29th Jan 2001, 15:10

What do you expect, to own a car and never have to maintain it? I have a 1990 with 122,000 kms on it, and it runs beautifully, and I drive it like it was meant to be driven. I have it serviced EVERY three months. It's called regular maintenance.

9th Feb 2001, 13:20

That car may be made in Illinois, but it is definitely Japanese. As far as the turbo going out, read the manual. General rule: the higher performance the vehicle, the more problems to expect. Not always, but a good rule to think about when buying a car.

9th Feb 2001, 21:34

I've got 100k on my Talon Tsi and thanks to regular maintenance it looks, drives and feels like a brand new car.

I guess you get out of a car what you put in it.

25th Jun 2001, 19:33

The only real problem I've had with mine is the horn, and the sunroof needs a little encouragement to close. Other than that I've got my valves adjusted and that's it.

Love the car, wouldn't trade it for anything except maybe a 99' GSX.

4th Jul 2001, 14:39

It's Japanese except for the name.

12th Aug 2001, 12:51

It sounds to me like you need to find a mechanic that knows what he is doing. If the horn has been fixed twice, the person at fault is the mechanic. He must have not put it together right. There was no recall on that part buddy.

The paint will fade if you keep it out in the sun. That is the only reason I can think of for that happening. Maybe put it in a garage or a covered area?

I guess if an "idiot" keyed it, then that counts as something wrong with the car.

Finally a good move by fixing the door handle and hoses yourself.

The turbo "breaking" sounds like a legit problem.

As far as the alignment problem goes, if alignments don't help, then what are you supposed to do? Snap your fingers and it will fix itself? It is true that you need to take care of a car to have it run well.

25th Oct 2001, 16:07

If you have fixed the alignment numerous times it's probably not the alignment. Check your control arms or something.

12th Nov 2001, 08:45

OK, the problem is, you don't know how to take car of a car.

<<So damn much it isn't funny. Lets start with the horn. I have had it replaced twice. It still is iffy when I press it. I have almost been hit 200 times and no horn to honk at other idiots. >>

If you have nearly been hit 200 times, obviously, you need to learn to drive better.

<<The paint faded on the hood after 3 months of owning it. I got it repainted then some idiot keyed it. >>

Paint does need to be washed and waxed occasionally. Someone keying the car really isn't related to how the car was made, or the dependability of it.

<<Door handle fell off in my hand. Forget the mechanics, I fixed it myself. Hoses fell off, I fixed them myself.>>

Again, routine maintenance is required.

<<Turbo broke at 15,000 miles.>>

Do you realize that with a turbo car you are supposed to let it idle for a while before you turn it off. The turbo gets very hot and needs to be able to cool down. Otherwise it will "break".

<<Car won't drive straight since I have owned it from new. Alignments don't help!!!>>

This is called torque steer. Any front wheel drive car that uses an open differential and has substantial power/torque will do this. This is not a manufacturer problem, but a physics problem. Post that you don't like the laws of physics instead.

<<Stock radio broke 3 times. Piece of carp.>>

No, the radio is not a fish (carp). I am guessing you mean "crap", but you probably just locked to radio out all 3 times (probably didn't know that the radio will get locked out and require a code to unlock it. we call this a theft-deterrent).

<<Damn I am so happy they stopped making this car. I swear I will only buy Japanese cars for the rest of my life. The Japanese seem to know a hell of a lot more and care more than the US losers that build cars. >>

This is just an idiotic statement. All cars are made by so many different parts from so many different companies that import/domestic doesn't matter. What matters is the type of car that management wants to make.

<<2 tune ups so far with only 63,000 miles and they ran over $2000.00 for both. >>

Your fault you paid that much, not the car's. I have had about 4 tune ups, 1 with the timing belt changed (and all related parts) and I haven't even paid $700 total.

18th Jan 2002, 19:06

I have a question. Do you know where the horn is located? I'm fairly knowledgeable about cars and I know it's under the hood on a fender, or in front of the radiator or something, but I can't find this horn for the life of me. I usually buy a Chilton for each of my cars, but this one I haven't gotten around to yet. Looks like I'll have to get one soon eh!

Please email any help to tacobell98@hotmail.com

28th Jan 2002, 19:03

I HAVE THIS PROBLEM, CAN ANYONE HELP ME, I DID NOT TYPE THIS, BUT I FOUND THIS AND THIS IS MY EXACT PROBLEM, IF ANYONE CAN EMAIL ME at IMPORTRACER20@aol.com, you don't know how much you will be helping me...

***This is likely the infamous 'hot start' problem. This question pops up every year in the springtime, when many DSMs 'suddenly' exhibit this problem.

Perhaps better named as a 'warm start' problem, this difficulty often surfaces after a car has been driven, then parked for a relatively short period of time. Upon restart, the warm engine (not fully cooled down from the previous drive) appears reluctant to crank over. When it does catch, idle is often in the 300-500 RPM range, with engine shaking, sputtering, reluctance to rev up, and sometimes stalling. Holding the accelerator down until the engine smooths out often 'solves' the problem, but sometimes the engine will not rev up at all. Often the problem will correct itself with no intervention by the driver.

Please note that an inability to crank over or failure to actually start the engine are not related to the 'hot start' problem. The problem referred to by that name relates only to bad idling after starting.

This problem appears to pop up on every year of DSM if the conditions are right. Dealerships are often completely unable to diagnose or even replicate the problem.

First diagnosed in the 1990 year, Mitsubishi developed a 'kludge box' - an add-on ECU modification - designed to fix the problem, and released TSBs #18-08-91 and 18-55-91 describing it. Other model years have no such box available, nor are there any TSBs. Since TSBs are not warranties, 1990 owners may still be out of luck. There are no reports that the kludge box was effective anyway, but at least 1990 owners have a definite 'fix' to try out.

Later 1G owners have reported a bewildering array of 'fixes' to this problem. Owners have reported hot start problems that they have attributed to many different components. Fortunately, Jim McKenna put together a nice Hot Start FAQ that should help you diagnose the problem. However, since the problem can arise from a large number of component failures, you may end up systematically going through your engine to find the problem component.

2G cars also have this problem, which is puzzling since they are largely different from their 1G counterparts. There has been speculation that there is some kind of flaw or design error in the 2G engine or ECU software that allows this problem to occur. In other cases, the ECUs were able to flag a specific error that helped the owners track down the errant sensor that was causing the difficulty. In any case, the fixes described in the Hot Start FAQ may still help out 2G owners.

Other fixes include changing thermostats, switching brands of gas, and general fuel and ignition systems troubleshooting.

27th Apr 2003, 20:48

At first I thought I had the hot start problem, but now I don't think so. About a month ago after my car (90 eagle talon AWD turbo) started acting up. After I had warmed it up and driven it when I went to start it again it wouldn't start. It's not that the engine isn't turning over it's just not starting. It's getting fuel and spark so I am really confused to what it may be. I have tried everything fuel pump, fuel pressure regulator, air flow meter, fuel injectors. The last thing on my list is new spark plug leads. Hopefully it will do the trick!!! If you've ever heard of this please post an answer.