So my car has almost 58000 miles and now it's time to change the clutch.
I thought it's going to be easy but......................
One of the mechanics (+my friends) told me that Mitsubishi Lancer
has one of the worst trans. ever made by Mitsubishi and possibly other
manufacturers.
Is that true?

Tranny good or not?

 

It can't possibly be any worse than the tranny in a DSM, and I had one of those last 214k.

Is the tranny itself giving you any problems? Still shift nice? Not grinding into gears or feeling "crunchy" when you shift?

While I would agree that there are better-made transmissions out there, I don't think the trans in a Lancer is the worst of them.

 

It is probably one of the worst clutches to replace. The rear motor mount is a pain the a$$

 

KIA is the worst

 

I'm editing the thread title to make it shorter, and so it doesn't look odd on the main page.

I think the clutch is adequate. Nothing more, nothing less. Organic clutches have a tendency to wear quickly as opposed to ceramic/metallic clutches in general anyway, and adding more power only exascerbates this. The ultimate deciding factor seems to be driving style though. Some people just have a tendency to put more wear on their clutches. It's impossible to say precisely how due to different driving habits, but you know it's probably not the clutch when some people's last forever and others' go quickly.

 

hmmmmm, me thought the tranny on the lancer was similar to ones used in turbo'd Eclipse....

(if not, sorry. I thought I read it somewhere)

 

Okay, let's to put this to rest.

The lancer (ES, LS, OZ), Mirage LS (1.8l), and the 3g eclipse 4g64 share the same tranny, but the eclipse has a bit of a different bell housing.

There is a difference between grinding gears (ie bad driver) and torching the clutch (driving too aggressively).

Auto tranny goes bad from people shifting gears or N-drops. It has been proven when those people get a tranny repair bill after blowing up one.

My brother's friend's wife had a ford ranger whose clutch lasted her to 104K miles. That's a testament of her VERY conservative driving. Should we expect every ford ranger w/ manual constantly hitting +90K for clutch replacement?

Then, I knew a guy in HS w/ the classic foxbody 'stang GT. He would torch his clutch at 5-8K constantly, and he didn't care since he can replace it himself. This goes the same for those Evo guys claiming their clutches are bad and not ever admitting that they are torching it under warranty.

DSMs are only bad with huge HP gain, aggressive launching, and those damn synchros at 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. When the sychros go bad, the tranny isn't too far behind before grinding to death.

 

How do you actually know if your clutch is going? My sister says mine might go soon but it feels almost exactly like it did when i got it new from the dealership. Then again she drives a subaru with electronic pedals so hers just feels completely different.

 

Might be similar, but definitely not the same. For starters, the turbo DSMs had the engine mounted on the driver's side of the car, with the trans on the passenger side. Also, the crankshaft spun opposite the wheels, so I'm guessing there's one less set of gears in the Lancer tranny (not as many direction changes).

I haven't had a Lancer tranny apart (and hopefully won't for a long time), so I don't know for sure.

 

It is. The transmission itself is fine if you ask me. It's been around for more than 10 years with no major issues that I'm aware of. The only thing I'd change would be the gearing...but when the car's stock the gear ratio is pretty good if you ask me. A slightly longer 2nd gear would be nice though. Once it's gone forced induction I think just about anyone would agree it'd be nice to change the gear ratios at least slightly. Nice, but not necessarily worth the cost.

 

I've had them go different ways. Only once was it worn out, the other times, it either blew apart in chunks, or the two faces of the disc separated.

When it's just worn out, you'll feel it slipping in lower gears first, on hard acceleration. That's your warning to take it easy, and get it changed ASAP.

When it blows apart in chunks, it's pretty obvious that there's something wrong.

When the disc faces come apart, the clutch wouldn't disengage fully, so every shift would grind a little, unless I rev-matched it. My Eclipse did this when I was in Chicago rush-hour traffic, and it wasn't fun.

BTW, I changed the clutch in my Talon at 108k miles, thinking it had to be going soon. It wasn't. Still had plenty of life left in it. Now, the clutch I put in it then has 122k on it, and it's still fine. You can kill a clutch in a few thousand miles easily, but it's also possible to have them last a good long time. Even the clutch I put in my modded GSX lasted 110k, and was fine when I sold the car.