Loss of drive power [merged topic]

[stubbo66]

Has anyone else experienced a complete loss of power to the wheels while driving.

I was on a country A road, cruising along at about 50 and had to slow down for a sharpish bend to about 30, as I went round the bend and put my foot on the gas - nothing happened. The car just slowed down and rolled to a halt.

I was running in electric power at the time (still had about 8 miles left), and all electrical systems were still working, but no drive to the wheels.

I turned the car off, then back on again (got an amber engine warning light), tried to drive away but nothing happened.

Tried turning it off again for about 15 seconds, turned it back on and had a jolt (felt like something engaging) and then the car pulled away again and has been fine since.

Scary to think that could have happened anywhere. As it was I was on a blind bend but stopped far enough round the corner with my hazards on to give cars coming behind me enough warning.

I will talk to the dealer as soon as I get the chance, but it was definitely a WTF moment.

 

[jaapv]

Mostly the reason for this problem is that the driver or passenger has pushed the selector lever to neutral without noticing. It took me a couple of times to figure this out

 

[maby]

Has anyone else experienced a complete loss of power to the wheels while driving.

I was on a country A road, cruising along at about 50 and had to slow down for a sharpish bend to about 30, as I went round the bend and put my foot on the gas - nothing happened. The car just slowed down and rolled to a halt.

I was running in electric power at the time (still had about 8 miles left), and all electrical systems were still working, but no drive to the wheels.

I turned the car off, then back on again (got an amber engine warning light), tried to drive away but nothing happened.

Tried turning it off again for about 15 seconds, turned it back on and had a jolt (felt like something engaging) and then the car pulled away again and has been fine since.

Scary to think that could have happened anywhere. As it was I was on a blind bend but stopped far enough round the corner with my hazards on to give cars coming behind me enough warning.

I will talk to the dealer as soon as I get the chance, but it was definitely a WTF moment.

I seem to remember reading a report of something similar a few months ago, but it was not well documented and it was impossible to assess its truth or potential causes.

With respect to the inability to restart it, I suspect that you were too fast off the mark turning it back on again - I got into a similar situation recently (though the initial cause was finger trouble on my part) - if you power down and back up again within a second or two, it does seem to lock up with the engine check light on. I built up quite a queue of annoyed drivers behind me, trying to get it to reboot. In the end I powered down and was just about to get my phone out to call the AA when I decided to give it one more try - and it magically came up running! If you power down for any reason, give it ten or twenty seconds before booting it back up!

 

[jaapv]

I think your restarting diagnosis is spot-on - done it myself (as well)

 

[itserve]

Yes I have had the same problem three times. It is nonsense that you have 'knocked it ' into neutral, try it - cannot be done, you have to hold the lever over for several seconds. I still have my PHEV after 2 years as I have a five year lease (gx4hs). I would never touch mitsubishi again. Terrible customer service, no respect. My family were put in real danger on motorway and autobahn twice. Sudden loss of all drive power. No warning lights, nothing. No fault codes logged so in the dealer's eyes therefore no problem. What a joke. As for the PHEV being the death of diesel, no chance yet. Just leased a C4 Grand Picasso, gorgeous car and averaging 50mpg on long continental trips. The Outlander PHEV struggles to achieve 24 mpg on long road trips, absolutely useless. Ours will be used as a local runabout for the remaining three years of lease only.

 

[greendwarf]

Ours will be used as a local runabout for the remaining three years of lease only.

Which is what it is designed for

 

[itserve]

Haha! Yes of course it was. All £40,000 pounds worth of it. You plonker.

 

[jaapv]

Yes I have had the same problem three times. It is nonsense that you have 'knocked it ' into neutral, try it - cannot be done, you have to hold the lever over for several seconds. I still have my PHEV after 2 years as I have a five year lease (gx4hs). I would never touch mitsubishi again. Terrible customer service, no respect. My family were put in real danger on motorway and autobahn twice. Sudden loss of all drive power. No warning lights, nothing. No fault codes logged so in the dealer's eyes therefore no problem. What a joke. As for the PHEV being the death of diesel, no chance yet. Just leased a C4 Grand Picasso, gorgeous car and averaging 50mpg on long continental trips. The Outlander PHEV struggles to achieve 24 mpg on long road trips, absolutely useless. Ours will be used as a local runabout for the remaining three years of lease only.

Cannot be done? I've done it a few times by resting my leg against it without noticing. Additonally: Try switching to reverse at speed, it will go into neutral immediately.

 

[gwatpe]

The PHEV has a lot of complex interactive ECU, BCU etc and it is indeed possible that glitches in operations will occur. The forum is littered with glitch occurrences affecting driving, with unexplained causes.

