Hi all,

I am new to this forum and hope to be a member for some time :)

I am planning to swtich from my Mondeo ST24 to a Galant V6. I have found 2001 Model for under £3K that has done 72K miles on the clock. Its looks amazing in dark bluw mettalic with wooden trim etc, but after reading a lot of reviews I am bit worried about the Automatic Transmission. The vehicle belongs to a private seller and calims to have full Mitsubushi Service History.

I would appreciate if anyone here could please help me with the following queries

1. Should I be worried about the Auto Tran on this model?
2. The spec says the vehicle is AC+LPS. LPS??
3. What sort of mileage can I expect from this engine?
4. What sort of MPG doesn this engine give?

Thanks in advnace for the help.

Cheers
MTZ

Hi, I own a 2001 automatic model, which had 98K km (60K mi), currently has 110K km. The car had a full service history, having been owned by Coca Cola NZ. Just after buying the car, I asked a few people, including a friend who's an ex-Mitsi mechanic, two other mechanics, then the AA Technical helpline fellow. Their opinions:

1. My ex-Mitsi mechanic friend: "Ask any of the mechanics at work, and that's the Mitsubishi they'd love to own".

2. Two mechanics at a garage, who were also ex-Mitsi: "What sort of Galant? NZ or Jap used import?" (Me) "NZ". "The 4 or the 6 (cylinder)?" (Me) "The 6." "Good cars. Nothing goes wrong with them. You might want to keep it until about 160,000 km, 'cause the little things start giving problems, but otherwise fine."

3. AA Techline fellow: "I actually just sold mine, had it for 4 years, never gave me a headache."

What was the issue you have heard about the automatic gearbox? I've got the 4-speed "tiptronic" one. Factory says replace fluid at 100,000 km, which I did -- because of the gunk, the mechanic left the fluid there and added a transmission flush of some sort, and I ran it for a while, then he drained it and serviced the tranny fully. My friend the ex-Mitsi guy personally wouldn't let the fluid last 100K km, he'd do it 3 years/40K km, just to err on the side of caution.

He's got a 4-cylinder 2002 Galant 2.0i-16 wagon with the tiptronic gearbox too.

I've seen V6 Galants here in NZ with more than 230,000 km.

Mileage? This is surprising, but it uses LESS fuel than my previous '96 Audi A4 1.8 20v automatic. The Audi used to consistently get about 8-8.5 km/L (22-24 UK MPG/19-20 US MPG) with my most ly city run; the Galant shocked me by consistently getting 9-10 km/L (25-28 UK MPG/21-23 US MPG). This is considering that the Galant weighs about as much as the Audi. I thought that having 6 cylinders meant I had to be very careful with the gas pedal.

If you're coming from a Mondeo ST24, well, you'll need to adjust -- the ST24 is really like having a BMW. Its suspension and steering feel inspire much more sportier driving. It's superb on the road. That's the one thing I miss about my Audi -- the steering. While the Galant is pretty good compared to the typical Japanese family car, and the car is pretty quiet, its engine is not exactly "ready to pounce" like an Alfa. The car is really a cruiser, rather than a sportscar. The Galant is similar to the Audi A4 2.6 in engine and transmission feel -- confident, but not brash, quiet, smooth, but not particularly aggressive. Perhaps that's why both cars (the Galant 2.5 and the A4 2.6) both have pretty good fuel consumptions relative to their engine size. Incidentally, both have similar power too -- the Galant just has over 160 bhp, the A4 2.6 has about the same.

Hope this was of some help, but I am interested in that gearbox issue.

Hi

Thanks a lot for your reply. Helped a lot..

I am actually atuck in the middle of choosing a Mazda Xedos6/9 and a Galant 2.5 V6.

But after reading the reviews on all these cars..

Xedos6 (2.0 V6) : Autobox failure reported, but engine is brilliant and good MPG
Xedos9 (2.3 Miller Supercharged): Reliable but have to make sure the supercharger is 1st class else its a major cost

Galant (2.5 V6) : What I read was the car is bit noisy at 70MpH and the AUTO Box fails for no specific reason. This is what I wanted to confirm. I dunno if this failure is on the older models and are not a problem on the newer ones.

Well thanks again for your help and please give me your thoughts on the above failure/Cars

Cheers
MTZ

warning: LONG, contains moaning and bitterness

I would give the Mitsu a swerve. Here's why:

I bought a 36k mile 1999 Galant V6 24v auto from Mitsu dealer on their red zebra used-approved scheme - full main dealer history (that dealer), 2 owners, 12 month warrenty etc etc You could not reasonably take better precautions against buying a lemon.

After 10 months, the auto box failed without warning in the fast lane of the M2 at 50k miles. Straight into neutral. The dealer didn't pretend to be surprised. Re-con box fitted under warrenty.
Everything else about the car was fine. A dull, slightly wallowy ride, but the V6 sounds great past 3000rpm; very comfy inside, elec everything; bit different, 400miles in the tank, more with high-octane; brakes a bit soft; wind noise up to 80mph, but it then either disappears or you stop noticing it; always starts, never overheats, aircon. A good 12yards of car if you munch motorways. Some of its lines are lovely, and the boot's huge.

