I'm wondering if my car needs to have this flash applied as well. After I broke 1500 miles I've started stepping on it a little bit more, just to stretch my car's legs a bit and compare it to the old Evo VIII I used to drive. The first time I passed 5000RPM the car hesitated bigtime. You could see the fluctuations on the tach (was dropping 50-100RPM at times) and could hear a warble in the engine note... felt like it was misfiring to be honest.

I talked to my tech about it when I was at the dealer getting my mudflaps installed, and he said that what I experienced certainly wasn't what he'd consider normal, and advised me to get on it a bit more between now and my next oil change, and let him know if it persists.

I'll check the build date on my car after work today, and bring them this TSB number to look up when I go in, too... maybe I'll stop over there on my next day off.

 

yes, it will overide your tune and replace for the factory map.

I just called my local dealership, i told him my car was built before april 08, he said it doesnt matter, my car may not need it.

These guy's HAVE to flash my ecu for the most recent don't they?

 

same thing w/ me - how can you tell what version you have?

 

It appears this reflash is leaning out the car to 10.3AFR.

 

So by leaning the car out that much are we gaining any real power, or gas mileage?

 

Yes there are dyno proven gains of 14-16whp from the dealer flash and an improvement (NOT A CURE) for the upper rpm misfires.

 

how can i tell if i have the updated flash? what exactly should i ask the dealer - i keep getting a generic response of "yea its on there" but they obviously have no clue what i'm talking about

 

From my understanding the dealership doesn't flash cars when they receive them. If it was built before april 2008 then you need the flash...

but thats just what im gathering from other folks...

I would call and tell them your experiencing exactly what the flash is supposed to cure, and that if you spend 35k on a car, you expect it to be right.

 

It's funny you mention this. I just got my wideband 02 sensor installed and the lowest AFR I saw on a full throttle pull was 10.0:1 and most of the time it was in the 10.4:1 range.

 

So it appears this is correct.

 

I checked the build date on my car over the weekend, and it was built in February 2008. I just bought it at the beginning of November, and right after the 1000 break in I noticed some horrid performance over 5000 RPM and a distinct "bogging down" feeling anytime I'd step on the gas in 3rd or 4th, regardless of the RPMs on the tach.

Took my car in today and the guys at Max Madsen Mitsubishi were aware of the ECU flash, even without me needing to bring them the TSB number. They flashed it, and told me to let them know if it helped.

On the expressway coming home I got on it a bit on the ramp, and noticed no stutter in any gear from 5000 to 6500 RPM (it's only at 2000 miles... I still haven't been comfortable winding it out to 7000 so I haven't yet), and the car pulls noticeably harder in 3rd and 4th now than it did before the flash. Overall throttle response feels a little more punchy now, more akin to my old VIII. I'm MUCH happier with the performance I'm seeing now, after just the 20 mile drive home. Hopefully this'll continue, and hopefully for those still experiencing stutter the next ECU flash will be even better.

 

Congrats, hopefully I can get mine flashed this week...if all goes well.

 

Which Max Madsen did you go to? I need to get my car reflashed.

 

Ummmm I am going to have to check this out...

 

Had my flash done today....

Dealer told me they just updated their computer systems the past weekend and there is now only one reflash for all X's. This includes the "high altitude" flash - it's all rolled into one flash now.

I wasn't sure if he was correct and gave him the latest TSB (from here) and he showed me on the computer that it recently was terminated. I still was hesitant so I asked him to call the Mitsubishi tech line and they confirmed there is only one flash that covers all X's now.

Newest flash covers stumbling RPM at idle, slow dropping of RPM, hesitation above 5k, high altitude and is supposed to lean the map a bit. I didn't get the TSB but I will try to remember it next week when I head up there.

I only have about 500 miles on the car so I didn't hit it to hard but I can tell the power band pulls much smoother to 5k where I stopped.