As I type this on my iPod touch, I'm sitting here at my mitsu service center. I brought my car in today due to the intermittent starting problem, where when the car has problems starting after sitting for about 5hrs and the only way to get it started is to press the accelerator while the ignition is cranking.

Well the assistant manager here just told me that he hasn't heard about the problem before, however upon speaking with mitsu california, they just released a flash for the ECU. Suppossedly, the flash changes how the throttle body moves. They believe that the throttle body may not be moving properly, thus the flash.

Therefore, my car is being flashed right now. He said, however, if this does not fix the issue to let him know, so he can put more pressure on mitsu califotnia, in which case the whole throttle body qould be replaced.

I just wanted to give fellow 2008 lancer owners the heads up that there definitely is a problem and mitsu is working on a solution, providing if the flash doesn't work. So for anyone experiencing this problem - get to your dealer!!

 

thanks man, yea sometimes it wont start i have to crank it for a little bit, but thanks for the infp

 

just curious, are you running higher octane fuel, probably not, I too have had it happen to me 2 twice, during its 15000km life. Still the start failure rate is to low to be of major concern unless your starts fail more then 5% of the time

 

well even more then 1% is considered high. but 5% is not good at all

 

i had it happened to me 2twice in 7000km; and i dont like it at all. it makes the car feel 10 years older.

 

No, I'm running the standard fuel (87). My car has 3500 miles on it and has happened with as little as 1200 miles on it.

The flash took about a half hour and the dealer even detailed my car! They washed the car, windows, vacuumed and shined the tires - all for free

evo_soul - Any new car which fails to start more than once is enough for concern. For the amount of money spent and being brand spanking new - it should NOT have ANY starting problems. If it does, something is wrong and it needs to be fixed. Period.

Here's what I noted AFTER the flash:

The car's start up is not as week any more. Normally, when the car starts, it sounds like it barely catches. After the flash, she started right up, and rev'd to about 2k. The car also feels a little more responsive. I'm not saying it's faster, however, it does feel to be more responsive on acceleration. Though it may just be the "placebo" effect. Of course it's way to early to tell if the flash fixed the problem, or did anything. I will keep giving updates and let you guys know where it stands.

 

thanks, so you just brought it to the dealer and they did it no problem?

 

has anyone else has heard about this new flash? i will be going to the dealer next week cause them bent one of my rims and are putting on a new one and i will ask them about it. maybe they can flash the suspention and make all the cars stop pulling to the left too! lol

 

wow...

 

I shot the assistant manager an e-mail regarding the problem on wednesday and I told him I wanted to come early Friday morning. When I got there today, he stated that after talking with Mitsu in California, they told him about the flash.

Actually, the flash was so new, he has to send me the paper work in the mail as he didn't know what number it went under in his computer, lol.

 

my car doesnt have any problems starting but when i turn the key to ON it makes a loud clicking like really loud.. the dude said it was normal just loud.. but ive never heard any car do that in my life.. anyone know wtf that is??

 

They all do that. I was told (not from dealer) that the noise is the anti-theft/vehicle immobilizer deactivating (or something like that).

 

I would not call a car not starting off the first crank a failure and i think its being blown out of proportion. To actually start a car is a very complicated science in itself. I spent 30,000 dollars on my GTS, actually 60,000 for two of them.

So many different things have to come together on demand on start. Fuel Ejection system / Piston alignment / Oil delievery / battery coil at the ready for starter / etc. so much **** has to be perfect.

Like i said a once and a blue moon crank fail is ok. You can best your dealer but unless you can get it to happen twice in one week or one day I would be impressed. Other may be having it sooner but it could be so many other things.
Even a defective battery that doesnt hold a charge properly. I have seen that in new cars.

Anyways I wouldnt expect Mitsu to do anything unless they had a exact cause.

Let me put this to you this way, and this goes out to all those who live in cold areas in Canada and the USA. You do the most harm to your engine when you start it in 20'c below weather and dont wait to let it warm up.

like 5 years back I went to a presentation by I think it was Penzoil but i could be wrong and they actually had a large real engine model split in half to show what goes on inside the engine, andthey had normal temp, and cold temp engines setup.

And beleive me when you start your engine no matter how new your car is or regardless of what model. When you start that bad boy up in freezing temps, there aint anything on it as the piston moves up and down. I mean leave a bottle of oil outside in the winter bring it inside and try to pour it out. It does nothing for you, its the heat that allow for the oil to coat the piston. putting your car under load, or racing down the street to warm it up punishes your engine big time. That is what will kill your engine. I can never say it enough.....

always let your car cycle at least a minute & half or 3 minutes if you can. This is why i wish our cars had a starter module.
sigh

 

Piston alignment? Lets just say the three key essentials are Spark, Fuel, and Air.

There is definitley a problem with the 08 Lancer's start-up. Cranking a vehicle multiple times with no start-up is a huge problem! I had this happen to me for a second time yesterday, and I had to sit in the parking lot for a good 20 seconds trying to get my engine to fire up. I let off the ignition the first time after a good 5 seconds, and tryed again a few times.

When the 2.0L MIVEC is cranking, it doesn't sound like a powerful crank at all. Almost as if the engine is not getting enough air, or possibly fuel.

The reflash to the ECU sounds like it could be the fix to end all of the 08 lancer start-up problems, and I can't wait for Mitsubishi to finally release a recall notice in the mail about this. I will be calling my dealer up tomorrow to find out if they have heard anything about this.

 

1. I happened Tuesday night of last week, then again Wednesday evening. Are you impressed now?

2. I'm not starting the car in freezing cold temps. I'm in NY. It happened all summer, and now it's happening in October. There is NO weather relation, in regards to this problem.

The answer is simple. Something IS wrong. Mitsu wouldn't have released a flash or tell service centers that they may need to replace the entire throttle body if "once in a blue moon a crank fail is ok".

Nothing personal against you, however, THERE is a problem. Out of all of the new cars we've had in my family, not ONE would fail at starting within the first years (if not longer).