2008 GTS Concerns - Looking for Advice
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2008 GTS Concerns - Looking for Advice
Hey all! I've been lurking around these forums for a couple of months but wanted to post something to ask for some advice from people more knowledgeable than myself. In December, I purchased a slightly used 2008 Lancer GTS (CVT model, approximately 30,000Km) from a dealer in Gatineau, Quebec that's primarily a used place but is also an official Mitsubishi dealer. My experiences with this place have been and continue to be abysmal but that's another story. I'm generally very happy with the car but I've got a few concerns with it and I wanted to see what the thoughts on them were and what I should do about them. In no particular order:
1. I am having the problem with terrible radio reception and Bluetooth audio from my phone only coming out of one speaker (the right front.) I saw that this is a common problem in the known issues thread. Does Mitsubishi have a fix for this? Should I take it into the dealer and have them replace the deck? We actually have a couple of radio stations here (Ottawa, Canada) that I like and the terrible reception is infuriating.
2. There seems to be a bit of a "hesitation" in the CVT transmission when I'm accelerating from a stop. It's kind of hard to explain but I will try my best. If I press my foot down, the car will rev up to whatever power I've asked for (let's say 2,000RPM) and will start to gain speed. After a few seconds, the RPM will slowly drop between 200-300 for a second or two and then rev back up to what it was originally and will stay there as normal until I adjust the pedal pressure. Is this normal? Should the car be maintaining the RPM I ask for at all times or is it normal for it to drop and come back up like that? If it's not normal, what could be the cause of this? If this explanation isn't clear, I can shoot a short video of the problem with my phone and post it.
3. The engine noise is quite a bit different when the car is cold. I know this is normal in most cars but until it heats up, it almost sounds like it has a knock of some kind. My friend who is a mechanic (but has never worked on these) says it kind of sounds like a valve knock but he wouldn't speculate as he doesn't know anything about the Mivek engine. Is this sound normal and if not, what could it be a sign of?
4. What's the normal fuel range on these cars? I commute in it between two different offices, one of which has more highway to it than the other. I keep my eye on the fuel efficiency meter and it seems to hover between 9.5 and 10L/100Km on average which doesn't seem bad. However, when I first bought the car I consistently got between 500 and 500Km per tank and now I'm lucky to break 450Km per tank. It has been colder in Ottawa the last couple of months but this still seems like a rather dramatic drop.
5. Since I bought the car, it has had a "creaky grindy" noise in the front suspension. Essentially, when I go over a decent bump (like say a speedbump), you can hear that sort of noise coming from the front suspension. It doesn't happen under normal road conditions. I've had the dealer look at it and they insist there's nothing wrong. Is this normal or should I push them on it?
Sorry for the long-winded post but I wanted to be as descriptive as possible. As I said, I really like the car but these are just concerns I have. If they can be resolved (and a couple of them may not be an issue at all), I'm sure I'll continue to enjoy it. I get the feeling many of these are just symptoms of buying someone else's car combined with a dealer that couldn't care less about providing decent customer service. Thanks for your help all!
1. I am having the problem with terrible radio reception and Bluetooth audio from my phone only coming out of one speaker (the right front.) I saw that this is a common problem in the known issues thread. Does Mitsubishi have a fix for this? Should I take it into the dealer and have them replace the deck? We actually have a couple of radio stations here (Ottawa, Canada) that I like and the terrible reception is infuriating.
2. There seems to be a bit of a "hesitation" in the CVT transmission when I'm accelerating from a stop. It's kind of hard to explain but I will try my best. If I press my foot down, the car will rev up to whatever power I've asked for (let's say 2,000RPM) and will start to gain speed. After a few seconds, the RPM will slowly drop between 200-300 for a second or two and then rev back up to what it was originally and will stay there as normal until I adjust the pedal pressure. Is this normal? Should the car be maintaining the RPM I ask for at all times or is it normal for it to drop and come back up like that? If it's not normal, what could be the cause of this? If this explanation isn't clear, I can shoot a short video of the problem with my phone and post it.
3. The engine noise is quite a bit different when the car is cold. I know this is normal in most cars but until it heats up, it almost sounds like it has a knock of some kind. My friend who is a mechanic (but has never worked on these) says it kind of sounds like a valve knock but he wouldn't speculate as he doesn't know anything about the Mivek engine. Is this sound normal and if not, what could it be a sign of?
