Gday,

I have just purchased a 2003 Magna TL VRX and it has been giving me some ignition problems ie. the car does not start the 1st time, every time. Similar to others who have posted in the past, the problem is very random, the engine still cranks over, it always starts 2nd or 3rd go, and the Mitsubishi service centre mechanics cannot find an identifiable problem. However, I have read other posts on this forum from people who have a similar problem to this but their car's engine also cuts out on them just after ignition- this does not happen to my car (and hopefully never will) but the fact that the car does not start first time, every time, is still a concern to me. Usually, if you turn the key to ignition and the engine cranks over but does not start, if you take turn the ignition fully off and remove the key fully, the car usually starts the very next go.

So, I have a few questions;

1. Does anyone think that re-coding my keys will be of any assistance?
2. Is it worth spending more money having someone trying to find the source of the problem even though the car usually starts 2nd or 3rd time?
3. If I leave it as it is now, could the problem get worse?
4. Any ideas on what the problem could be?

The car has just had its major 45K service and Mitsubishi said it is in fine working order and cant find any problems.

Any assistance would be appreciated. Thanks,

Tim

Sounds like it's the immobiliser plug or contacts, some other people have had the same issues and have fixed it by fixing some contacts i think.

Have you tried your spare key to see if it makes any difference?

It seems to happen with both sets of keys - do you think trying to maually recode them could have an effect?

try not doing short runs to the shop and back for beer milk or supllies

if ya have to keep the motor running

less ignition key work (wont cause a problem ):bowrofl:

take it for a real long drive :D

you just want to show off ya car

try not doing short runs to the shop and back for beer milk or supllies

if ya have to keep the motor running

less ignition key work (wont cause a problem ):bowrofl:

take it for a real long drive :D

you just want to show off ya car

That's a really constructive response,

anyway dude, do a search for immobiliser problems and there are quite a few threads about it

Thanks Dan. Have looked at all those threads- all very helpful-now it is just a matter of eliminating the possible causes one by one. I realise that there have been many previous posts on a similar topic to this but noticed many are from 2005 and I was hoping someone had found a concrete cause since then.....

I had similar issues (http://martybugs.net/articles/magna-stall.cgi), and a Mitsubishi tech confirmed there are known issues with the wiring between the immobiliser and the ECU that can cause this issue.

Cheers,
Martin.