Car playing up after sitting for a while?

dannydmp, Apr 8, 12:27pm
Hi guys. have a 1996 mitsubishi Diamante 2.5 v6 five speed tiptronic with 160,000kms that ive owned for 12 years. Its been parked up in the garage for the last 3 months as we bought a new smaller car. Anyways i took it out for a spin today and everytime it changed from 2nd to 3rd gear with GENTLE acceleration you could feel a NASTY JOLT but if you drive with HEAVY acceleration from 2nd to 3rd gear it was SMOOTH. very strange. The car has never done this before it was parked up and the gearbox has been flushed and filled with the special diamond fluid many times over the last 12 years at the mitsubishi dealership along with other normal scheduled servicing. any ideas on what could be wrong! thanks guys. sorry for the novel

n1smo_gtir, Apr 8, 12:42pm
had a 91 subbie legacy gt, parked up for 3 months and it wouldn't bloody start even with a brand new 500CCA battery, at least yours start.

foxdonut, Apr 8, 1:14pm
After three months and no use a fair bit of the oil would have seeped down off the gears. Could you reliably recreate the event after driving for a few minutes or did it happen just once or twice when you were starting out!

Maybe a computer issue decided to come along too! Dunno.

dannydmp, Apr 8, 1:20pm
hi there. yes when i deliberately accelerate gently it will definitly jolt from second to third but if i accelarate hard (like if i floor it) it changes flawlessly. i can quite easily recreate the event. i find it strange as you would think the car would jolt even harder if it changes from 2nd to 3rd with heavy accelaration but it doesnt. only when going gentle. ohhhh carrrs these dayys! sigh

pollymay, Apr 8, 1:42pm
Kickdown cable adjusted right!

phillip.weston, Apr 8, 7:32pm
there is no kick down cable - all Mitsi transverse boxes are electronically controlled from the TPS reading.

Did the battery go flat while the car was parked up for 3 months!

intrade, Apr 8, 9:00pm
dont mitsubishi loose there memmory to run right and need to relearn!
also the fuel be crap after 3 month causing it to run pooor fill high octane petrol in the tank to bring up the octane rating that is likely 70 or something after 3 month.

phillip.weston, Apr 8, 9:07pm
usually if the battery goes flat the ECU relearns its idle position over a few hours and will tend to stall until then. But with the transmission, it just learns the drivers ideal shift patterns (ie shift early for slow and sedate drivers, hold gears for heavy footed drivers) rather than change how it shifts into gears - shifting with a thunk is generally not good. It could be an engine mount, or could be something with the transmission, perhaps line pressure is too high!

extrayda, Apr 8, 9:08pm
I assume you have checked the fluid level in the trans :-)

elect70, Apr 9, 2:20am
Plates & discs dry & sticky after sitting , give it good workout ,go for a good hard run holding it in the gears .If fluid is discolored then change it .

dannydmp, Apr 9, 6:43am
have driven the diamante all day today with no improvement in gentle acceleration changes. sigh. fluid levels are fine. was flushed by mitsubishi people 10,000kms ago. so dont know what to do now. car is not silky smooth like b4. will book it in to mitsi nxt week. thanx guyz :)

cyber_cat, Oct 12, 3:53pm
the time its been sitting the fluid has drained and the damp has got in and you have some rust on the bands. should come right in time