Ive had my car for about half a year now (2002 TJ exec), and have taken it on a few country drives and have had no probs. Recently on a counrty drive, my car behaved unusually, i was sitting on about 80-90 km approaching a hill and gave it a boot, then the car sortof jerked as the trans changed gears. . I cant remember what gear i wouldve been in, but am pretty sure when i booted it the trans changed down a gear.All the other gears change very smoothly, but this issue has occured a few times since and have noticed its around the 80 - 90 km mark. Sorry didnt catch what revs i was at.
Anyhow, has any other 3rd gen owners has similar issues or anyone else could give some advise on what it could be?

car is still under factory waranty so if there is a prob, hopefully will be covered. Car has done around 19,000 km. around 6,000 km i have put on it. had its 15,000 km service in feb this year.

SHould i clarify this more? or has no one ever had this happened?

I Dunno man, My trans changes down from 3rd to 2nd a little rough but the rest have no drama, i'm just living with it till my service in a month to get a trans flush, that might help it.

When I first got my 2002 TJ (purchased it 18 months old) it would "shudder" when you gave the throttle a tap at around 85-90km/h+. Almost felt like the torque converter was hesitating or something (dunno how to describe it really - not very knowlegable regarding the inner workings of an auto trans).

Anyway - after the first weekend of owning the car, I rang the mitsubishi dealership I bought it from, told the service center dood what it was doing. He suggested brining it in for a trans flush and renew (all up about a $230 odd value including the fluid from memory) which they did for free under the 3month dealership warranty. Picked the car up that afternoon - and haven't had that problem since.

Hope that helps you narrow it down.

I've had that exact problem before.

Going ~80k...4th -> 3rd kickdown becomes rough - espicially if you are going uphill. I think it only happened when the car was warm too.

They flashed new firmware on to the ECU and it fixed the problem. They also couple of other minor servicing/adjustment things, but I can't remember what it was. I'm sure I posted a thread on here about it, so if you search you might find something.

Good news is that's it's not done it anymore since. (about 20K)

Thanks guys, will get in touch with my local dealer and talk about the prob with them, glad im not crazy thinking i was the only one with this prob :nuts:

FWD autos are a bad idea, i havent seen 1 yet which works properly for more than 100,000 and in most cases they do what yours is doing shortly after break in :confused: its the horrible truth

Charade, why mate why!?
GO away


This is not a 'typical' problem caused by the fact we have FWD auto's.
Get a auto fluid flush, then try firmware like driver.

I have one of the oldest 3.5's around and she goes like a ****ing dream. 139,000 on the clock

KE Verada..

FWD autos are a bad idea, i havent seen 1 yet which works properly for more than 100,000 and in most cases they do what yours is doing shortly after break in :confused: its the horrible truth

And you know????



My car has done near 200,000 k's and I have a smooth trans shift

Burn........Mate try a full flush, it is probably due by now, I did a verada recently where the triptronic was "clunky" and we did a flush, it is like new now.

and my auto magna has done just under 220k kms and its still going fine.

Thanks for the info guys, Ive also noticed it comes and goes, cos whilst driving on the weekend I didnt have a prob. I think its only when the engine is under load/ high revs and when you boot it it shifts quite abbruptly (when approaching a hill), and yeah, its only at around 80-90 km. But i will look into the trans flush, is that easy to do or should i just call the dealer and let them know about the issue and then thay can do it under warranty?

Any suggestions?

That sounds exactly what I was having.

I'd just take it to them and let them decide.

When I first got my 2002 TJ (purchased it 18 months old) it would "shudder" when you gave the throttle a tap at around 85-90km/h+. Almost felt like the torque converter was hesitating or something ...

Or, it is simply the lock-up function kicking in ... I have a 91 Camry auto as well as the Mag.. and it does weird shyte around 80km/h... where you put your foot down in the top 'overdrive' fourth gear in the auto and nothing happens.... or it flares a bit. Apparently it is the electronics telling the transmission to lock the torque converter.. cos the road speed is high enough and you're in top gear.

Or it maybe that the fluid needed flushing in the case of the Magnas talked about here.

Just that any jap auto car I've driven tends to do the 'lock-up' around 80 to 85km/h. Prob equates to the 55mph speed limit in the US... where you should be cruising at on the highway.. :)

FWD autos are a bad idea, i havent seen 1 yet which works properly for more than 100,000 and in most cases they do what yours is doing shortly after break in :confused: its the horrible truth

What is a Charade owner doing here? .. and generally you bag out the Magna anyways. I am not saying everytime.. but often.

Why are FWD autos a bad idea??? please explain. ??

This is seriously a weird topic due to the fact I believe these cars shine when faced with high speeds.

I believe the best environment to show off the 3.5 is to chill on a highway on 80km then foot floor or pop it down to 2nd and foot floor. It takes you straight to that little acceleration sweet-spot 4000rpm+.

Should be smooth gear change but neck cracking acceleration straight though to 140..