow meter can test ok, but still not function at low speed, mine did, drove me crazy till I found it, snap on code reader said it was good
 
Thanks Wagonmaster !!
It is infact a CG as you suggested. I did notice the oil but was of the view that it was non conductive, but now you have me thinking. I ordered a new fuel pump as it was $30 for a pressure tester and $69 for a new pump with 4 year warranty so new pump seemed to win. Please could you advise what a Tos sensor is? I assume the IAC is idle stepper motor
Thanks :)
 
When you say the airflow meter was tested, what do you mean?

You can try unplugging the airflow meter and drive the car. If symptoms change, high chance its an Afm fault. That does not mean the Afm is faulty, you may simply have an air leak, where un-metered air is entering the engine.

Just thinking on the fact you say the issue is throttle position related rather than RPM, I wouldnt bother touching the IACV. Wagonmasters suggestion about testing TPS is a good one.
 
Thanks for the responses. Much appreciated. I had the airflow meter tested by a shop and they said all is good. The new fuel pump arrived today. So I will put that in and see how I go. I will report back.
 
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