Mitsubishi Problems

Most factory roof bar systems are only designed for light duty stuff and will have a maximum capacity of between about 50kg and 100kg. So, by the time you add your 75kg tent plus whatever humans are going to be sleeping in it, you’d be way over the limit and in real danger of collapsing the whole deal onto the car’s roof panel.

Most people who fit roof-top tents or use that real estate to store things like spare tyres, fuel cans and camping gear, opt for an aftermarket roof-rack system which is much better able to cope with higher loads. Try a four-wheel-drive accessories store in the first instance and remember that to make a roof-top tent as safe as possible, you’ll also need to find a ladder that fits the car properly to get in and out safely.

The good news is the Challenger was and is a popular choice for campers, so you should be able to find what you need on the aftermarket.

There are a lot of possibilities here. Either there’s a problem with the actual shifter for the transfer-case (that selects two or four-wheel-drive) or there might be something amiss inside the transfer-case itself. But before you try anything else, make sure that the transmission is in Neutral. Many vehicles will not shift into or out of four-wheel-drive while the transmission is in Drive or Reverse. So stick it in Neutral and see what happens.

From memory, the 4WD selector in your ute is a mechanical lever, not one of those newer rotary knobs. So at least you won’t be trying to overcome an electronic selection problem that occurs in these later versions.

This is a very common problem for owners of modern turbo-diesel cars who only do short, stop-start runs in city or suburban traffic. When the engine and exhaust can’t get hot enough for a DPF burn-off, the computer dumps extra fuel into the engine to get everything hot. If some of this excess fuel gets into the engine’s sump, it can force the level of the sump to rise, leading to the warning light you’ve just seen.

In the worst-case scenario, this fuel in the sump will dilute the lubricating oil and that can lead to a damaged engine. But as you’ve found, even if that isn’t the case, there’s still a price to pay to manually force the DPF to burn off as well as change the oil for fresh, undiluted stuff.

The solution is to make sure you drive the car for at least half an hour at freeway speeds once or twice a month. That will get things hot enough for a complete DPF burn and will keep you out of the workshop. Mind you, making this sort of effort might cost you more than the fuel savings you gain from owning a diesel car. This is just one reason a modern turbo-diesel is not ideal for every consumer.

This is not necessarily a problem, but rather a characteristic of modern, multi-ratio transmissions. They can give the impression that they’re constantly searching for the right gear for the conditions, and it’s worse in hilly country or if you’re towing something. By constantly trying to be in as high a gear as possible, the engine will theoretically use less fuel.

Probably the real question is why a computer-controlled turbo-diesel engine needs an eight-speed transmission in the first place. The answer is that it’s all to do with recording a better fuel consumption number than your opposition on the official test. Sometimes, the vehicle has more gears than it can actually use in Australia. Our 110km/h freeway speed limit meant that early examples of the Toyota LandCruiser 200 Series (which had `just’ six gears) wouldn’t shift into top gear. That’s because the factory calibration told the transmission it could only use sixth gear at speeds of more than 115km/h. Which, just wasn’t happening for the vast majority of 200 Series owners in this country. A reflash for the computer fixed the problem, allowing the Cruiser to select top gear at closer to 90km/h, but it’s a great example of where transmission tech is heading.

Mechanically, there’s virtually nothing to separate these two versions of what is essentially the same car. Both have the same power and torque and the transmission is the same CVT. The only real difference that could make the GSR feel a bit frisker than your Exceed is that the former is about 40kg lighter.

Perhaps it’s your perception that is the difference here. The Exceed is the more expensive variant so perhaps it has a little more sound deadening on board. That would help explain the extra mass but could also be making the vehicle sound a little more muted and, therefore, less perky. Don’t rule out the spectre of manufacturing tolerances, either. It’s far less common (and marked) these days, but it remains that some cars are just a bit more powerful than the car that came down the same production line either side of them.

Ultimately, even higher tyre pressures can have an effect on acceleration, but if you can detect these small differences, you are indeed a very sensitive driver.

This light is designed to warn you that you have the centre differential locked. This diff lock should only be used off-road in limited-grip situations and having the lock engaged on the bitumen will soon break expensive driveline parts. You’d also notice if the diff was engaged as the car would feel very odd to drive with lots of clunks and groans and no desire to be steered normally.

What’s more likely is that the light itself or the sensor that triggers it has a short-circuit that is feeding the wrong information to the body computer which then lights up the warning. By shutting the engine down and restarting it, you’re effectively rebooting the body computer and things go back to normal for a while. An auto electrician would be our first stop.

If by some chance the light is illuminating because the diff lock is, indeed, attempting to chime in, you have a more serious problem as the driveline might well suffer huge damage if the lock managed to actually engage on the highway.

The rules in QLD are based around pre- and post-2010 vehicles. Since the car you’re looking at is a post-2010 model, for it to be legal for a P-plate driver under the age of 25, the vehicle can not have eight or more cylinders, have a power-to-weight ratio of greater than 130kW per tonne or have a modified engine that would otherwise need to be inspected and certified by the authorities.

Fundamentally, this means that most Lancers should be fine while turbocharged variants such as Ralliart and Evo models are not legal for P-Platers to drive. However, many state governments are continually refining these rules, ruling cars in and out. So check with the authorities before handing over money for a car you may not be allowed to drive.

First things first. Your daughter’s car came with a five-year warranty. That warranty will have started when the car was first registered. So job one is to see if it’s still within that five-year/100,000km window and, if it is, make this Mitsubishi’s problem. Even if the car is slightly out of warranty, if it’s been serviced properly, you might find Mitsubishi will meet you part-way with the cost of repairs.

Beyond that, the touch-screen function has either failed or the unit has experienced a moment of electronic confusion. See if there’s a reset function for the head unit and if there is, perform the reset and see if it comes back to life. The other thing to try would be to disconnect the car’s battery for at least ten minutes and see if the screen recovers when you reconnect the battery.

The first question many mechanics will ask you is when was the last time the car’s fuel pump was changed. Electric fuel pumps have a finite lifespan and if yours is the original one that came with the car in 1996, I’d say it’s well and truly past its use-by date. Even if the car is on its second or even third pump, it could well be due for a new one. Without a working fuel pump, you’ll get the exact symptoms you’re experiencing.

The best way to check (if you’re reasonably competent with tools) is to remove the engine’s air intake trunking and spray a small amount of starting fluid into the engine. If the engine then cranks and tries to splutter to life, even briefly, then a dud fuel pump is pretty much a certainty.

That said, there are literally hundreds of things that will also produce the same problem, so a scan of the vehicle might throw up a few clues as to what’s going on.

The fact that all these features have gone AWOL all at once suggests the display unit itself might be the problem. That, or perhaps a fuse that controls the circuit the display draws its power from. If it was one function on its own, then you’d suspect a sensor for that system might be the problem, but when they all disappear at once, the digital readout unit would be the place to start checking.

However, don’t forget that your car has a five-year factory warranty, and this is most definitely a problem that – on the surface – appears as though it would be covered by the Mitsubishi warranty. Even if you bought the vehicle second-hand, provided the car has been serviced correctly, the warranty should still apply regardless of how many times the car changes hands.

You could try for a computer reset by disconnecting the battery overnight, but make this Mitsubishi’s problem, not yours.