Mitsubishi 2009 Lancer problem

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linw

2849 posts

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#284196 6-Apr-2021 18:06

Had a bad trip into Wellington today. Halfway down Ngauranga Gorge I got warning saying ASC problem or words to that effect. Yellow print on screen and then red stuff. I was trying to keep on the road so excuse my lack of knowlege of exactly what was flashing.

While looking for a pull-off spot I felt the steering become heavy and the brakes lost power assistance. Found a pullover space and car wouldn't start. Makes a really awful lot of noises like bits not doing things in the right sequence when trying to start it. Got a towy to take it to my service centre and was worried by about 5 mechanics who were clearly bamboozled by this situation!

Fingers crossed about what this may cost!!

Not asking for you guys to diagnose it of course but if someone has this same problem it would be nice to hear.

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641 posts

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#2687447 6-Apr-2021 18:24

Very sorry for your car. This sounds quite major and you may need to start looking for another car.

I used to own a late 90s model Mitsubishi Galant. It was a NZ new car and I knew the previous owner very well. He looked after the car and I bought the car from him when the car was three years old. When he own the car, all the services were done by a Mitsubishi dealer. When I own the car, I sent the car for services with the same dealer, and after a couple of years, I switched to AA.

Both the previous owner and I looked after the car very well. Service it every year.

But still, the auto transmission packed up when the car was only seven years old, with about 110,000 km on the clock. Cost me almost $3K to fix.

Not too long after that, the engine starts leaking oil. AA Auto Service was very honest. They said they could not pin point where the leak was so it may not be economical to fix.

I ended up selling the car when it was 10 years old (not old at all for a Japanese car).

I did not buy another Mitsubishi after that.

Another problem with that car is the computer reset itself after battery replacement. The effect is that the engine will die when I stopped the car at traffic lights, round abouts etc. After the engine dies / cut off after 10 to 20 times, it starts to come back normal.

RunningMan

8955 posts

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#2687449 6-Apr-2021 18:32

The warning lights, heavy steering and heavy brakes all probably mean the engine stopped running. There are so many things that could cause this ranging from quite minor to very serious, you probably need to wait for the diagnosis from the mechanic. Sometimes even quite minor things can be difficult to diagnose, so don't be too worried (yet!) about not being able to solve it on the spot.

linw

2849 posts

Uber Geek

#2687459 6-Apr-2021 18:53

Yes,the mechanics said the steering and brakes getting really heavy was because the engine stopped like you said. These effects were there before I stopped but not so extreme.

The car has only done 53k so can't be worn out, so, yes, just have to wait. Good that we still have the wife's car.

TENKAN

314 posts

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#2687461 6-Apr-2021 18:58

ASC light is Active Stability Control, most likely a ABS sensor, usually pop's up with something along the lines of "ASC system service required"in yellow
I wouldn't worry to much, I had this same warning just a few months back in my Mitsubishi, it took quite a while to find the issue, it was a broken wire to the brake reservoir! (Well a corroded terminal to be exact) I was running around for a few days like this, with no stability control or abs working.

linw

2849 posts

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#2687665 7-Apr-2021 09:14

Can't really ignore it when the car won't start!

Obraik

2123 posts

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#2687681 7-Apr-2021 09:39

It could be an electrical issue? If you got a bunch of weird warnings from somewhat unrelated systems and then the engine died and won't start it could be a bad 12v battery or alternator...however I would have expected that the mechanic would have found that pretty quickly.

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TENKAN

314 posts

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#2687712 7-Apr-2021 10:03

"Can't really ignore it when the car won't start!"

ASC can actually stop the engine from starting, but not about ignoring it, but more about don't panic, it could be something simple as a ABS sensor, clock spring,etc..

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Bung

6486 posts

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#2687742 7-Apr-2021 11:07

My BiL had a Lancer about that vintage that seemed to lurch from one 2nd hand engine computer to the next. Finally he had the sense to trade it while it was running.

Batman

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#2687751 7-Apr-2021 11:33

Bung: My BiL had a Lancer about that vintage that seemed to lurch from one 2nd hand engine computer to the next. Finally he had the sense to trade it while it was running.

agree. cut your losses and move on before you spend too much money on it to let it go.

i've had a couple of (3 to be precise) older mitsis do that on me.

linw

2849 posts

Uber Geek

#2687907 7-Apr-2021 15:40

Thanks for input, all. Bit of a worry hearing of other similar Mitsi fails. No news from garage yet.

Remembered that at the garage, with the key on, it kept on clicking so they said it would be a relay clicking.

Will keep you posted!

gbwelly

1243 posts

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#2687975 7-Apr-2021 17:40

linw:

Will keep you posted!

Interested to know what it ends up being. Hope it's just your alternator.

robjg63

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#2690119 9-Apr-2021 17:20

Wishing you good luck with this.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

linw

2849 posts

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#2690595 10-Apr-2021 14:18

Got a call from the garage yesterday. After extensive testing they have concluded that the computer is stuffed. $800 for a second hand one. Apparently you also have to use the external bits and pieces that were controlled by the computer for compatibility. Hope that didn't include the engine!

They said a new computer from Japan was around $3,000 and it would have to be set up by Mitsubishi. Plus freight times, of course.

Oh, well, that's the rub.

Batman

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#2690658 10-Apr-2021 17:21

Crazy!

All the best

dafman

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#2690712 10-Apr-2021 20:36

I feel your pain.

Many years ago, I owned a 1996 Holden Vectra. I never had a problem with the engine, but over its life I spent approx $3,000 replacing the computer sensors designed to protect the (perfectly fine) engine.

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