2012 Outlander issue
 

Hey everyone. First post here so be gentle lol. Have the 2012 Outlander Sport, recent purchase. I notice in the mornings, and pretty much only then, this thing sounds like it is prepping for take off. I can start it all day after that initial start with really no issue but it's concerning.

When I start in the morning the idle is extraordinarily loud and rough sounding. It does this rather AC and stereo and all that is off or on, I tried tinkering with that. When I put into drive and go during this issue there is this God aweful grinding and just very loud sound/feeling to the car. Once the engine warms to normal this problem resolves. I have had many cars that don't do this so something has to be strange. I took it to the dealer who drove it after it was warmed up they found nothing but I am thinking they don't want to honor warranty because I have never heard anything like it. We had them keep it overnight so they could try a cold start this morning but I really am suspicious.

Other than the cold start issues really no other issues it does occasionally have a strange idle where it drops in RPMs and feels like it wants to stall at around 500. Does that kind of jerky sputter but has yet to stall thankfully.

Other info that may be helpful, we are in Florida and have not had temps below 70 in the mornings so it is not overly cold, Hisband does agree something isn't right here. Any ideas would be welcome. As of now if they call after this and still say nothing is wrong I am planning on taking it to our local mechanic to investigate. (Tried going to dealer to prevent paying the out of network deductible)

Just trying to see if anyone else has anything like this or may know what it could be so I have an idea what to tell them. This is my first Mitsubishi and love it other than this.

Thanks for reading, Happy New Year!!!

I've had 3 Mitsubishis and never had his problem but my Honda Prelude had a similar issue. It maybe an issue with a vacuum leak or carbon buildup around the throttle body. There is a fast idle valve for cold starts on Hondas that regulate the cold idle (I don't know if Mitsubishis have them). On my Honda I had to delete that valve and it solved my erratic cold idle and low rpm at sudden stops.

I don't have a definitive answer but I would start at the throttle body and check all is clean with all those valves on it and also check for a vacuum leak. There's also a slight chance it may be a mass air flow sensor, TPS or you may need a tune up. Your mechanic will be able to pin point the issue. Hope I helped.