Main dealer servicing not cheap, with Mitsu operating a replace not repair policy at the design stage eg at 60K an occasional knocking in the brake pedal was diagnosed as a rusted out (!!) ABS part, which required the replacement of the WHOLE front-left AXLE. With my old mercs you could have bought the bit for 20 sheets.
To replace the spark plugs you have to drop the manifold etc. From what I've read elsewhere they seem a bit more intolerant of non-spec DIY servicing than less complex cars - but I could be imagining that.

Because of the auto box, I immediately extended the warranty by three years for about £500. A recon box fitted main dealer is around two grand. I'd sell the car, but it obviously dropped half of its value as soon as I drove it off the forecourt.
No probs since, but then there were no probs at all right up to the moment when it failed last time.
I'll run the car until the warrenty expires, then pray someone nicks it.

The runing costs aren't crippling - I've done 35K or so in 20 months - with MD servicing every 9k costing £200, £400 then £600 or so for the 'timing chain' service; still has the tires I bought it with.

BUT BUT BUT
For the same money I could have bought something like an early 1990s merc 300CE, pillarless coupe, ultra luxury spec, with about 100k on the clock, good for another 150, and had several thousand to spare in the first year to pay for any nasty surprises, renew bits of suspension etc. Could have changed the spark plugs myself too. Same petrol, insurance, performance, reliability, but a million miles more class - and I've never heard of a Merc auto box failing with absolutely no prior warning.

good luck

Ddespite being a full Automotive tech i guess frum wut market yu say im an Import Tech. Here in thailand the terrain is rugged and most cars ar manual. I hab a brother that has as well as meeh serviced may Mitsubishi auto's. He first had a 93 Mitsubishi Lancer GS-R wiff auto transmission and has never had a problem in this whole period. The car passed him and then me and then my youngest brother. The car is still rolling strong after 523,874 miles , honestlly. If yu service them right it will last a long tyime. The car honestlly has been in 3 front end collisions 1 him and 2 me. But engine and transmission still strong after all that. he has a 4G93 DOCH 1.8 4cy and the onlee major thing that went out was his water pump after the 1st year of him havin the car but nothin else after that. If yu keep a mitgsubishi servicesed right they last forever honestlly. honestlly i think the transmissions are really are rerliable if serviced right. Buy the car if yu like it but ....Do test drive and do not be afraid to drive hard on the test drive. Like Toyota's , Mitsubishi's have very prompt and precice shifts and if they do not feel , "solid" and on the button the car has probbly not been taken care of that well and do not buy it. This is hao to tell, Ecellerate semi hard on the car , and slowlly start releasing sorta fast . The first shift should not be soft but prompt , and the 2 shifts after very well times but also well controlled , not a "slipping
" of mushy feel when driving a V6.

I certainly wouldn't dismiss Alexander's experience with the auto transmission. Earlier today, I called the AA Techline to get advice for a friend wanting to buy a Jap import Mitsubishi Lancer/Cedia GDI. When I asked about automatic transmissions, he said that with Mitsubishis, the main secret is that their automatics should always be regularly serviced. The larger Mitsis like the Diamante with its 3- or 3.5-litre engines can have problems because of the torque, but he said that on smaller ones, they're far more dependable. Just keep them serviced.

Alexander mentioned something about the dealer not being surprised at the box problem. Also that Mitsi (in the UK, at least) operates a replace, not repair policy. I think you should go ask a few people in the trade, like calling auto transmission repair shops, or several Mitsubishi service departments, for their opinions on this too. With only 36K mi (57K km) when the automatic gearbox fully failed, that probably meant that the box, or a batch of them (as per the dealer not being surprised) may have had manufacturing or assembly defects. This may affect particular batches of gearboxes (perhaps a transmission code number may reflect commonality in failures), and perhaps latter ones fared better.

For one thing, the earlier Galant automatics had an external oil filter; the latter ones like mine don't. There may have been a reason for that, like a design upgrade. Mine's a tiptronic, Alexander didn't mention if his was a straight auto or a tiptronic too. Perhaps that makes a difference. I have the full service history for my car and also phoned the last servicing dealer prior to purchasing it, and there were one or two repairs done, but not the transmission.

Unfortunately, regarding repair and maintenance these days, you cannot compare them with cars designed a decade prior. The Galant's rear bank of cylinders does require removal of the inlet manifold -- but experienced Mitsi mechanics can have it done in 45 minutes, and that's also why they have expensive Iridium plugs, so you only do it once in 100,000 km. The Galant isn't the only car these days which has those.