I do accept that a driver either deliberately or not moving the drive joystick can cause loss of drive. Particularly in a LHD vehicle. My first PHEV had loss of drive on several occasions. Had no visual indicator of R, N, or D, so I know that the joystick was not operated to select the loss of drive. Instead of pointing the finger at the driver, it maybe better to accept that glitches can be a reason and focus attention on MMC to at least eliminate possible causes.

 

[jaapv]

Correct. And first eliminate the most likely and easiest corrected cause, i.e. pilot error... After that one must look further. Immediately assuming that the car has a fault can cause multiple fruitless trips to the dealer.

 

[LondonLass]

Mostly the reason for this problem is that the driver or passenger has pushed the selector lever to neutral without noticing. It took me a couple of times to figure this out

My daughter's done this to me several times, teenagers don't seem able to sit straight these days ...

 

[jaapv]

On LHD cars it is the driver who does it

 

[maddogsetc]

Hi Folks, first time I've visited her for a year or so, so forgive me if this is a commonly discussed topic. Looking for anyone who may have had any similar experiences. Or if you can point me towards previous threads to save me searching and searching (not an easy topic to find a good keyword for).

I have one of the first PHEV's imported into the UK - a GX4H.

I use cruise all the time on motorways and dual carriageways. Last weekend I had an alarming incident - whilst travelling in cruise at around 70mph, with plenty of battery and fuel, the car unexpectedly disengaged cruise and began to slow. I thought I'd maybe hit the cancel or cruise button accidentally so pressed speed up to re-engage. Nothing. As the car is slowing now on a busy dual carriageway I pressed the accelerator but there was no response at all, if anything the rate of deceleration increased. As it happened quickly I can't recalled if the dash was still showing cruise set or not but the green cruise indicator was on and pressing the cruise button once and then repeatedly failed to clear it. With no drive at all and an uphill incline I had no choice but to pull over onto the grass verge (no hard shoulder at this point - not nice at all!). Fortunately, switching off and back on again restored drive and I've had nothing else occur since. But I am now very wary of using cruise control at all.

So, the car went into the local dealer today and after an hour and a half they told me that no faults were logged, they'd checked all the wiring etc and could find no sign of any problems. To add insult to injury they tried to charge me for their time to investigate because apparently Mitsubishi will not pay for investigations if no fault is found! Needless to say I was not happy.

Anyone had any similar experiences? Dealer tells me they will send a TSR to Mitsubishi in case any similar issues have been reported, but it would be helpful if I am forearmed with any supporting evidence if this turns into a fight.

 

[jdsx]

Hi maddogsetc. Nice to see you again! Sorry to hear about this. Maybe check this recent thread http://www.myoutlanderphev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2186

 

[maddogsetc]

Thanks jdsx - I vaguely remember seeing this post now (maybe I just haven't actually posted anything for a year or so). It's a very good point and having a gangly 6 foot 15 year old in the car at the time cannot be discounted. Does it explain the inability to cancel cruise I wonder? At least it's something I can safely try out on a quiet stretch of dual carriageway at some point.

 

[Acm]

Same thing happened to me on way to airport 10 days ago.

Car was checked out on our return from holiday but no fault found.

Mitsubishi uk must be getting a steady stream of these given the number of reports on this website ( only a handful but there must be others)

If it happens again the cars going back and being kept until the fault is found

Ps not cruise control related in my case

 

[simonrh]

We had this the other day but it turned out my wife had had knocked the shifter while turning round to talk to our daughter sitting in the back.

 

[Carnut]

Yes I have had the same problem three times. It is nonsense that you have 'knocked it ' into neutral, try it - cannot be done, you have to hold the lever over for several seconds. I still have my PHEV after 2 years as I have a five year lease (gx4hs). I would never touch mitsubishi again. Terrible customer service, no respect. My family were put in real danger on motorway and autobahn twice. Sudden loss of all drive power. No warning lights, nothing. No fault codes logged so in the dealer's eyes therefore no problem. What a joke. As for the PHEV being the death of diesel, no chance yet. Just leased a C4 Grand Picasso, gorgeous car and averaging 50mpg on long continental trips. The Outlander PHEV struggles to achieve 24 mpg on long road trips, absolutely useless. Ours will be used as a local runabout for the remaining three years of lease only.

Cannot be done? I've done it a few times by resting my leg against it without noticing. Additonally: Try switching to reverse at speed, it will go into neutral immediately.

Only on a LHD. RHD you have to pull the lever towards you!
Thank God I have not experienced complete loss of power S C A R Y !
But I have experienced the shut down quick restart~ no go syndrome 3 times. as has been said, you have to wait a few seconds before powering up again

 

[Carnut]

See my comments here.
http://www.myoutlanderphev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2186.
Very scary.
I shall have to keep looking back to see if there is ever an answer to this.

 

[jaapv]

We had this the other day but it turned out my wife had had knocked the shifter while turning round to talk to our daughter sitting in the back.

The most common cause. I am sure Mitsubishi knows this and is not overly concerned.