4. What's the normal fuel range on these cars? I commute in it between two different offices, one of which has more highway to it than the other. I keep my eye on the fuel efficiency meter and it seems to hover between 9.5 and 10L/100Km on average which doesn't seem bad. However, when I first bought the car I consistently got between 500 and 500Km per tank and now I'm lucky to break 450Km per tank. It has been colder in Ottawa the last couple of months but this still seems like a rather dramatic drop.
5. Since I bought the car, it has had a "creaky grindy" noise in the front suspension. Essentially, when I go over a decent bump (like say a speedbump), you can hear that sort of noise coming from the front suspension. It doesn't happen under normal road conditions. I've had the dealer look at it and they insist there's nothing wrong. Is this normal or should I push them on it?
Sorry for the long-winded post but I wanted to be as descriptive as possible. As I said, I really like the car but these are just concerns I have. If they can be resolved (and a couple of them may not be an issue at all), I'm sure I'll continue to enjoy it. I get the feeling many of these are just symptoms of buying someone else's car combined with a dealer that couldn't care less about providing decent customer service. Thanks for your help all!
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Joined: Jul 2007
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From: the land between lancer and evo
Hey all! I've been lurking around these forums for a couple of months but wanted to post something to ask for some advice from people more knowledgeable than myself. In December, I purchased a slightly used 2008 Lancer GTS (CVT model, approximately 30,000Km) from a dealer in Gatineau, Quebec that's primarily a used place but is also an official Mitsubishi dealer. My experiences with this place have been and continue to be abysmal but that's another story. I'm generally very happy with the car but I've got a few concerns with it and I wanted to see what the thoughts on them were and what I should do about them. In no particular order:
1. I am having the problem with terrible radio reception and Bluetooth audio from my phone only coming out of one speaker (the right front.) I saw that this is a common problem in the known issues thread. Does Mitsubishi have a fix for this? Should I take it into the dealer and have them replace the deck? We actually have a couple of radio stations here (Ottawa, Canada) that I like and the terrible reception is infuriating.
There are a few service bulletins for the radio unit. When you go to the dealership, be sure to ask them to check for service bulletins from the radio manufacturer
2. There seems to be a bit of a "hesitation" in the CVT transmission when I'm accelerating from a stop. It's kind of hard to explain but I will try my best. If I press my foot down, the car will rev up to whatever power I've asked for (let's say 2,000RPM) and will start to gain speed. After a few seconds, the RPM will slowly drop between 200-300 for a second or two and then rev back up to what it was originally and will stay there as normal until I adjust the pedal pressure. Is this normal? Should the car be maintaining the RPM I ask for at all times or is it normal for it to drop and come back up like that? If it's not normal, what could be the cause of this? If this explanation isn't clear, I can shoot a short video of the problem with my phone and post it.
This is normal. It has to do with the acceleration and the car not having an LSD. See the problem is in sharp cornering, if it revs up to quickly, you can get into a bit of trouble. A good example of this is to put the car into manual mod and perform acceleration + sharp turn. It will only do this at low speeds. This is pre-program behaviour regardless of what you are doing. It may be different with new lancers that have traction + stability control, but it will react the same. That said. you may have noticed that the hesitation of the CVT itself is a bit of an annoyance. I strongly advised you to consider a Sprint Booster, it will without a doubt sharpen up the response time of your car with it comes to the throttle.
3. The engine noise is quite a bit different when the car is cold. I know this is normal in most cars but until it heats up, it almost sounds like it has a knock of some kind. My friend who is a mechanic (but has never worked on these) says it kind of sounds like a valve knock but he wouldn't speculate as he doesn't know anything about the Mivek engine. Is this sound normal and if not, what could it be a sign of?
They all make that noise. Also remember, cold temps will generally make more noise until the entire engine reachs full operating temp. It is normal and safe.
