Hedy everyone,

I just was going to check my air filter to see if it needed changing, but before I did, I noticed the part of the air flow aparatus that lines up with the hole for the intake of air (above the radiator) is barely lined up with the hole (meaning it is not capturing a lot of air). I could have sworn it was always lined up pretty good. Now it doesn't want to seem to stay in the proper location - it sags and only covers about half the air hole.

Any ideas how to get it lined up again? I do notice 2 tabs on the bottom of the part that should be lined up with the hole...any idea what those are?

The dealer checked the filter the last time - maybe he knocked something loose or something snapped? I can't figure it out.

I have been getting worse gas mileage and smelling fuel at startup? Could maybe not getting enough air to the MAF sensor have something to do with that?

 

never mind..figured it out. The hosing must have moved too much last time and the tabs that I saw were actually supposed to be on the inside - and that holds it in place....

 

Shortly after buying my Outlander in June 2008 I noticed the same thing. At the next oil change, the service adviser and I checked other Outlanders on the lot and found they to had the intake only about half lined up with hole. I assumed this was normal and have not any problems with the vehicle all this time and have not seen my mileage drop. The mileage I get is in line with what Mitsubishi says I should get for the vehicle; 20mpg in the city 25 mpg on the highway. I do agree the whole intake setup is kind of flimsy, and I'm not sure what you could do to get it to line up better with the hole.

 

Like I said, mine used to be lined up perfectly...It wasn't for the last little while, and that was due to those tabs not being INSIDE the airflow hole - they were outside, causing the things to just sag (not latching onto anything). I pushed the tabs into the hole (out of sight) and the thing lines up perfectly now and is quite sturdy (the way it used to be)

Maybe the 09s are designed a bit different, but I doubt it. Anyway, I'm not messing with it now