Topic: Outlander CV transmission flashing D

[Bulkley]

While driving home last week our 2014 Outlander went into "limp mode" and the D flashed on the control panel.  After shutting it off for five minutes and restarting it has run properly.  The Mitsubishi dealer in Kelowna ran diagnostics and no code came up.  The mechanic(s) manually tested the CV transmission components and could find nothing wrong.  They assume the transmission overheated.  They do have reports of this happening to Outlanders climbing  Coquihalla Pass.  The prescription is a transmission cooler which the warranty will pay for. 

Have any of you heard of this?  Do you agree with the diagnosis and the prescription?

[ArticSteve]

Yes and Yes

[EV-Light]

Yup! Fast lane trucks had a similar issue in a Honda Ridgeline during a medium size truck comparo...transmission overheated and it stayed behind.


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[Trainman]

While driving home last week our 2014 Outlander went into "limp mode" and the D flashed on the control panel.  After shutting it off for five minutes and restarting it has run properly.  The Mitsubishi dealer in Kelowna ran diagnostics and no code came up.  The mechanic(s) manually tested the CV transmission components and could find nothing wrong.  They assume the transmission overheated.  They do have reports of this happening to Outlanders climbing  Coquihalla Pass.  The prescription is a transmission cooler which the warranty will pay for. 

Have any of you heard of this?  Do you agree with the diagnosis and the prescription?

Some questions:
How long have you owned the Outlander?
Have you had it over the Coq in summer months?  If so, did it have problems then?  You would expect it to exhibit overheating symptoms in July or August before it does in late September, no?  Just seems weird it is doing this now; maybe there is a filter that needs cleaning?  Is there already a small cooler installed that needs cleaning?  I would question why now, and not in the heat of summer.  Living in Merritt for 18+ years and driving all phases of the Coq I know how hot it can get, especially the Brenda Mine hill.

As for the idea of a trannie cooler, sounds OK especially as it will be covered by warranty.  Make sure it is good for the remaining warranty period though.  A couple of caveats:
CVTs are finicky for fluid and contamination, so the install must be done very cleanly.  Sounds like you will be relying on the dealer for the install, hence my comment about long term warranty;
Some trannies don't take well to extra cooling.  My Pathfinder was an example; its trannie was known for overheating so I thought I would be proactive and install a cooler but when winter came it turned out it was too cool and I had to have it removed.  Even a winter front did not help enough.

[Bulkley]

Thanks for the replies.  We bought the Outlander at the end of January, second hand from a Honda dealer, 32,000 on the meter.  (We were in a bit of a hurry because our 2006 Forester blew an engine and repair costs would have been higher than the car was worth.)  Anyway, we have taken the Outlander over the Coq & Connector a couple of times since then, including one trip in August.  In September we took it up Mt. Revelstoke as far as the road allowed.  Having driven manual transmissions for most of my life I am inclined to downshift when going up or down steep hills.  So, with the Outlander I move the CVT control from D to Ds which appears to be equivalent to shifting a manual from 5th to 4th; engine revs go up. 

Last week, we drove up to Mt. Baldy ski area which is a steep climb, 10% in places according to the sign.   The car behaved perfectly doing that.  Afterward, there is a long trek home without much stress on the drive train.  It wasn't until we passed Penticton that the car went into limp mode.  I would have expected it to cool down by then. 

I know nothing about CVTs other than they look like they belong in snowmobiles.  I don't know why they have transmission fluid, what kind of fluid it is, why it would overheat, whether there is a filter, etc.   I don't know how often the CVT fluid should be replaced.  More importantly, I don't know whether the CVT has ever been serviced although total KM so far is only a few over 40,000 which doesn't seem like much for a transmission.   

[ArticSteve]

I know nothing about CVTs other than they look like they belong in snowmobiles.

The new CVTs are excellent.  Yours is an early design.  Overheating was common on it.


I don't know why they have transmission fluid, what kind of fluid it is, why it would overheat, whether there is a filter, etc.

Lubrication, it's not a rubber belt like a sled.    Fluid is $$$$.   Overheats because it's a p*ss poor design as many of the earlier one's were.  No filter.


   I don't know how often the CVT fluid should be replaced.  More importantly, I don't know whether the CVT has ever been serviced although total KM so far is only a few over 40,000 which doesn't seem like much for a transmission.   


Only servicing is drain and fill on the fluid.  Typically not done for 100K miles. 


