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 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.

Any diesel engine can be a bit noisy; that’s just the way they work. But if a new noise has surfaced, then something has definitely changed under the bonnet. First thoughts would be a hydraulic lash adjuster (also known as a lifter) that is failing and making the noise.

These lash adjusters maintain the correct valve clearance (which otherwise alters as the engine heats up and cools down) but one that fails will allow the valve clearance to grow, at which point you get a ticking noise at the top of the engine as the valve and lifter collide.

If this is the case, you’ll need to replace the offending lifter and best practise suggests you replace all of them at the same time as one failed one suggests they’re probably all worn. But it’s also important to make sure it really is a dud lifter you’re dealing with. A diesel engine has lots of potential sources for such a noise, so make sure you rule out a worn fuel pump or any other mechanical problem before ripping the lifters out.

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.

By which, I assume you mean that the level on the engine-oil dipstick is rising, rather than falling slowly with time and kilometres. This is actually a bit more common than you might think and affects modern turbo-diesel vehicles with DPF filters.

In a nutshell, what’s happening is the vehicle is trying to 'burn-off' or clean its DPF filter. But in many cases, the engine and exhaust system never get hot enough for this to occur, so the computer instructs the fuel injection to squirt some extra fuel into the engine to get everything hot enough for a DPF burn. Inevitably, some of this extra fuel gets past the piston rings, into the engine oil and there you have the increase on the dipstick.

The problem is that this fuel actually dilutes the lubricating oil and suddenly, your engine is not getting all the protection it needs from the oil. The whole situation is a result of the engine not reaching a high enough temperature in everyday use, so the best advice is to make sure you take the ute for a 30 or 40 minute drive at highways speeds at least a couple of times a month. That will allow the DPF to burn off properly and you shouldn’t have the problem recurring.

For now, though, an oil change is good insurance against that oil dilution. And keep an eye on the level on the dipstick for future reference.

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.

Unless your engine is overheating very quickly and then miraculously cooling instantly, I’d say there’s a problem with either the temperature gauge itself or the sender/sensor unit that controls it.

An auto electrician will be able to test the gauge and its sensor and tell you what’s happening. Scanning the vehicle electronically might also reveal the cause as the onboard computer may have logged this odd reading as a fault code.