With my previous Audi A4, if you wanted to replace the front door interior light pin switch, well, you need to buy the whole door striker mechanism, because it's embedded in it, which means NZ$400 plus labour costs for getting the door panels off, etc. All for a pin switch! And replacing the cambelt on the Audi (and most newer cars -- Jap or otherwise) requires changing the cam belt tensioner -- something cars with chain drives like Mercedeses or BMWs (or Mondeos!) do not need. Price-wise, the Audi's cambelt set cost me about as much as the Galant's, but my A4 was a 1.8 4-cylinder, the Galant's a V6. Replacing the cambelt on the Audi requires moving the front lock carrier assembly to be moved to service position -- removing the bumper covers, undoing about 12 bolts, then sliding the whole lock carrier including the headlamps, forward a few inches to access the cambelt. So again, labour costs. Older Audis I had never needed that but, there you go.

By the way, before buying my Galant, I was dead keen on a '01-up new shape Ford Mondeo 2.0 with a manual gearbox. Until my friend at a leasing company spoke with their tech guys and told me to stay away from it because the CLUTCH for that car was a NZ$3,000 job (GBP1,000), the automatic gearbox, if it failed, was a $6,000 job. (An Audi A4 4-speed auto costs $3.6K, and the 5-speed auto costs $5K). And that's just a Mondeo -- a Porsche's clutch was cheaper! (What has the world turned into?)

I don't like how these days whole assemblies have to be replaced to repair a little item, but it's increasingly common. Again with the Audi, and from what I've read the 3-series BMW, the front suspension arms do not have replaceable bushings -- you need to replace the whole arms!

By all means, see how feasible it is to own a Galant (or whatever Jap car) in the UK from the expense point of view. Different countries have different biases. In NZ, owning a French, Swedish, or Italian car can cost a lot because of parts prices, but not mainstream German cars. In Australia though, there were more SAABs than Audis. Japanese here is not a problem in NZ, but we do have good parts networks for at least the mainstream Japanese sedans. Corollas are cheap to repair, just don't be surprised if repairing a Honda Legend costs more than a Mercedes.

In getting any car more complex than your average Focus/Astra, a mechanical warranty wouldn't go amiss. You may not need it at all, but it may be wortwhile.

Auto gearboxes on the 96 on Galant V6 24V fail for no apparent reason.

My dad has two Galant V6-24vs. Neither of them are driven hard. The first autobox failed with he same symptoms as described above when I was driving in the North of Scotland. We managed to source a second hand box which fixed it and its still running okay and approaching 110K miles.
The second one has about 60K miles on it. The box failed 8 months ago. We have been mucked about by various parts suppliers who have supplied non working and incompatible boxes (we are now on our 6th box...)
A new box from Mitsubishi is about 2K which is considerably more than the car is worth.

My advice for anyone even considering buying a Galant V6-24 auto is DONT. regardless of the price.

Don't be seduced by its engine, its interior, or its all round competence when its running, as its going to chew its box.

Do some googling - there is a guy out there with something like 35K miles and fsh on his 3rd box..!!!

D

They don't fail for no specific reason. They fail for a well known reason

Fluid.

Because Auto transmissions are relatively rare in this country, very few mechanics have much experience with them.

Thus they are serviced incorrectly. I had my '98 2.0 auto fluid replaced at a mitsubishi dealer.... well, almost. They charged for and used 5 litres of Dexron III ATF.

Which is no good in a system that takes 9 litres of Mitsubishi SPIII.

First off, mixing old and new fluid gives you a full load of knackered fluid. Thus the £100 I paid for this "service" was pointless.

Second, mitsubishi boxes do NOT work properly with dexron III fluid. They MUST have SPIII or a compatible fluid - I used Amsoil Synthetic.

Third, the galant has very poorly under-specced fluid cooling capacity - the ATF "cooler" comprises of a single pipe. Combine this with the fact that the V6 galant was a popular tow-car...

Now combine all of these elements together - the wrong fluid causes the gearbox to misbehave and run hotter, with inadequate cooling particularly for cooling. Combine with towing, the fluid dies quickly. Then the dealer comes along, and doesn't change the fluid properly, and so the box continues on bad fluid.

So yes, they die but not for "no apparent reason".

The three step plan:

1) Change the fluid properly - a full flush out including cooler and torque converter, as well as the sump.
2) Use the right fluid. Use SPIII if you like, but Amsoil ATF is similarly priced, fully synthetic, runs cooler and is SPIII compatible
3) If you're towing, upgrade the cooler.

The other issue is that of stripped output splines which seems only to have afflicted early V6s. This may also have links to towing.

I have just bought a 1999 2.5 v6 auto. The gearbox blew up on the way home from the dealer! It felt perfect untill it went bang and I lost all drive. It took two months to get it repaired and cost over £1000 (at the dealers expense). While it was being repaired I found out it was already on it's second gearbox and it only has 90k on the clock. It drives great now apart from irritating little faults which I think are due to it not being particularly well looked after.
The v6 engine is great, loads of torque and pretty quick and the gearbox is really nice, very smooth changes and changes very quick.
I would go for the manual, I have never heard of them having any problems and they are slightly quicker.
Fuel economy is surprisingly good, I get about 35 mpg out of town (the same as my 1.8 VW Passat) and about 20-25mpg in town.