I need help ASAP! Am I in Limp Mode and what is the cause??
 

After I filled up my car yesterday (93 octane) and it sat in my driveway for a couple of hours I go to drive to my buddy's house and the following things were happening.

1) The engine was making a clicking noise when I pressed the accelator slightly. :eek: it has slowly gotten worse and now makes a very loud clicking noise in gear. the sound is now there when i'm at idle and it is occuring while the cylinders are moving.

2) it won't boost past .7 bar or about 10 psi i figure!! I checked for a blown hose but i couldn't find anything. :crap:

3) The car feels like is it being dragged forward and doesn't want to move. I feel a serious drop in power and responce from the engine. the engine temp was constantly at 110-120 celcius {thumbdwn}

4) The car stalled at least 7 times this morning on my way to work and every time was harder to start.

5) After talking to the shop i had some work done they never touched my oil system or engine. i somehow burnt off 5 quarts of oil in 4000 miles. on a car this new i cannot think of a reason to do that.

Is this the famous "limp mode" that the car goes into or is there something else seriously wrong? :confused: i'm taking it to the dealer at lunch but i'd like to get an idea on whats wrong before i go there. :helpme: Anyone who can comment on this would be a great help. :helpme:

What mods if any do you have on your car?

bad tank of gas? Try disconnecting the battery for a couple of minutes and step on the brake to reset the ECU.

HKS RS intake, full 3" turboback with test pipe, Profec B II boost controller. All of my other mods are suspension and breaking related. i did just have a shop replace all my fluids and from what i could tell they didn't leave any caps off.

Is your Check Engine Light on? If so I would get the code pulled before you reset the ECU.

Also, if you take it to the dealer, make sure you put your stock air box back on. You may not have much luck with the dealer if you have any aftermarket parts in the engine bay.

Could a bad tank of gas cause so many problems though? It feels like the car is going to crap out on me while i try to accel.

When you say "clicking" noise, what does it sund like? Can you reproduce the sound with the car in nutral? Pop your hood and rev the car a little bit by turning the throttle on the throttle body and see if it makes that sound. If it the engine doesnt make the clicking sound it could be something to do with the driveline. Also, did your shop replace all the drive line fluids too?

I am running catless my CEL has been on for about 8 months. i'm just worried that the engine is crapping out on me and i could not handle another huge repair bill on this car.

well, goto a local auto parts store like Advanced Auto parts. They can pull the code(s) for you. How many miles are on the car?

Well first thing I would do is reset the ecu.
Then if it works then goes back to limp, I'd turn down your mbc just a bit and reset.
Then try again.

Why would you want to run the risk of further damaging the engine if their is a serious problem? I still think it would be better to check the codes first before resetting the ecu. At least then he'll know what he will be dealing with.

yes the sound can be repeated in netural but only when the accelator is pressed. not at idle and i figure it happens at WOT because i canot hear it over my exhaust.

The shop replaced all the fluids and they used the same fluids from the dealership. no knockoffs or anything.

the reason i'm freaking about this is that i've never heard what piston knock sounds like and i'm wondering if this is it. I know its hard to describe in words what i hear so i hope it helps and thanks event.

it really can be discribed as a clicking sounds but it doesn't get faster, only louder when i'm in first gear, then less loud in 2nd and so on. the car feels like my clutch was slipping something redicilous but i'm not having an issue with my RPM's going crazy while the cars barely moves. it just doesn't want to go anywhere.

Check all the clamps and hoses. It sounds like you popped off a I/C coupler.

21k and change are on the car. Well i was boosting fine this morning and i turned off the EBC to see if it would revert to 1.0 bar. From what i have heard limp mode only lets you boost that high on the stock ecu. that's why i think i'm running on limp.

Ya i thought that a pipe blew off last night when i got home and i checked it but i couldn't find a disconnect anywhere.

It sounds driveline/transfercase related or maybe even clutch related. Im no professional, but you should try to get the codes if possible, then put back on the stock air box, and pray the dealer will fix it under warrenty.

Well i'm more worried about a severe engine problem than a clutch. If i'm told that my intake and exhaust put enough strain on the driveline or transfer case to break it, i'll be busting some heads over at my local mitsu dealer. Anyone with even a little car knowledge would know that it is very unlikely that those mods would do that.

has anyone else run into something that resembeled this set of problems before?

you probably should take all your mods off before going to the dealership including the turboback.