4. What's the normal fuel range on these cars? I commute in it between two different offices, one of which has more highway to it than the other. I keep my eye on the fuel efficiency meter and it seems to hover between 9.5 and 10L/100Km on average which doesn't seem bad. However, when I first bought the car I consistently got between 500 and 500Km per tank and now I'm lucky to break 450Km per tank. It has been colder in Ottawa the last couple of months but this still seems like a rather dramatic drop.
Mixed City Driving should give you 550 if you dont have racing tendencies. 450 if you drive a bit agressive. If you do mostly highway, you can get 700 on a full tank. I have. I currently have 130,000km and test different configurations for the lancer regularly and confirm this with the car club I run in Toronto.
You can increase your fuel economy with a few simple mods. Intake, Exhaust (prefered Greddy SE, stick with a 2.25" inch size) Magnaflow is an even better option. Finally you should upgrade your exhaust manifold aka Header. A gain in TQ will help you in your daily driving fuel economy. A header will compound the gains of your Intake and Header.
5. Since I bought the car, it has had a "creaky grindy" noise in the front suspension. Essentially, when I go over a decent bump (like say a speedbump), you can hear that sort of noise coming from the front suspension. It doesn't happen under normal road conditions. I've had the dealer look at it and they insist there's nothing wrong. Is this normal or should I push them on it?
There is no getting away from it. It will make sounds if the temps drop very low. This is normal. Some cars have suspension that makes less noise, some employ rubber coil sleves to reduce sound. but it still happens
Sorry for the long-winded post but I wanted to be as descriptive as possible. As I said, I really like the car but these are just concerns I have. If they can be resolved (and a couple of them may not be an issue at all), I'm sure I'll continue to enjoy it. I get the feeling many of these are just symptoms of buying someone else's car combined with a dealer that couldn't care less about providing decent customer service. Thanks for your help all!
1. I am having the problem with terrible radio reception and Bluetooth audio from my phone only coming out of one speaker (the right front.) I saw that this is a common problem in the known issues thread. Does Mitsubishi have a fix for this? Should I take it into the dealer and have them replace the deck? We actually have a couple of radio stations here (Ottawa, Canada) that I like and the terrible reception is infuriating.
There are a few service bulletins for the radio unit. When you go to the dealership, be sure to ask them to check for service bulletins from the radio manufacturer
2. There seems to be a bit of a "hesitation" in the CVT transmission when I'm accelerating from a stop. It's kind of hard to explain but I will try my best. If I press my foot down, the car will rev up to whatever power I've asked for (let's say 2,000RPM) and will start to gain speed. After a few seconds, the RPM will slowly drop between 200-300 for a second or two and then rev back up to what it was originally and will stay there as normal until I adjust the pedal pressure. Is this normal? Should the car be maintaining the RPM I ask for at all times or is it normal for it to drop and come back up like that? If it's not normal, what could be the cause of this? If this explanation isn't clear, I can shoot a short video of the problem with my phone and post it.
This is normal. It has to do with the acceleration and the car not having an LSD. See the problem is in sharp cornering, if it revs up to quickly, you can get into a bit of trouble. A good example of this is to put the car into manual mod and perform acceleration + sharp turn. It will only do this at low speeds. This is pre-program behaviour regardless of what you are doing. It may be different with new lancers that have traction + stability control, but it will react the same. That said. you may have noticed that the hesitation of the CVT itself is a bit of an annoyance. I strongly advised you to consider a Sprint Booster, it will without a doubt sharpen up the response time of your car with it comes to the throttle.
3. The engine noise is quite a bit different when the car is cold. I know this is normal in most cars but until it heats up, it almost sounds like it has a knock of some kind. My friend who is a mechanic (but has never worked on these) says it kind of sounds like a valve knock but he wouldn't speculate as he doesn't know anything about the Mivek engine. Is this sound normal and if not, what could it be a sign of?
They all make that noise. Also remember, cold temps will generally make more noise until the entire engine reachs full operating temp. It is normal and safe.
4. What's the normal fuel range on these cars? I commute in it between two different offices, one of which has more highway to it than the other. I keep my eye on the fuel efficiency meter and it seems to hover between 9.5 and 10L/100Km on average which doesn't seem bad. However, when I first bought the car I consistently got between 500 and 500Km per tank and now I'm lucky to break 450Km per tank. It has been colder in Ottawa the last couple of months but this still seems like a rather dramatic drop.
