A friend of mine is having some problems with her '08 ES A/T. She said she was in traffic and the car stopped accelerating. After that the car takes off very slow and will not go above 70. I looked at the car today and it feels like the car may be stuck in a limp home mode or locked into a single gear.
She doesn't have a owners manual as she bought the car used. The car was also in an accident prior to her buying it. The radiator is pretty beat up as is the condenser. My main questions are:

1) What does limp home mode feel like in the Lancer.

2) The LCD screen shows a small down arrow with a line under it in the upper-mid right corner. As I do not have the owners manual I don't know what this means.

3) What else can prevent the CVT from "changing" gears?

-Josh

 

I would get any codes read out for the trans. It does sound like limp mode to me. I own a 5 speed, but the cvt is just limiting speed and acceleration to protect itself due to a fault in the system. Get the codes and go from there. Does she still have powertrain warranty?

 

Is it possible to read the codes with a standard scanner (available at autozone) or is the MUT required? I would also like to know if there are any dashboard indicators for limp mode.

The vehicle should still be within the 10yr/100000 mile warranty but I am 1) not sure it has been transferred to her, 2) will be honored due to the accident.

My theory is that the radiator damage has allowed air into the system and is at a reduced cooling performance. The air/reduced cooling is creating higher than normal trans fluid temps which is causing the vehicle to go into limp mode.

The owner has been able to go to one shop that scanned the transmission and they told her she needed a new one, but with no reason. As for the radiator it looks like the end tank has been epoxied back together, so I do not trust the cooling system at all.

-Josh

 

If there is a transmission fault, a gear symbol will pop up in the drivers display with a service required or a temperature symbol also telling you to slow down.

The transmission cooler is a separate heat exchanger from the radiator, but if the radiator is damaged and you have lost coolant, you may have a heat issue. But doubtful, as the engine will be overheating as well.

With the damaged radiator, it will not suck air into the cooling system, it will leak coolant out. Simple test, open the radiator cap (cold), is the fluid at the neck?

I have not tried to read a cvt on a mitsubishi, but any decent scanner should read the codes.

Another question, is there an ABS light? The speed sensor for the transmission is read from the ABS tone rings on the wheels.

the warranty should be valid, they go by VIN usually, unless they want to be complete ****** and not honour it because it wasn't properly "transferred" over. I would just call the dealer and see, it doesn't hurt.

 

There is a gear symbol on the dash. The vehicle was diagnosed at a trans shopping as "Needs new transmission". This is why my questions of identifying limp mode have come up.

The engine did overheat "slightly" (as far as I am told) before this issue started. It was stand still traffic in about 90F+ weather. After that, I believe the engine is not overheating due to limp mode.

I guess what I meant to say is that coolant could either 1)leak out, leading to cavitation or 2) has reduced capacity due to not being able to pressurize completely. I have not been able to open the cap as the vehicle was already warm by the time I thought to look at it.

She brought the car to Autozone and they said there where no codes showing. That being said she had little faith in the employee as they could barely figure out how to turn the scanner on.

No ABS light that I recall. I can double check on this though.

My larger concern is that they may claim the accident damage is the root cause of the damage and therefore the warranty will not apply. I will ask her to call to find out about the warranty in general. Maybe a good dealership will honor the warranty provided they get to replace the accident damaged components on her dime.

Thanks for the help.

-Josh

 

Also on the warranty if she is not the original owner the car only has a 5 yr / 60 k mile warranty http://www.mitsubishicars.com/MMNA/j...te/warranty.do