Hello!
Firstly a great site you have going along here!

Well i posted this on another forum, but lets see if anyone here might have an idea into what it could be.
Another helpful member on another forum suggested that the tranny has a ECU which will protect it from doing stuff it may consider harmful, which sounds logical, but is there anything else also which could be causing this?

Well, basically I purchased my first car just over a month ago.
It's a 2006 Series 1 380 VRX, 5 Speed Auto. 90,000kms.
Im a strong believer of the manual transmission, but I wasn't able to find one in the same price range, kms etc, so along came this auto one, and bang, I snapped it up.

The car has been a pleasure to own and drive so far, and I am extremely happy with it!
It hasn't had a problem with it, until now.

So here we are, On a hot summers day (About a week ago), everything had been working perfectly the last time I drove the car. (I didnt have the transmition in sports at all on the way down town, so on the way back is when I first discovered it.)

After about 3 hours down town, I hop back into the car, Im driving along in Drive, before I decide to slide the gate across to the manual side. Although in the manual selection mode, the transmission still remains in drive, so i slide it back to Drive, and then back again to sports mode.
This time the transmission slips into manual mode. I then pull the leaver down, but it doesn't downshift, instead returns itself into drive. I try it again, this time with an upshift, it returns to drive. The transmission warning light (N) is not flashing, so there is no problem registering, or the transmission overheating.

I decide to pull over switch off the car. Leave it for 20 mins, and return. I start it up, slide it to the manual gate, this time it enters the sports mode. Here I am thinking the problem has sorted itself out.
I make an upshift, it works, I continue to do so, entering new gears. Then hitting about 90kms, I wish to change into 5th, I push the leaver, it enters Drive again, i slide it out of sports mode, then back in, it enters fine, i attempt to make a downshift, it enters to drive again, and I am unable to make upshifts, or downshifts anymore without the transmission returning itself back into drive.

So here I am, with a perfectly working transmission until I want to engage sports mode.
Im gentle with the transmission, and look after my car, as did the previous owner, so i'm attempting to disregard misuse.

Im thinking it could be something to do with the Electrics, something small causing this problem.
Or.
Overheating, due to it being a 40 Degree day, and many auto transmissions have been known for the old transmition failure, though I wasn't driving it much or neither hard.

The car is truly a great car and its a shame that this had to happen!

The cars still under warranty, so, I will be getting it checked out when i return from my holiday.
I know a bit about cars, but I do not want to do anything big-ish to it, just incase it is something small thats causing this.

Im thinking about disconnecting the battery, waiting the 30 mins, and letting the transmission reset. But prior to doing so, I was just wondering if anybody had an idea into what could be causing this problem, or anything that could be a help at all.

Thanks in advance,
Anthony.



Update:
Well i haven't had good access to the net, so i typed this out when the problem occurred, hoping to post it asap, but i was unable to due to something else coming up.
So as of a few days ago, it appears to work fine, but still, what may have caused this!

The most obvious thing would be to make sure of the condition and quality of your transmission oil. You are certainly due for a transmission service if one hasn't been done.. The biggest enemy of transmissions is of course heat ... anyway get to a mechanic have it looked at and go from there. Fingers crossed just a good service and away you go. Follow a regular service routine and most problems just don't happen.

Hmm, Yeah, Ill be getting it checked out by Mitsubishi when I am home from my holiday.
Hopefully it is something small, if not, lucky its still under warranty!
A few others have suggested it may be a problem with the shift leaver, but yeah, not too sure.
It has had regular servicing, with the last service done about a month ago.
Ill look into getting a trany cooler as well, just for the bit of extra care.

Thanks.

Others here have attested to the transmission becoming erratic with spirited driving due to heat so it may be heat related.

i think its a switching problem in the shifter. maybe a loose wire. But i have no idea as never worked on a 380... well ive done a muffler swap. nothing to do with tranny.

you would expect the tranny to be doing somthing else if there was a major problem.

Maybe disconnect the battery and do a reset?

Hmm Thanks for the tips guys, ill get it sorted out then ill let you all know what was up!

Thanks again.

Anthony.

what is the service history of the car, who was previous owner?

was it a car rental company? Avis?

Service history was perfect.
It belonged to a branch of the state government haha.