prestonlaw

2008 Lancer GTS

Daily Driver, no mods, driven normally - maybe a little aggressively - mostly highway

Changed CVT Fluid @ 60,000

Car spent some time on 70mph highway in southern heat (NC) for a year commuting long distance

When reached 105,000 noticed a humming/whine on highway from CVT, noise diminished at slower speads (45mph and less)

Changed CVT fluid the same day, noise totally went away

15,000 miles later ->

Now at 122k, the car is making a whine (deeper in sound) that is noticeable at slow speed when decelerating, it goes away entirely at about 3mph and when you speed back up, the noise is not there unless you get up to about 30mph and slow down to a stop

Wheel Bearing might be a thought, but the noise comes directly from behind the firewall, not at the wheels at all, brand new tires, and very quite/smooth cruising on the road

The noise is very similar to the noise we heard previously on the highway, and why I think it's CVT issue again...so I changed the fluid this morning...unfortunately the sound remains and is still there when slowing to a stop.

Troubleshooting options:
1.) When noise exists slowing to a stop, I put the car in neutral and the sound does not change
2.) Rev in neutral sound does not change
3.) Slowing to stop and try to 'downshift' with paddle shifters, the whine gets quite a bit louder while slowing to stop

I wish there was something else that could cause a noise like this but I can't think of anything...anyone with any ideas?

Since it only happens in load, I can't get under the car and listen.

I've looked up CVT issues on this car and have myself worried that this is going to fail entirely so now I'm thinking about trading the car in...I can't afford to spend 8k for a new tranny at this point, would rather put payments on a new car

Let me know what you think

tiC

A friend of mine who's a mechanic noticed that mine made a whining sound a little while back. I actually noticed it myself too prior to that, but didn't think much of it. He noticed it while driving in manual mode, where as I noticed it when in regular "D". Mine sounded almost like a supercharger whine, best way to describe it. I noticed it only when slowing down to say 40km or less, like when coming up to a stop light. I still have warranty on my car, so I took it to the dealership to have them check it out. Basically told me that it seems to be a common issue with the CVT's, but don't know what exactly causes it, or if it poses a problem. They went ahead and replaced the tranny. You don't have powertrain warranty on your car still? I would inquire with your local Mitsubishi dealership to see if you do, and what they say about the noise.

prestonlaw

Warranty was 100k and I'm at 122k - I'll get to the dealer next week but driving it about 500 miles this weekend, hopefully it doesn't pop