Stupid Vr4! (Car won't be nice even though I'm nice to her)

I have a 93 Vr4. I treat her well, she got new paint, forged 30 over rebuild, mostly all oem parts, 19t turbos, she has most of my money into her. I wash her, wax her, I rarely drive her 70 mph down the dirt road, I treat her better than any women I have dated. The only bad thing I do is use 87 and not 93.

The problem is, she is stupid. I drove her 7k miles to Arizona and she sat for a month because I couldn't drive her. I reinstalled the ecu and she started on the first crank. She made it all the way back with no issues.

Driving in Texas I had the cruise at 90 mph she had 50-55 pounds of oil pressure and was at 2800-3100 rpm. She ran like a top.

I get back To Michigan and she's having problems that are unexplainable.


*rant over* read here for actual problem.


I drove her twice since I have been back. I took her to the bar last Friday and she ran great. I even got on her hard and she loved it, all the horses were on their gitty up! I parked her and a day latter I moved her to the garage.

I had a date and went to hop in so I could show off the car. Women love my car even when it had terrible paint and was half assembled. She wouldn't even start. It didn't throw the cel or anything. I tested the usual problems such as random pipes blowing off, shit magically disconnecting itself, ya know usual stuff with this car. Couldn't figure it out. Pissed off I let it sit for a few days. Went and pulled the spark cover to check spark and she started first turn over. I tightened the constant blowing off pipe and she runs.


So she does this when she's in Michigan. Never happened anywhere else. She just stops running till I get pissed off and then when I'm about to beat her with a crow bar or when I put her on Craigslist for sale or I'm about to she begins to run like a champ. Only happens in this state too. I have had her too

Texas
Arizona
Missouri
Arkansas
Michigan
Tennessee
Illinois
Indiana
Ohio
Kentucky

Never broke down or refused to stop running. She does it here all the time.
Except when the original thermostat stuck closed and I had to chase one down in a corn field in Illinois. I kid you not, she over heated and I got off the highway and was in a corn field lmfao.

Any ideals? It was raining and if I recall correctly it does it more in the rain. Any ideals? Why would she be broken then fix herself?

This car isn't reliable but nothing ever breaks. It's weird, I take a lot of time fixing here but it never involves replacing parts. Often I never know what was the problem because she decides to magically work after she decides I have spent enough time breaking my back on her.

After the rebuild she wouldn't run. I never figured out why, she just ran and continued running. Weird car.

Go through and check/clean all the EFI related multi-plugs with a good contact cleaner/oil - the ones at the ECU, the few plugs around the ECU, the ones under the RH side of the dash and then the ones in the engine bay (including the main one by the engine bay fuse box).

Pull your MFI relay apart and check/clean the relay contacts.

Pull your ECU out and check for signs of leaking capacitors, check for signs of dry solder joints on the other side of the PCB.

Other than that, all you can really do is be on hand with the proper tools for when it does stop working, then check the basics and see what's missing. I'd be packing a digital multi-meter and a filament test lamp with a basic tool kit for that rainy day when it plays up.

Or just don't go to Michigan.