Similar Issue

As the pictures show, I've already pulled the transmission from the car and exposed the clutch/flywheel. I had a problem while coasting neutral downhill when I tried popping the car into 3rd gear but failed. I pull to the side and start the car in neutral perfectly normal, I tried 1st gear and it didn't work and the same for 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th. I started the car in 1st gear and got a nasty grinding sound in return, but the car drove. Still, I could not go into 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th gear without the car dying. It's in my garage exposed and off first glance, as you'll notice, there's is a build-up of black soot around the perimeter of the clutch (or flywheel) which doesn't seem normal and the inside of the housing has oil plastered all over. In the thread I posted above, a poster identified the problem as a "clutch release system" leak. Where would I begin to look for this leak? I'm looking to open up the transmission even further as I'm quite fascinated by the whole contraption, and it's my first time dealing with this part. I plan on buying a clutch kit because I want to learn how to replace it, but I don't think my problem lies in the flywheel.

 

This is a super late response and i'm sure you've either solved the problem or sold the car. However for anyone else confused by this same issue, i recently replaced my clutch with similar symptoms. The cause on my end was a small weep from the concentric slave cylinder, which is a hydraulic release bearing instead of a pivoting fork. I would be checking the CSC and the connection to the rest of the clutch fluid system, master cyl, line connections etc. I was quite shocked to find that my clutch kit was worth $400 (aud) instead of 200 because mitsubishi decided to get clever with the release bearing. As far as I can tell this is an 02-04 specific issue.