Here's the deal:

I just bought a 2005 MR (Some of you may have seen my posts on the Buscher Racing 350 kit thread) and drove it from Medina, Ohio to Fort Rucker, Alabama without any issues. Then after a two week hiatus at Fort Bragg, I drove the car back to Ohio to have the Buscher racing 350 kit installed. At this time the car had about 2000 highway miles on it. I then picked the car up after the install and immediately noticed a grinding like noise coming from what appeared to be the drivetrain??!!! I then went right back to Buscher and had them test drive the car. I was told this was a common noise that would get louder with time. (I truly did not believe this, at first)

I immediately took the car to the closest Mitsubishi dealership, who test drove the car and said there definitely was something not right with the tranny or some part related to it. They put the car on the lift and could here it coming from the transmission. I then called Medina Mitsubushi (who I bought the car from) They had me drive the car back to their dealership. After test driving it, they agreed that there was an issue with the noise coming from the tranny.

The decision was made to pull the tranny and find out what was causing the noise. The noise is a grinding-type that increases with acceleration or decreases with decceleration it comes and goes!! That is what bothers me. The car is quiet and smooth as glass then this noise will start and its loud and annoying but there is no transition or issues with the way the tranny operates. Just a gear type grinding noise.

So to make a long story short: they pull the tranny apart and find absolutely nothing wrong. No damage, no parts abusively worn, and according to the maintenance supervisor not even any excessive clutch dust (which he says means that I treated the car correctly and broke it in according to proper procedure) **Just a note, I haven't even had the car above 5000 RPM yet.***

So now after the guys at the dealership have inspected it, and the engineer has seen it, and the mitsubishi rep has verified everything, they are saying it is "normal" and that the noise is something that they all do or start to do, and they are putting it back together and giving me the car back. (It has been over 4 weeks)

SO EVERYONE UNDERSTANDS: I am not bashing the dealership in any way, actually the guys at Medina Mitsubishi and at Buscher Racing have been great and have gone way out of their way to help me with this issue. Medina even gave me a car to use while my car was in Ohio. So please note they are doing their best to resolve the issue. I simply want to know if anyone else is experiencing this type of tranny noise with their MR. The dealership doesn't have many references with the MR to go off of, as a comparison to whether it is normal or not.

I just spoke with the lead maintenance guy today, and he said they had another MR in the shop with 800 miles that had the same grinding type noise. So he is starting to believe it may be a "normal" type sound.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, sorry this thread was so long, I just wanted to get the info correct and out there for everyone to have. thanks. ---ED

 

How long after you picked up the car did this start happening? Are you sure there are no new parts hitting the driveshaft of other moving items...like an 02 sensor or piping or something?

Unless the dealership beat on your car...its prolly one of the new BR350 parts.

And I dont care if its a evo, and Formula 1 car, a top fuel dragster, or a goped, metal on metal grinding that is loud enough to draw concern of the owner and several other parties is not normal.

 

unless you have dog cut gears in your tranny but thats a different story. i have an 05 gsr and my tranny is very smooth w/ no grinding noise. i agree, there should be no metal grinding noise on any tranny.

 

Mercenary3- The noise didn't start until after the kit was installed, but the kit components do not have anything to do with the driveshaft or tranny. It involves an upgraded exhaust, flashed ECU and a few engine mods- battery,heatshield ect.. so the kit has been completely eliminated as a cause.

I agree with everyone as far as a grinding noise not being the "norm" but what else can I do but pick up the car and wait until the tranny goes out? In fact if it did go out then I would at least have something to show that there was a problem.

I'm lost as far as what to do. Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

are you sure its not like a whining noise/sound....cuz if it is, then its normal, and it comes from the center diff.....i thought my tranny was broken as well shortly after buying my 05 and posted it on here, people say it is normal, one guy said to get rid of it, try the royal purple (or something like that) diff. fluid and it will take care of it

hope this works

 

Seanjhn9-

Yes it definitely is a whining/whirring/ or grinding type noise (hard to describe) but it increases with acceleration so thats why we (dealership, and I) thought it was the tranny. I can live with the noise if it is normal BUT why did it start after 2000 miles???!!!! and why does it come and go???!!!

