MITSUBISHI DEADLY???

johnbiff

I RECENTLY PURCHASED A 200O MITSUBISHI ECLLIPSE THAT SEEMS TO BE POSESSED. WITHOUT TOUCHING THE ACCELLORATOR THE CAR HAS ON NUMEROUS OCCASSIONS ACCELLORATED ON ITS OWN NOT SLIGHTLY BUT VIOLENTLY. I WONDER IF ANYONE ELSE HAS EXPERIENCED THIS? THE DEALER HAS CHECKED IT OUT AND TOLD ME THEY COULDN'T FIND ANYTHING WRONG. IT HAS HAPPEND INTERMITTENLY SINCE 1999. I WOULD LIKE TO GET RID OF THE CAR BUT DON'T WANT TO SELL IT TO SOMEONE AND HAVE THEM NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS POTENTIALLY DEADLY SITUATION. IT SEEMS AS THOUGH IT'S SIMILAR TO THE AUDI SITUATION YEARS AGO. I JUST HOPE I CAN RESOLVE THE PROBLEM WITH NO INJURIES. ANY SUGGESTIONS???

Mr_Shiftright

I firmly believe the "Audi problem" was driver error, and I'm personally not convinced that it's possible for a car to accelerate violently without the gas pedal (throttle linkage) being pushed by a human foot or by SOMETHING pushing it.

But I'd certainly listen to well thought-out theories about this. The problem is that without AIR (opening the throttle), how could the engine accelerate by itself? If you just poured more gas in there, the car would obviously stall.

Possibly I could see some type of "drive by wire" system going haywire, (which I don't believe this car has), but still a throttle has to be opened electronically. No air, no mixture, no go.

And all throttles are designed to default to CLOSED if some spring or whatever is defective.

What I HAVE seen is the spring fall off the throttle, so that the throttle can be opened VERY quickly without much pressure...but even in this case, it would hang open, and the missing spring would be quite obvious. It woudn't then "fix" itself and re-attach.

Quite a mystery you got there John.

lokki

A motor mount broke and when you accelerated the engine would lean to the right from the torque, opening the throttle as the engine leaned away from the throttle cable going to the pedal. It was quite exciting.

However.... I very quickly learned that you can always turn off the key.

GM later did a recall on those engine mounts.

div2

Mitsubishi Deadly? Ah, yes- one of the first Japanese punk bands. Saw them live at Osaka in 1983. They were on a double bill with Samurai Abscess.

Mr_Shiftright

Oh, yes! That WAS a rather deadly defect in some GM cars....not only would the motor mount break, opening the throttle (tugging on the throttle linkeage----see? It provided AIR), but the power brake hose would pull off--hence no brakes AND...(oh, I love this), the engine would fall on the steering arms, jamming them!

So there you are...full throttle, no brakes, no steering. It was the best defect I ever heard of. I am in AWE!

The fix? A steel clamp around the motor mount to hold the engine in place.

hicaira

..sniff..they just don't make defects like they used to...sniff

HiC

adc100

Never heard of the problem, guess I was living right. Maybe my 307 didn't have enough torque to fail the mounts. That's a classic!!! Thanks for sharing!!

Al

Mr_Shiftright

I think it was only 283s and 327s from the early 60s.

yeah, it was the best defect ever I think. You couldn't think of a better one even if you were trying to assassinate someone.

alcan

The broken left engine mount/stuck throttle was mainly an issue with earlier carlines with solid rod throttle linkage. GM changed to cable linkage in '66 or '67. Had a mount break and stick at WOT on a '65 tri-power GTO back when I was an apprentice. Major Omigawd factor until I got to the ignition switch.