Mixed City Driving should give you 550 if you dont have racing tendencies. 450 if you drive a bit agressive. If you do mostly highway, you can get 700 on a full tank. I have. I currently have 130,000km and test different configurations for the lancer regularly and confirm this with the car club I run in Toronto.
You can increase your fuel economy with a few simple mods. Intake, Exhaust (prefered Greddy SE, stick with a 2.25" inch size) Magnaflow is an even better option. Finally you should upgrade your exhaust manifold aka Header. A gain in TQ will help you in your daily driving fuel economy. A header will compound the gains of your Intake and Header.
5. Since I bought the car, it has had a "creaky grindy" noise in the front suspension. Essentially, when I go over a decent bump (like say a speedbump), you can hear that sort of noise coming from the front suspension. It doesn't happen under normal road conditions. I've had the dealer look at it and they insist there's nothing wrong. Is this normal or should I push them on it?
There is no getting away from it. It will make sounds if the temps drop very low. This is normal. Some cars have suspension that makes less noise, some employ rubber coil sleves to reduce sound. but it still happens
Sorry for the long-winded post but I wanted to be as descriptive as possible. As I said, I really like the car but these are just concerns I have. If they can be resolved (and a couple of them may not be an issue at all), I'm sure I'll continue to enjoy it. I get the feeling many of these are just symptoms of buying someone else's car combined with a dealer that couldn't care less about providing decent customer service. Thanks for your help all!
Sorry to hear about your experience with the dealerships. Something that I feel is very common.
Last edited by evo_soul; Feb 24, 2011 at 10:13 AM.
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Regarding the CVT...I have a 2010 GTS with the CVT and I experience the exact same thing. So they definitely haven't changed it yet (if they ever will).
My wife drives this car pretty much entirely city and gets around 10L/100km, so not far off from what you're experiencing.
I hate the grinding sound over bumps. I haven't taken it to the dealer yet (only 15000 miles), but it definitely irritates me. I'm sad to hear that that's a normal sound...
My wife drives this car pretty much entirely city and gets around 10L/100km, so not far off from what you're experiencing.
I hate the grinding sound over bumps. I haven't taken it to the dealer yet (only 15000 miles), but it definitely irritates me. I'm sad to hear that that's a normal sound...
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The dealer kept insisting the sound was normal and I didn't believe him because this is the first car I've ever owned that does that. I'm rather shocked to hear it's normal. Honestly though, the noise doesn't really bother me. I was more concerned it meant something was damaged.
Thanks for all your great answers evo_soul. It's good to know pretty much everything is normal. I've had a couple of cars with knocks before and one engine knock itself to death (well, one day the knock go ta lot worse and a piston shattered) so when I hear something that sounds like a knock, I get super paranoid.
I have an appointment with the dealer next week for them to replace a rim that was bent when I purchased the car so I'll ask them to check the deck when it's there. Does a replacement unit generally fix the reception/Bluetooth issues?
As for your suggestions for mods to improve fuel economy/the CVT issue, I definitely can't afford anything like that now but will keep them in mind. Do any of these endanger the warranty? With regards to the fuel economy, I do drive conservatively in my commute which is why I was concerned about my weak mileage of late. I'm guessing it's probably due to the cold temperatures we've had around here the last couple of months. Hopefully it will improve once Spring rolls around. Thanks again!
Thanks for all your great answers evo_soul. It's good to know pretty much everything is normal. I've had a couple of cars with knocks before and one engine knock itself to death (well, one day the knock go ta lot worse and a piston shattered) so when I hear something that sounds like a knock, I get super paranoid.
I have an appointment with the dealer next week for them to replace a rim that was bent when I purchased the car so I'll ask them to check the deck when it's there. Does a replacement unit generally fix the reception/Bluetooth issues?As for your suggestions for mods to improve fuel economy/the CVT issue, I definitely can't afford anything like that now but will keep them in mind. Do any of these endanger the warranty? With regards to the fuel economy, I do drive conservatively in my commute which is why I was concerned about my weak mileage of late. I'm guessing it's probably due to the cold temperatures we've had around here the last couple of months. Hopefully it will improve once Spring rolls around. Thanks again!