Consider yourself fortunate that Mitsu has now come to terms with the CVT overheating issue and is supplying the cooler FREE.  Will it solve the issue?  Probably.  Will winter temps supply too much cooling like mentioned and wear the CVT out faster as mentioned

These are known UNKNOWNS.     Embrace the Mitsubishi experience. 

[Great_Big_Abyss]

Consider yourself fortunate that Mitsu has now come to terms with the CVT overheating issue and is supplying the cooler FREE.  Will it solve the issue?  Probably.  Will winter temps supply too much cooling like mentioned and wear the CVT out faster as mentioned

These are known UNKNOWNS.     Embrace the Mitsubishi experience.

At least it's under warranty for what, like 8 more years?  Kinda worry free if you ask me.

And yes, overheating.

Oh, and they have fluid not only to act as lubricant (and coolant), but because CVT's also have torque converters between them and the engine's flex plate.  Torque converters require fluid to run. 

[Bulkley]

Thanks for the explanations.  Searching the Net shows that it is not just Mitsubishi having problems with over-heating CVT's.  I came across a claim that some CVT's come from the factory with too much transmission fluid which can cause frothing.  Ouch.

Any idea why there was no fault code?

[ArticSteve]

Any idea why there was no fault code?


Common with older tech.  May never happen again. 

[Bulkley]

Any idea why there was no fault code?


Common with older tech.  May never happen again.

Older tech?  It's only two years old.  The service manager did say something about them checking for software updates.  I imagine them flashing an EPROM but I may be way off base. 

[ArticSteve]

Older tech?  It's only two years old.

2 model years.  But an old design.

It's gonna go two ways; the additional cooler will fix it and the vehicle will be problem free or the vehicle will be a continuous bag of problems which you will come to despise.

Keep us posted.

[Bulkley]

Keep us posted.

Yes, I will.  The work hasn't been done yet.  I checked with the dealer and he hasn't got all the parts yet.  I would have thought that the retrofit would come in a kit with all the parts but apparently not.  I'm not impressed. 

I'm not convinced that this wasn't a simple computer hiccup.  The problem has not returned.   

[Bulkley]

As of now the dealer still doesn't have all the parts or simply hasn't called to let me know.  A week ago I emailed Mitsubishi's Customer Service and had a follow up response but that was a week ago.  In the meantime the car has worked perfectly.  This weekend we drove to Vancouver and back over the mountains each way.  If climbing a mountain pass doesn't overheat the transmission I strongly doubt the diagnosis.   My suspicion is that no one in the Mitsubishi repair system takes responsibility for problems.  Everybody is doing his/her job but . . .   

 

[tooscoops]

bingo.

cvt's can be great... but from my brands experience with them, the ones that turn out to be headaches years down the road are ones that show little hiccups at lower kms...

good luck with it.

[Allen]

tooscoops. your brands experience with all transmissions is terrible 

[tooscoops]

haha! fair enough!

currently... it's the 9 speed... previous problematic one was the cvt i'd say... and that wasn't really problematic, more just not good in other ways. as i said though, a few people who had issues from the start for whatever reason, tended to be the ones with a failed tranny at 200000km.

going to the vans in the 90's to 2001... yeah... but that was also 15+ years ago to be fair!

[Bulkley]

The transmission cooler is installed.  It took four weeks!  Fortunately, Mitsubishi is paying for it including fresh transmission oil.  The car drove home without incident.  Time will tell if it solved anything. 

[ArticSteve]

Consider yourself very fortunate that they supplied one.

[Bulkley]

Consider yourself very fortunate that they supplied one.

Actually, one of the main selling points for the car is the ten year drive train warranty.  They are good about that.   

I guess where I come from is that I worked as a technician for a large company.  When I had to order parts I was expected to pay attention.  If I did not get them in two days (I was remote) I was on the phone.  The third day I escalated.   By the fifth day someone would be in a shop cannibalizing a machine in order to get me the parts in order to get a customer's machine up and running to spec.  Once I had a company car in a shop for a week waiting for parts.  My boss talked to someone high up in Ford and the parts were on the morning plane.  That's my beef; someone at the Mitsubishi dealership should have been escalating  the order for the parts.  All procedures break down.  Someone has to jump in and get results. 

[ArticSteve]

Nissan just took operational control of Mitsubishi Motors Inc.  Had that not occurred your 10 year warranty would not be.  Nor would Mitsubishi Canada.