Hi, I brought a Mitsubishi Space Star 1.8 GDI petrol car second hand about 6 months ago. The previous owner told me about the problem, that it stalls when driving sometimes.

I noticed the car sometimes rev's eractically when stationary without me touching anything. My car often stalls braking towards traffic lights, going into round abouts or sometimes when stationary. Sometimes I can go a hole journey without 1 stall, sometimes I will stall 10-15 times. I have noticed that if I put the clutch in and whack it in neutral as I brake to a stop it very rarely stalls, and when stationary it only seems to happen when the cars in 1st gear even with the cluth in. Also having air conditioning/blowers/radio/lights on makes a difference, when I turn them on when the engine is idle the revs will drop then suddenly have a little burst.

Im no mechanic or expert but it does become a bit dangerous sometimes, It cut out at 40mph braking for a roundabout that joins a motorway and the steering goes heavy along with the brakes. Some people seem to think the timer is messed up but im not so sure it's the timer, any suggestions would be great. I don't plan on fixing it myself unless its really simple but I would like some advice so I dont get charged loads at a garage for something that won't change it.

Hi,

i bought a 2000 GDI Spacestar and after 24 months motoring the stalling got steadily worse. After several visits to a local garage, they finally contacted Mitsubishi who said i should take the car in.

The car could be sorted by changing the throttle unit at a price of £1500. I refused to pay this due to the car being second hand and we were not informed of the 'known engine problem' when the car was bought from the same Mitsubishi dealer. Eventually the dealer and mitsubishi UK agreed to cover the cost of a replacement unit. However, we were told the problem would happen again and we would have to pay for a new unit next time. we were given no explanation for why this problem occurs and no information on how to prevent it.

At first i thought it was the petrol as the engine is designed for 'Super unleaded' 97 Ron petrol (I think) and we were using normal unleaded (95 Ron). It wasn't the petrol as the problem has now come back.

A quick look through the forum seems to indicate that the throttle unit can be cleaned rather than replaced and special engine oil is required.

Can someone confirm this and if so, would a Mitsubishi garage know about a 'special' oil?

I was told before I brought the car that it had been tsalling in the past and the previous owner took it to her mechanic friend and they hooked it up to some sort of computer thing and adjusted the timer for £20 and she said the problem was fixed and that was about for 3 months. Then I brought the car and it started again so i don't believe the timer is the problem but i believe it might be able to help control it slightly.

i had a the same fault on a rover that i had. In the throttle body was a plastic butterfly which through time and lots of heat from the engine distorted, hence sticking in random places and most of the time stalling. To solve this i had to source another throttle body with a metal butterfly which worked a treat and never had a problem since. dont know what sort of throttle body the petrol space stars use so sadly cant be of anymore help.