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Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 2,362
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From: the land between lancer and evo
The dealer kept insisting the sound was normal and I didn't believe him because this is the first car I've ever owned that does that. I'm rather shocked to hear it's normal. Honestly though, the noise doesn't really bother me. I was more concerned it meant something was damaged.
Thanks for all your great answers evo_soul. It's good to know pretty much everything is normal. I've had a couple of cars with knocks before and one engine knock itself to death (well, one day the knock go ta lot worse and a piston shattered) so when I hear something that sounds like a knock, I get super paranoid. I have an appointment with the dealer next week for them to replace a rim that was bent when I purchased the car so I'll ask them to check the deck when it's there. Does a replacement unit generally fix the reception/Bluetooth issues?
My car was one of the first lots out of the factory in 2007/2008. My original bluetooth had sound out of both speakers, left and right. but they cancelled the left speaker audio. My speculation was because of feedback. So the Sterial you have will likely act the same way in regards to the bluetooth.
But Reception will be improved for sure.
As for your suggestions for mods to improve fuel economy/the CVT issue, I definitely can't afford anything like that now but will keep them in mind. Do any of these endanger the warranty? With regards to the fuel economy, I do drive conservatively in my commute which is why I was concerned about my weak mileage of late. I'm guessing it's probably due to the cold temperatures we've had around here the last couple of months. Hopefully it will improve once Spring rolls around. Thanks again!
Warranty
1. SprintBooster = Is warranty Safe, does not affect ECU in anyway. This only alters the signal going from your throttle controller to the ECU. Providing a throttle signal more in line with what your actual desire for throttle response is.
2. Header and Exhaust upgrades = Are warranty Safe. Your header (unless you own a PZEV) does not contain emission control equipment so it is not in violation of the terms of your warranty. Exhausts are safe as well. If a service technician starts telling you that your warranty might be void. Slap him.
Thanks for all your great answers evo_soul. It's good to know pretty much everything is normal. I've had a couple of cars with knocks before and one engine knock itself to death (well, one day the knock go ta lot worse and a piston shattered) so when I hear something that sounds like a knock, I get super paranoid.
I have an appointment with the dealer next week for them to replace a rim that was bent when I purchased the car so I'll ask them to check the deck when it's there. Does a replacement unit generally fix the reception/Bluetooth issues?My car was one of the first lots out of the factory in 2007/2008. My original bluetooth had sound out of both speakers, left and right. but they cancelled the left speaker audio. My speculation was because of feedback. So the Sterial you have will likely act the same way in regards to the bluetooth.
But Reception will be improved for sure.As for your suggestions for mods to improve fuel economy/the CVT issue, I definitely can't afford anything like that now but will keep them in mind. Do any of these endanger the warranty? With regards to the fuel economy, I do drive conservatively in my commute which is why I was concerned about my weak mileage of late. I'm guessing it's probably due to the cold temperatures we've had around here the last couple of months. Hopefully it will improve once Spring rolls around. Thanks again!
Warranty
1. SprintBooster = Is warranty Safe, does not affect ECU in anyway. This only alters the signal going from your throttle controller to the ECU. Providing a throttle signal more in line with what your actual desire for throttle response is.
2. Header and Exhaust upgrades = Are warranty Safe. Your header (unless you own a PZEV) does not contain emission control equipment so it is not in violation of the terms of your warranty. Exhausts are safe as well. If a service technician starts telling you that your warranty might be void. Slap him.
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Hello again! So I took the car back to the dealer yesterday and got some of my issues resolved. I'm curious, is there anything I can reference with regards to that TSB for the stereo? The dealer says that checked "DealerLink" which I presume is their Mitsubishi software and he said there is no such TSB that he can find. He said the Bluetooth coming out of only the right speaker is normal (which I believe you said too) and that there is a TSB for sound cutting out entirely but nothing on poor radio reception. This dealer is a joke service wise so needless to say I don't trust them. I may try taking it to another dealer and asking them but if anyone here knows a specific TSB # or something else I can reference to go "There's the bulletin, stop jerking me around", it would help immensely. I've never had another car with such poor radio reception in this city (certainly not one with a bloody Rockford Fosgate stereo) and I simply can't believe this is the best that can be done with this deck. Thanks again!
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