Daemon GPF

I'm starting to think I simultaneous problems going on, I'll try to keep the story as short as possible. I've got an 06, it's bone stock with 16K miles on it, 5 speed trans obviously, owned it almost 1 yr now. Within 4K miles there was a noise coming from under the hood that I could swear was a fan blade hitting against something. It was prominent when sitting at idle, I could push the clutch in and it would go away. When the AC was on, it was louder. Took it in and Mitsubishi said it was the reverse idler gear, they had a TSB on it, and replaced it under warranty. Here I am 12K miles more down the road, and the exact same noise is back. I push the clutch in, and the sound winds down to nothing. I took it in again and they are now telling me it's normal drivetrain noise. That explanation doesn't work for me right now since the noise was not there when I bought the car, and it wasn't there for the last several thousand miles since the last repair.

Additionally, the car feels sluggish, particularly on a roll. 99% of my EVOs miles are on the interstate and highway. I have 1 light between me and work, so not a lot of stop and go. A couple times now, I'll be in 4th on a highway, and go to pass slow trucks dropping rocks and what not, and when I put the pedal down and the car will shutter. One time, it threw a CEL that went away after a few restarts. It was a Throttle Position Sensor CEL according to Mitsubishi, to which, they never found the cause and said the car drives fine. In the last few days, I can smell clutch burning when stepping on the gas on a roll. 3rd gear, 4th gear, doesn't matter. If I put the pedal down it stinks of smoking clutch. I don't launch this car hard. The one and only thing out of the norm that has happened is several weeks back when we had snow everywhere, I got in the car and my feet were wet, and I slipped off the clutch pedal while reversing and got some neck snapping action and stalled the car. However, it seemed to drive fine after and there was no noise present at the time.

Mitsubishi listened to the car again, and said bring it in after driving another 1K miles. They want to look at the reverse idler gear again and replace it, if that doesn't work, they suggested changing the throw out bearing, and going from there. I don't know a whole hell of a lot about transmissions, but could a throw out bearing cause the sluggish feeling/noise/shuttering issue going on?

I'm sure I am not imagining the power loss. My buddy has a Stage II WRX that we paced against my car a few times on the highway, and from a roll, I can pull away with no problem. We tried it again the other day to make sure I wasn't imaginging the power loss, and it was dead even several times in a row. Input anyone? I get the feeling I'm going to be looking for a new clutch plate for some reason, but all these other problems have to be something else I imagine, maybe causing my clutch to go prematurely?

DrivEvolution8

I say its your Throw-out bearing. I had mine replaced around 20k with almost the same issue. I never got a CEL but I did have a shattering noise and a slight loss of power. Also the noise stops when you push in the clutch because it disengages the throwout bearing. Once Mitsu replaced it, I havnt had any problems since.

Timujin

iTrader: (3)

If you are in fact smelling clutch while rolling AND have lost response it sounds like your clutch is done.

That other noise at idle does sound like the T.O.B.

bluebyu36

the noise defnitly sounds like throw out bearing but,that would not explain why your car feels slow,do you have a boost guage?what gas go you use?i would defnitly look into getting a flash.

Daemon GPF

I actually don't have a gauge pack in the car right now. I know, not a wise idea with a forced induction car, but after having multiple warranty issues with Subaru on my WRXs, I'm treading lightly about modifications until I know the car is gonna hold up, because I've heard Mitsubishi is just as unforgiving about modifications. Thus far I seem to continue to have drivetrain issues. Maybe after they fix this and I can insure I have a good clutch again, I'll throw a boost gauge in there.

Thanks for the input everyone. I've got an appointment with Mitsubishi in another week to rip the trans apart again. I'll post the results. Assuming the clutch is smoked, anyone have any recommendations for clutches for something close to OEM or at least more durable (stage 1 possibly) ? I probably won't ever push insane power out of the car, maybe just minor power mods and basic bolt ons later on.

bluebyu36

maybe you have a boost leak or something i would defnitly get a boost guage you should be killing a wrx!