I appreciate the help.

 

No, I haven't experienced anything like it in 7500 miles, which includes 35 hard launches at the drag strip with an estimated 320whp and 2 full autocrosses. I do not believe it's normal unless it's some minor sound that can only be heard with the windows open and the radio off. I hear quirky things when I'm being paranoid, but when I'm driving normally with the radio on, I don't hear a thing.

 

I have 650 miles on my MR and no funny transmission noises. However, I am a little disappointed in the shift feel of my MR. Everyone says the MR has a smoother feel than the GSR's but mine is very notchy. I try and make sure I have the clutch pedal all the way down before I shift but it doesn't make a difference. I hope this doesn't lead to problems in the future. Hope you get your probelm resolved.

 

Warrtalon and Jdoc7 -

Thanks for the responses, the noise definitely is heard with windows open or closed, and the radio on or off. I am very **** about sounds, and noises but this is something obviously others have heard when they drive my vehicle. I wish I could get the noise recorded and let you all hear it. (I may try and do that when I get the car back next Friday)

As far as my car shifting, there is no notchyness to it at all, it shifts smooth as silk, and pulls hard as heck (even below 5000 RPM). So Jdoc7 you may want to have that looked at by a dealership.

I hope someone else has had this similiar noise "appear" so that I can figure it out before picking it up next weekend.

Thanks for the help.

 

No loud DT on my MR. I think you should definitely try some new fluid just for the heck of it. My tranny is very smooth and actually fairly quiet. Like previously stated, if you have the windows down and no radio, you hear the diff. but that's still not a grinding noise, just the sound of gears whirring. At least you have record of the car being serviced for the issue and they agreed it wasn't your fault. This way if it does go out, your covered. Best of luck to ya!

 

Thanks, I'm going to call the dealer and see if they will redue the differential fluid, and maybe even the tranny fluid. Might as well ask, I have nothing to lose.

 

Find how makes the MR Edition Transmission (Mitsubishi does not) and contact them directly to express your concerns. Sounds like you got a bad one.

 

The MR trans is a Getrag unit, and I doubt you would be able to get a getrag engineer on the phone and have him fly over and look at your car.

You said you can hear the noise on the lift? What about with the clutch in...can you hear it then? If you can hear the problem without the car moving then it is not a driveshaft, rear case, or halfshaft problem, and would definitely be a tcase or trans problem.

In this case, if they cannot find the problem, and you are positive that the BR350 parts are not involved in any way, then the trans needs to be replaced under warranty. And the fact that its an evo does not make it a special case. If I go and buy a brand new SL500 and the trans starts to grind, mercedes will replace the trans or fix the problem. Mitsu better do the same, and not pass it off as normal.

 

Maybe you should have a very close look at the whole exhaust system. With a 3” inch exhaust the clearances are tight and there are a few places where it could vibrate against metal. For example: oil pan, lower tie bars, drive shaft and rear sway bar. Even with like ¼ inch of clearance it would be much closer when the exhaust is hot and expands or the opposite, it could be fine when hot but vibrate when cold. Do you have Kartboy hangers?

 

Lowkey-

The mechanic completely removed the Buscher exhaust and replaced it with a stock one, and the noise was still there, with and without the new exhaust.

Mercenary3-

If the dealer has completely removed and inspected the tranny, and has the mitsubishi rep (who by the way is the one who makes the decision whether to replace it or not) and the engineer saying its normal, then what more can I do? They are telling me that since there is no obvious damage or anything that looks out of place there is no reason to replace a "good/$6000 " tranny. So with all these misubishi people making these decisions how do I go about getting it replaced? Who do I complain to? I am asking because I simply don't know what to do. Do I just drive it until it goes out?

Anyone no my rights on this issue?