You save yourself a big headache if you put your car back to stock.

i'm willing to take that risk because i cannot go without a car for a week or whatnot while the exhaust is being taken off and replaced with the stock one. If my mods caused a problem with my driveline, tcase, or engine then what kind of car is this?

it doesn't make sense that someone could get 600whp out of a stock bottom end and I mess up mine with an intake or exhaust.

i'm just trying to get an idea on what could be wrong with the car and i'm hoping it is as easy as a blown hose or something simple. Another serious problem on this car would kill it.

i wouldnt worry about taking the mods off at all. the magnasson moss act states that a dealer would have to prove that the aftermarket parts on the car are the DIRECT cause of the malfunction to void the warranty. your boost control is the only thing i would worry about even if you do set it to stock settings because they could say that you had the boost to high. the intake and turbo back only help the car breathe better and would only void the warranty on the OEM parts obviously. i dont think anyone i know ever screwed up there car with just intake and exhaust. its nearly impossible

it would take alot of time that i do not have to revert the car back to stock. i'd have to pull the intake, exhaust, boost controller, rotors, pads, and suspension. That is a considerable amount of work and i don't have the money to pull all of it and have my problem be a blown hose. I guess it is a gamble
the service manager over at my local dealer is pretty cool. he just looks at it in a "abuse" light. you beat you car and expect to have it fixed for free, not going to happen. Something goes haywire on you and its not your fault then its fixed.

ya the boost controller was bothering me because when i was setting it to 19.5 I spiked it once to 22-23 and it set the highest level boost ever reached as that. They get a machanic that knows the EBC and next thing i know they will be telling me I run 23psi all the time.

right now with all the warranty issues everyone has had i'm ready to fight if they say I did something they better be ready to prove it.

what is the datalogging capacity of the stock ecu anyway. when i pulled off my xede i waited a week to be sure it was clear before i took mine in for the 15000 service

i've heard that the block boxes on cars only record for 6 seconds or whatnot. I'm not running a ecu or reflash so i'm not worried about that. I'm just trying to see if anyone has had these type of issues before and what was the cause of said issues.

Dude this has been gone over 1000000000000000 times. If you want to keep your warranty put your car back to stock. The worse thing that would happen is they won't cover it but the warranty would be intached.

i really do not care if they cover it or not. i'm more concerned that something is seriously wrong with my engine/ driveline.
If they tell me that my warranty is void but it was a blown hose i do not care. if they tell me my exhaust blew my engine then i'm going to care because that is not possible and i'm getting screwed. Even if they tell me that whatever that other shop did screwed my car then fine, i can go take it up with them as mitsu as a witness. As long as i'm not accused of things that i did not do or am obviously being screwed then i will not be pissed.

I donno how good a look you got at the lower IC piping, but I'd bet that's where the problem is. Pull that plastic cover stuff off the bottom and make sure it's all clamped down properly under there. It doesn't need to come all the way off for it to have an effect. Are you blowing out a lot of black smoke?

well looks like i found out what is wrong. THER WAS NO OIL IN MY ENGINE!!!!! {OMG} i somehow burnt off 5 quarts of oil in 4k miles. Completely redicilous!

you better call them ASAP! There could be severe damage done to the engine.

Make sure you have all the receipts of your visit to the shop too.

I do but i cannot believe that this shop would forget something like that. My coworkers are trying to think of everything that could have happened and it seems like the most logical explination. my car is lowered so you couldn't get to the oil plug to dran my car in my driveway and there is no way i burned up 5 quarts of oil in 2-3 weeks. All i know if that if they did forget that they own up to it. something like that is so easy to cop out of and if it did **** my engine then i'm going to go insane.

did you blow off your upper inter cooler pipe? or have you checked on it at all. I was experiencing the same problems and i looked and saw my upper ic pipe blew off from my throttle body

after checking all my piping it seems ok. still doesn't explain the lack of oil in my engine.

Same thing happened in my subaru. I'm surprised no one knew what it was cause the problems were so apparent. The only difference is the car should be faster since there is nothing restricting the crank and engine.

surprised your oil light didnt come on?

thats sucks engine damage for sure with no oil,sorry to hear of your troubles,I always do the work on my car just because of these stories...

That shop has to pay for anything thats damaged,hows your coolant tank? any oil in there?

Ok before everyone gets their panties in a frizzle... what the originator of the post needs to do... even before posting any more info... is call the shop and explain what happened. Give them a chance to fix it before ruining a rep on the internet.

Shops have insurance for this stuff. Call them and let them take a stab at it first.

and i did just that. shop never touched any lines or drained any oil. my car apparently burned off 5 quarts of oil in between oil changes and i don't race it either. i've heard of people being 1-2 quarts low after track days but this doesn't make any sense. i'm only running at half boost and i have to be in 5th gear to get up to 80 mph.

to better describe the sound it is clearly making the clicking sound in turn with the cylinder heads. i cannot picture how on earth i could burn up 5 quarts in 3000 miles. a car with only 20k miles on it should not be doing that.

in one of your previous posts you said they did?

I'm confused =P

sorry my mistake and after i talked to the owner he told me it was not changed. I had asked them to do an oil change and they did not. That was only 1000 miles ago. I couldn't pick up the car during their business hours so i had my father pick up the car. He talked to them about the work and everything else and he told me. I figured that they had performed the oil change and it was dropped in the communication from the owners to my father to me.

