Hi everyone,

I was one of the happy outlander owners for the past 2 years -- until yesterday.

When I started my car yesterday morning, the engine was making terrible noises.
It was loud and sounded like parts knocking each other and the emission smelled badly.

I quickly turned it off. After that I can no longer start the engine. My Outlander only has 53000KM and there wasn't any warning sign. It operated smoothly the day before, but suddenly stuck in my garage.

This morning I called Mitsubishi's roadside assistance and they arranged a tow-truck.

When the tow-truck arrived, the driver tried couple times to start the engine. After holding the ignition switch in the "ON" position for more than 10 seconds, suddenly the engine started.

This time it run normally, no more noise. But the "Check engine light" is on.

After arriving the dealership, the service adviser told me that all of their technicians are not on duty weekend. They cannot do anything for the engine problem until Monday.

He said even with the "Check engine light" on, the car is still drivable and told me to drive it home.

Here comes my questions:

1. What might be the causes for the engine noises?
2. How serious the situation will be?
3. Why the engine won't start after I turning it off?
4. Althought I did drive it home, is it true that my car is still drivable even with the "Check engine light" on?

Thanks a lot,

Doubler
Vancouver, BC

 

Dude - that really sucks - sorry to hear about your problem. Unfortunately I can't help you but there is documentation of the vehicle being at the dealer so they will be at fault if they told you that you could still drive it home. I find it odd though that there was no-one qualified to look at it - then how does he know its still driveable? The whole idea of the check engine light is to warn the driver that it should be taken to a service centre for diagnostics to determine the state and driveability of the vehicle. Poor risk management IMO.

Check out what the manual says about the check engine light but I don't think it was anything about stop driving immediately.

 

Sorry to hear. I'm suprise the dealer doesn't have technician on duty on a Saturday. Was the Service Department closed? Service Advisers doesn't usually know or will check the car for you, they probably don't know or don't want to get dirty under the hood.

When now you start it, can you still hear parts moving from the engine bay? Open your hood, and see yourself for any loose parts that are visible. If right now, the car is running normally but just with engine light on, I say don't worry about it till Monday. Drive it normally. If you have another car, drive that one.

You said that your emission smells. Does it smell like burnt oil? Are the smoke coming out from the exhaust normal as usual? A lot of smoke?

 

Thanks ShortyRider and Dr.,

At least the car is still drivable. I was so worry yesterday and thought the engine was gone.

I didn't see the smoke come out since I was in the driver seat but the smell did like a burnt oil.

Regards,

Doubler

 

The first thing you need to do is check the oil level in the vehicle. The noise you were hearing may have been from no or very little oil in the engine.

 

Yep. Then pull the CEL code.

 

I'm not sure what is up in Canada, but in the states, you can go to a parts store like AutoZone/Advance Auto parts or O'Reilley's and they'll help pull the codes for free.