hi guys this is my first time on this forum! To think I've never discovered this place before after owning a mitsubishi 1.8 automatic gdi 02 model for 2 years!

bought my car for 6200 quid in jan 2003...the car came with 6000 miles but i've now driven it to about 15000. the car has been serviced twice but has missed the one last yr b'cos it's the warranty will expire anyway...

recently i've found a prob with my vehicle -- if i start my car from cold the engine will go to 2krpm (used to be 1.5krpm) and gradually drop down to below 1000, but if i put my gear to anything other than P or N before it go down below 1000 the engine will stall. i know this to be abnormal but can't figure out what i should be looking at...

also i suspect that the car's fuel comsumption is climbing, and the fuel gauges (both electronic one and the one on the dashboard) are out of sync...any ideas how to fix these?

sorry to ask so much in one go but hope some kind soul will enlighten me... :)

Well, you could start by watching your engine temperature. When your car starts, it is in what's called "open-loop". That means your engine is dumping more fuel into your engine than normal so that it can heat up your car quicker. Once heated up, it goes into "closed-loop" and your engine is back to normal. During the open-loop, your RPM's will be higher, your redline lower, and your temp starts rising.

With that explained, there are a few possibilities. Your coolant temp sensor could be out of whack. If that happens, your car never sees closed-loop and continuously floods the engine with fuel. Also, your O2 sensor, post-cat, might be messed up and is telling your computer that your engine needs more fuel. Third, you could have leaking valves that are causing your engine to flood.

This is something you want to have checked out, because it could cause more problems than you think.