I just took my car into the local Mitsu to get this stupid issue sorted out. The issue was the usual one where the car would just shut off a second after starting it. I told them about it on the phone and they said it was either the battery not giving enough voltage at startup or the immob wire.

Anyway, I took it in and just got it back. $117.70 later, this is what the invoice says they did.

Inspected vehicle and found intake tube loose at manifold- Tightened manifold and checked base idle and found to require throttle body clean and reset base idle. Carried out throttle clean, replaced stepper motor O ring and reset base idle. Carried out mutt test and no fault codes present.

Ok, WTF does that mean? Doesn't sound like they checked either of the 2 things they were meant to or am I just misunderstanding?

They probably did the electrical systems check and could not fault it - so they moved on to the next most common problem.

Seems fine to me.

means they looked for another source of the problem
be happy that they did - normally dealerships dont look that hard (in my experience anyhow)

the most important question - has the problem been solved?

shutdown after starting is a generally a symptom of a battery on its way out, or the immob wire.

A dirty TB can do that too.

as long as the prob has been fixed why complain??? Just be happy a dealership went to the effort they did

they tightened a screw, put in an o ring, and sprayed some cleaner on your throttle body. i'd say the biggest cost was the mutt test, they usually sting you like $40 for that

I was just apprehensive about taking to this Mitsubishi dealer (I had a less then positive experience with them a year ago and others on this forum have expressed similar feelings, but I took it to them because I know that a Mitsu shop would be far more likely to understand and remedy the issue) and it didn't seem like they did what they thought it might have been so I am just a bit sus. It hasn't happened since, but sometimes it could be a month or 2 between when it shut off so I just have to wait and see. Thanks for the replies though. I has helped put my mind at ease.


as long as the prob has been fixed why complain??? Just be happy a dealership went to the effort they did

Sorry, I didn't mean to sound like I was ungrateful because I'm not if it turns out that they have indeed solved the problem.

This is 99% battery or immob. wire... very very common problem

my opinion, it was your immob. wire .. Obviously they didnt change your battery cause you'd notice this... I reckon they fixed the immob. wire (5mins job) and then wrote all that garbage down to justify there $117....


OR they actually did do that stuff.. and got lucky that the car didnt play up for them.. in which case the problem will come back

Easy, check that they cleaned the TB and replaced the ring.

OR they didn't rip him off, found that it wasn't an electrical problem and set about doing the job properly, finding the source of the problem and eliminating it.

We're not all *******s looking to rip people off.

Inclusive of parts, labour and consumables, I think $117.70 is reasonable. (labour would have been the highest cost, the parts and consumables would've been next to nothing)

OR they didn't rip him off, found that it wasn't an electrical problem and set about doing the job properly, finding the source of the problem and eliminating it.

We're not all *******s looking to rip people off.

Inclusive of parts, labour and consumables, I think $117.70 is reasonable. (labour would have been the highest cost, the parts and consumables would've been next to nothing)

there a car dealer..they rip ppl off... its there job lol

nah the price is good no matter what they did.. id charge you $117 aswell to fix your immob problem, if it was that.. its all about the value of knowledge

there a car dealer..they rip ppl off... its there job lol

nah the price is good no matter what they did.. id charge you $117 aswell to fix your immob problem, if it was that.. its all about the value of knowledge

Ha mate, we get paid 3/8s of **** all. We have to eat y'know! :bowrofl: We see a very minor percentage of that rate, most of it goes to the company and the bosses.

The price didn't bother me. It is just that there was no mention of the immob wire so I wasn't sure if they actually fixed anything. *shrug*

*********** idiots at Len Patti. It happened again today so they didn't fix it. They didn't check the immob at all. I am taking it back in tomorrow. So help me god I better not be paying anything tomorrow after they do their *********** job.

Duuddeee, that sucks, hopefully they fix it.

I've killed people for less.

I've killed people for less.

lol ahaha

I've killed people for less.
i've done pauls mum for less?

*********** idiots at Len Patti. It happened again today so they didn't fix it. They didn't check the immob at all. I am taking it back in tomorrow. So help me god I better not be paying anything tomorrow after they do their *********** job.



This is 99% battery or immob. wire... very very common problem

my opinion, it was your immob. wire .. Obviously they didnt change your battery cause you'd notice this... I reckon they fixed the immob. wire (5mins job) and then wrote all that garbage down to justify there $117....


OR they actually did do that stuff.. and got lucky that the car didnt play up for them.. in which case the problem will come back




mate fix this yourself... its so damn easy..

mate fix this yourself... its so damn easy..

If I could I would, but I don't have the tools and I just don't have the confidence to do it myself.

If I could I would, but I don't have the tools and I just don't have the confidence to do it myself.


fair call

well youve paid your money to fix that particular problem.. i cant see why they'd charge you anymore... tell them you heard about an immob. wire problem... under the steering column.. it might remind them of it...

I had the exact same issue. Start the car, and a sec later, I can hear a relay click behind the centre console (assume the ECU), and car would stall. If the REVs are high enough before the stall, it will catch itself again, but rarely happened.

I changed battery, and problem solved. Never happened again. Battery was just on its way out I guess, and got drained too much from the start, to keep the voltage level high enough to run the ECU.

ALso, my remote would loose its programming after few days after i reprogrrammed it. Was sooo annoying. But guessing the flat battery acts kinda like a reset on ECU, so it would loose the programming.

Anyways, good luck dude. I put my money on the battery or the immobiliser wire.

yeah could be battery aswell.

I just got back from taking it down to Len Patti Mitsu. I talked to the guy I originally talked to on Monday (He was the one who said it would likely be the battery or immob wire) yesterday arvo and he said to bring it in today so I did.

When I got there, I had a chat to him about it and after checking, he confirmed that neither the battery or the immob wire had been looked at. He told me he had no one to drive me to work while I waited. He asked if I wanted to bring it back in next week but I said no way because this should have been done on Wednesday when I first brought it in. So I said I would wait.

Just over an hour later I get a call saying that the immob wire had been soldered (I tested the battery 3 months ago when this first started and it was fine then and still is - that Mitsu guy checked it as well) so I walked back and they tried to charge me $52!

I said that I don't want to be an ass, but I want to negotiate that down because I lost 2 hours of work/money this morning having to do something that should have been done in the first place on Wednesday. They said that their Service Manager wasn't in at the moment and they took a phone number so I'll wait and see what he says when he calls me back.

The people at this particular dealer service department are not what they used to be!

the other problem that has these symptoms that no one has brought up yet is the idle sensor in the throttle body usually needs to be pulled out and given a good clean as it gets clogged up with the **** the throttle body gets.

very cheap and easy to do.

ive had 5 3rd gens now and never came accross the imob wire prob.

ive had 5 3rd gens now and never came accross the imob wire prob.

have you ever owned a 2000 is TJ? they seem to be the ones playing up all the time.............

have you ever owned a 2000 is TJ? they seem to be the ones playing up all the time.............


mines not doing it *Touch wood it dosen't*

I still haven't heard from the Service Manager. I am thinking he either decided to not worry about it, or he chickened out and I'll receive an Invoice in the mail. Tell you what, I better not get an Invoice in the mail. That will really piss me off.

Yeah had the same thing, shut down after startup.Mechanic said it was the stepper motor which would cost $500:shock: said yeah, lets save up for that one, 3 weeks later battery died, replaced problem solved-WHAT A PEANUT!!!!Makes me angry that u might trust your mech and crap like that happens