I've recently bought a 1996 Legnum ST-R for a bit of fun as a second car, however I have a couple of issues, which I expected, having done 290,954km. I would also like to do as much work as possible by myself before enlisting a professional mechanic, as I'm wanting to learn.
Number 1 - the automatic transmission is playing up changing from second to third gear, by upping revs by between 200 and 500 RPM before changing up. It's the only gear change that isn't smooth. the RPM jump is dependant on the revs of the car at time of change. In town, from traffic lights, intersections etc, the jump will hardly happen, but just takes an extra second or two to change up to third. If taking off from an intersection in a 100km/h zone, doing 3000-3500 RPM it will jump to between 3250 to 4000 RPM before third gear engages. Is it a gearbox problem, or an electric issue?
Number 2 - the central locking is FUBAR. The previous owner of the car, a friend, was constantly complaining about it. The central locking doesn't work when unlocking the doors, meaning having to manually unlock them. the button on the drivers' door works once in a blue moon. But then, while driving, or at any other point, the central locking locks all the doors, and then, most of the time, it will re-lock the doors several more times, even if they are all actually locked. I've even had this problem of randomly locking while shutting the drivers' door, and while any other door is open if the drivers' door is closed. Could it be the switch in the door? Or something else. It also appears that the fuses have been removed from the fusebox, but I'm not too sure.
Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.
intrade,
Jan 27, 7:25am
ok i would like to make a true joke first befor i read your problem Why do you buy a leg numb you like having numb legs from walking because it broke down.
ateam11,
Jan 27, 7:29am
That was so funny I forgot to laugh
intrade,
Jan 27, 7:32am
ok these cars are not exactly good for fixing , and for learning you will need to leran loads . but technically it should not be to hard apart from the automatic transmissions costing loads and there was always no diy where you could buy components from to rebuld them your self. . Now do you really want to learn or do you just want a magic bullet answer? to fix a problem as there is none. there is 98% of people with no clue and all just randomly are guessing and swapping parts . haynes manual jockeys as Mat calles em lol. So do you think your a 2%er who wants to learn?
bigmacca,
Jan 27, 7:37am
mate go on to f/b and find Quinton miller. he runs the Mitsubishi legnum vr4 page and will be able to tell you all you need to know. better than getting half assed answers on here.
ateam11,
Jan 27, 7:49am
I want to learn - starting with the most difficult. I've heard about the difficulties with Legnums, and in purchasing one, I figured I would buy one to learn. I know of a couple of my friends have a Legnum as well, so I figure if I learn to repair them, I can help them too.
But in earnest, I want to learn to repair correctly, not a hodge-podge of everything thrown in.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated
ateam11,
Jan 27, 7:52am
Cheers bigmacca, will do
You don't happen to know a Mazda guy either?
intrade,
Jan 27, 7:58am
So why do you go and want to learn with the worst cars you just said the word mazda in my opinion is about the most absolute nightmare even for professionals with almost no diagnostic software tools able to talk to mazda nor is there any correct wiring diagrams available and they have different parts on every year of made mazda . Like a mazda capella from a client i have has subaru rear brakes on it. Seems mazda build cars from what ever they can get cheap the week they make a car in the 90s to early 2000s
bigmacca,
Jan 27, 8:00am
lol nah sorry ,never owned a mazda. I have a vr4 legnum and have dealt with Quinton before . he lives , breathes mitsi vr4s so should have a good idea of these issues.
ateam11,
Jan 27, 8:02am
The Mazda I have is a 2006 Mazda6, which I also have a couple of issues with- the details are in a separate post in the forum
intrade,
Jan 27, 8:10am
So do you know how the 4 stoke engine works and do you know about the 14.7 to 1 air fuel ratio also Do you know ohms law these things you will need to learn and then you might have to spend 600$ and do a course at aecs the scantool course from there you could combine it with books and online trainings . its all important the thing is you wont be able to just do the leg-numb as all electronic problems are similar. its probably a wire is 80% correct when you start a diagnosis of any form. electronics is easy it states on the aecs course and it is if you know everything. basically electronically only these 3 things can happen 1 a open 2 a short , or 3 high resitence and 3 is where you need ohms law understanding and what a propper voltage drop test is. it took my a long time to undertsand fueltrim data as that is the key to diagnose engine drivability problems the fast way it has to do with 14.7 to 1 air fuel ratio and the catalisator . you basically think the same way what the engine computer thinks and why its acting up. it gets worse when you have more computers like in this mazda the newer the car the more problems can ba caused by completly non related things, well you think they are not related when they are. like a 2010 audi turning down the radio when you select reverse gear.
change the trans fluid and filter and see if that helps with the gear shifting. To me it sounds like the line pressure isn't high enough, or the friction material on the clutch packs is wearing out.
Try battery off to reset ecu, then transmission will relearn. might improve shifts. Legnum doors locking randomly is usually the contacts worn on the drivers door lock. Worth a try looking at these two things.
robotnik,
Jan 27, 11:11pm
Good choice on the Legnum. Those cars drive like a dream. The perfect cars for long distance cruising.
Not the best for city driving though, as they have a turning circle of a supertanker, LOL.
Check out www.clubvr4.co.nz. There is plenty of stuff applicable to the naturally aspirated car there too.
bigmacca,
Jan 27, 11:15pm
i second visiting the clubvr4 site. lots of great info and some real clever guys/gals on there.
vr4_legnum,
Jul 19, 12:56pm
Your be better off with singing up with www.clubvr4.com and www.ozvr4.com and getting info, On both forums is alot of great info and people, Is also few really good people from NZ, It better then having to deal with Quinton, With anyone on this forum is going to be any help, It going to be phillip.weston
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