Regardless i should not have burned off that much oil in such a short time.

the true nature of this post has been lost somewhat because i was looking for some sort of idea on what could be causing these issues.

that is why you should check your oil atleast 3 times a week..

how can you be so sure? Do you know what oil filter you had on the car before you took it too the shop? Check the filter now and see if it is the same one. Also, where did you take your car to get serviced? mitsu?

ok the shop did not change my oil and I told them to change it. I was under the impression that it was changed. i checked my oil before i took it to the shop and i had plenty of oil in the car, at least 4 quarts. The work that was done on the shop was pads, rotors, and EBC set to 19.5. no power adders that would cause oil to burn off like that.
I do check my oil reguraly but right after i change/think it was changed i do not check it. 1500 miles after a change is when i begin to check it and that is why i checked it today.

what would cause oil burnoff like that and can anyone even guess what is the root of my problems are? so far its just been theorized that i blew off a pipe or hose. i just want to have an idea on what happened.

your evo must be new.

You could be just low enough to not get good oil pressure to the head, but everything else is ok ... The EVO has hydralic valve lash adjusters and if they get low on oil they clatter like mad.

If you are 5 quarts low, you should at least see the low-oil light come on. I'm really doubting you were 'that' low. If that light did not come on and you 'are' 5 quarts low, then you have a defective sensor, and that should be the basis of a warranty repair.

Good Luck,

jcnel.

jcnel you just made me relax a lil thanks. no i never had a sensor pop on. it only came on slightly when i was stalled this morning but it came on along with all the other lights.

i was able to fill the car with 5 quarts today so i figured i was pretty low. The only questions i have now are: Is the dearlership going to tell me tough luck because i didn't check the oil even though the sensor light didn't go off? and would the fact that my oil was low enough to make the valve lash adjustors chatter make my turbo run at half power and make the car feel like it was puttering down the street.

almost forgot. would the valve lash adjustors continue chattering after adding oil? it continued to chatter after i added oil this afternoon.

THIS is what you need to do.

Drain ALL the oil out of your car.

Then replace the oil and see what happens

And how did you know that it didnt have any oil in it?
Did you check by draining the oil or just by the dip stick. If you used the dipstick then there probably wasnt enough oil to show that you had some left but in reality its possible for there to be 2-3 quarts in there. if there was oil left in there, then you probably over filled it and now there is too much oil.

If your car was running without oil then the damage has been done. The reason why its probably in limp home mode was because the engine was probably making so much noise that it triggered the knock sensor.

Also check and see you coolant reservoir to see if there any oil. Do the same to your radiator. if they smell absolutely horrible then you've probably blown a headgasket. if it is blown badly enough, the car can burn oil or let coolant into the the oil (very bad)
Check the spark plugs and see if they are rusted at all

from this point though how i have driven the car would be warrantied. no sensor came on so i doubt that i was really that low on oil. If the sensor was defective then its no my problem but mitsu's. If a head gasket blew i didn't modify the car enough to have that as a real issue and i didn't crank up my boost either.
I'm really worried about mitsu voiding my warranty for my parts when it was obviously something out of my control. that would just be downright ****ty.
Its going to get dropped of tonight so tomorrow we will find out what happened. i apprecate every one contrubuting to this thread and any more information would be great.

Is how my car is reacting limp- mode then? it sounded like it from the different posts i have read but haven't never experenced it first hand i didn't know.

can anyone confirm that how my car is reacting "limp mode"?

after checking things out i probably blew the head gasket and thankfully this problem just started yesterday. i must have done it right after i gased up on my ride home and raced a supra. i lost but my turbo went coocookaakaa for like a split second. that when i probably blew it out. its on its way to mitsu after work and maybe i'll put on my arp studs on now.

I Just had a very similar problem to what your describing ruthless. I have similar mods to yours , GReddy Ti exhaust, apexi downpipe, GReddy spec II EBC. I started hearing a clicking/knocking type sounds comming from my engine and I couldn't boost worth a **** no matter how high I turned up the EBC. When I checked my oil it was also empty and it looked like I had burnt it all out the exhaust. my car only has 2700 miles on it as well. Took it to the dealer and basically the entire engine was shot from driving it even a short distance with no oil in it without realizing it cause my oil light never came on either. they voided my warrenty on the spot and it cost me almost 4600$ to fix, needing new pistons, bearings, crank, rods, and rings. I'm getting it back withen the next few days and they still haven't been able to tell me with a certainty what caused the engine to blow so I'm gearing up for a long argument when I pick it up about how they can void a warrenty if they can't even tell me for sure what caused the damage. Unfortunatly it was towed to the dealer before I got a chance to get the boost controller off of it so there of course blaming it all on it even though the peak boost it recorded was only 17.5 psi! hope to hell its not as bad with your car man and if your gonna do anything make sure u get the EBC off. every other mod can be explained away usually but they void on sight of a boost controller.
good luck man

The oil warning light will only come on when oil pressure is low, not when the oil level is low

the only thing that does bother me is that 3 weeks ago i checked my oil and i was better then fine on the level. maybe 1/2 a quart low so i topped it off. Come yesterday i've burned off a full engines worth of oil?!? They try to tell me that a boost controller burned off oil and i'll see them in court. Obviously something was wrong with the engine but what i do not know. i don't have symptoms of a blown head gasket or and leaks so it doesn't make any sense.