Hi All

After numerous problems with my TR (some of you may have read my other posts) I am now being told it is possible my TCU has gone. Basically my idle is all over the place and I can not get out of 2nd gear. As a consequence I'm chewing thru the juice and am having a rough ride to work every day, esp if it is a cold morning.

Last weekend I got a service, new fuel filter and also had the auto trans serviced. I noticed hardly any improvement at all so now the TCU thing has been suggested to me.

As I am female and relatively young and clueless (!) can anyone tell me how much it would likely cost me to get this fixed? I just dont know if it is worth it. I have been told to take it to Mitsubishi's to get a diagnostic test but they want $150 just to do it.

I am at 160k on the clock

Thanks

Kate

Dont know if this helps but

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/TR-TS-Tranmission-Computer-TCU-V6-and-4cyl_W0QQitemZ190111037473QQihZ009QQcategoryZ10400 QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


I suggest taking it to a auto trans specialist instead of wasting the money at mitsubishi

Yes that is mine, will end to get a member on the road sooner if you want to make me an offer

If the car is not changing gears when you drive and tends to clunk itself into reverse, your TCU is gone, best test is to drive say at 60, down shift and see if anything happens

Have you looked at the Idle Speed Control (ISC), as you mention that your idle speed is all over the place. If you had the auto recently serviced, surely they would have diagnosed the problem and tell you whats causing it. If not, I would not be going back to them in future.

ISC will not cause a loss in power, will cause erratic idle or no idle but that is bout it, TCU is easy to check

What about TPS?

Yes that is mine, will end to get a member on the road sooner if you want to make me an offer

If the car is not changing gears when you drive and tends to clunk itself into reverse, your TCU is gone, best test is to drive say at 60, down shift and see if anything happens


Yes that is EXACTLY what is happening!!

Thank you

Is a TCU hard to install? My man says it will be a pain in the **** to do himself ... guess I will have to talk him into it though. Mitsubishi here in Adelaide have quoted me $90 for a new one. Is this reasonable? I dont know what to believe nowadays ... I think i am being ripped off as I am female. I just paid over $400 for a total service, new fuel filer and auto service and as I said before, it made NO IMPROVEMENT whatsoever

its under the center of the dash it has about 4 10mm bolts holding it in place
its not that hard to do takes about 20min

a new computer is around $1000
to fit it should be around $50 lab any more and they are stealing from you

you need to remove the old computer and find one with the same numbers on it as there were a few different ones

I just paid over $400 for a total service, new fuel filer and auto service and as I said before, it made NO IMPROVEMENT whatsoever

Sounds like they ripped you off, when you got it serviced did you get an invoice listing all that they did? New fuel filter ~$8, Auto service about $180...thats including labour. If anything was wrong with the auto, thats where the extra money came from. :)

Sounds like they ripped you off, when you got it serviced did you get an invoice listing all that they did? New fuel filter ~$8, Auto service about $180...thats including labour. If anything was wrong with the auto, thats where the extra money came from. :)
An itemised invoice is what you should ALWAYS ask for, take care of yourself because a mechanic will rarely take care of you.

It was serviced at a Ford dealership here in SA. I got quotes from other places, including Mitsubishi but they were the cheapest! I received an itemised invoice. I was told it was much more than your major service and they certainly appear to have done more work on it than when it has been serviced in the past. I also got the auto serviced too which has never been done.

I think my expectations were too high though. i think I expected miracles when in reality it is a 16 year old car. I am replacing the TCU this week as this seems to be what is causing my main problems. If I keep having probs I think it will be time to update to a Lancer.

Thanks for your replies

It was serviced at a Ford dealership here in SA. I got quotes from other places, including Mitsubishi but they were the cheapest! I received an itemised invoice. I was told it was much more than your major service and they certainly appear to have done more work on it than when it has been serviced in the past. I also got the auto serviced too which has never been done.

I think my expectations were too high though. i think I expected miracles when in reality it is a 16 year old car. I am replacing the TCU this week as this seems to be what is causing my main problems. If I keep having probs I think it will be time to update to a Lancer.

Thanks for your replies

I'd still check what they did. Not to be offensive in any way, but if a mechanic sees a girl who doesn't appear to be particularly knowledgable about cars, well...they tend to take financial advantage.
That said, they may well have done the right thing. Just find out what they've replaced!

I'm sure when you took it to the Ford Dealer for service, you would have explained the symptoms of what the car is doing to them. After the car was serviced, I would have expected them to explain what the problems were, what they had fixed, and what problems still exist and what would be necessary to fix those problems.

Maybe I'm spoiled by my mechanic.

I'd still check what they did. Not to be offensive in any way, but if a mechanic sees a girl who doesn't appear to be particularly knowledgable about cars, well...they tend to take financial advantage.
That said, they may well have done the right thing. Just find out what they've replaced!

I'll agree to that... I was with my friend when we booked in her mazda eunos at the mechanic for a general service (oil, coolant etc), as I was well aware of how often this occurs, and I would have thought things would be ok, but after doing some routine maintenance on it, the dissy cap has recently failed completely (after pulling it apart it has never been removed, and wasn't even cleaned by mechanics), the oil had been changed, and although the coolant had been changed, the ratio was majorly wrong (the colour of the coolant was almost water clear and had no smell), thermostat was stuffed, and idle speed was 1500rpm too high! 0_0
That oil and coolant change cost her $180.... :nuts: