I've got a 2005 Ralliart with an automatic transmission. It's got about 100K miles on it and the past month or so I have noticed the 1-2 gear change slip a little when it was cold.
Well this morning coming back from the store I put it in reverse to back out and it would not engage the gear until I gave it a bit of gas. Then when I put it in drive I could barely move forward at all. If I kept my foot off the gas it would roll like I was in neutral. Hitting the gas only moved me forward at a max of 5 MPH regardless of throttle position.
I'm not sure if it is the torque converter or a clutch pack that is going bad... I just had my transmission flushed in the summer so the fluid shouldn't be a problem.
I pulled the code after picking up an OBD II reader this afternoon and got: P0736 Reverse Ratio Incorrect. After clearing the codes I drove around a parking lot and everything seemed fine.
Anyway, any help or advice I can get at this point will help. Hopefully I'm not looking at a total rebuild...

 

Got a spare 2 grand I can have?

 

How have you been driving the car up until the point that this happened?

 

Well to be honest I've always been a bit rough on her, so I'm not entirely surprised that this ended up happening. But all the services have been performed regularly and it runs like a champ 99% of the time.

 

Just a side note... I'm not sure how relevant my performance mods are because I'm fairly certian the tranny is capible of handling it, but I'll list them anyway:
Injen CAI
OBX header
High flow cat
Custom cat-back
RRM Underdrive pulley
RRM Piggy
RRM Timing box
RRM motor mounts

Could it be possible that the added power has shortened the life of the transmission that much? I've seen videos of AT Ralliarts putting over 300 HP to the wheels but who knows how long they could run like that before killing the tranny.

 

Damn this is really starting to scare me now. Im not exactly a tamed driver and often push my car. Your story might change my habits now. Anyways, judging by your mods you've gone pretty much as far na as you can go, but the mods should not really have any effect on the tranny...weeell actually dont quote me on that cause now that I think about it; the tranny was designed to run best the way the car is and with additional mods that raise the cars performance the tranny is probably working beyond its ability. However, people have gone turbo and supercharged and have struck other problems before a problem with the tranny even had a chance to present itself. Im sure the life of the tranny would be shortened though with reckless driving meaning constant rpm changes.

 

Check your fluid anyways. However, my suspicion is that a clutchpack is going out and you're going to need a rebuild soon.

 

ouch... how much would a rebuild cost? im afraid this wil happen to my car as im about to hit the 90k mark

 

What fluid did they use when you had the transmission serviced

 

Not sure, but I'm fairly positive it's gonna be more than I want to spend...

 

I think it was SP-III, but I'm not positive. I'll have to dig up the service receipt.

 

Well I took the car to a transmission place today. They said it could possibly just be as simple as an input or output speed sensor, but the more likely candidate was the first gear / reverse clutch pack. The sensors would run about $50 each. He quoted me about $1,200 for a rebuild if it's needed, which would include all new clutch packs and a new torque converter. Not too bad of a price considering that Mitsu wanted to charge me twice that amount. Also comes with a one year unlimited milage warranty. Now, to find out where I'm gonna come up with $1,200...

 

Thats good to hear. Was expecting it to be more expensive than that.

 

Quick update on the transmission...
It seems the reverse clutch pack had seized up and wouldn't disengage. The friction material on the gears was completely gone, and it was metal on metal. Seeing how the reverse clutch pack also is in use for first gear it seems like I've been overpowering it.
So a word to the wise for those AT Lancer owners out there: Beef up that tranny if you are going for anything more than fairly minor power mods... It'll hold for a while, but the lifespan of the transmission will be compromised.

Next up in the mod category: Transmission cooler!!

 

Wow that is unfortunate not only for you but for all of us AT guys out there. Looks like I gotta be more careful from now on. From the way it sounds I should not be doing an hard launches from now on. Sorry to hear this, but good luck to you in the future.