Hi All,
This issue just popped up today. I have 2012 Outlander SE / FWD with 180K Miles. After about a 60 min drive, I noticed the rearview camera display turned on out of nowhere. About 10 -15 seconds later the "Service Transmission" message showed up on my display. I drove about 50 miles of highway driving and was maybe 1/4 mile from my destination when this happened. At that point I was in city traffic so don't really know if the Trany was in limp mode, since I never went over 20 MPH. I parked the car, let everything cool down. After about 1.t5hours, I went out to check it and the car will not shift out of park. I was able to manually override that and got the car to shift into drive / reverse and seems to work fine but did not drive it any significant distance. Called a tow truck and brought it home. By this point it was after dark and had other plans so I did not put my code reader on it. Will do that tomorrow. Checking the forums, and the service manual, I see that a broken brake light switch will prevent the shift lock solenoid from engaging, but will that cause the reverse lights and rearview camera to stay on? I did not check the stop lights yet. On the list for tomorrow. Anyone ever see this issue? I'll follow up when I read the codes, but symptoms so far are -
Service Trans message - With "!" icon
Reverse lights always on
Rearview camera always on
Won't shift out of park.

The timing on this couldn't be any worse. I'm supposed to trade this in on Wed or Thu. LOL.
Thanks

 

UPDATE

Definitely in LIMP mode. Won't go over 20 MPH. Have P0705 code - Transmission Range Switch / Transmission Control Range

 

I would say that your Park/Neutral Safety switch went bad. I just replaced one on my 94 Montero and showed how to do it in a recent thread that I posted on this site.

If the little "arm" inside the switch breaks, then the copper contacts could be stuck on the "Reverse" area of the switch, thus making your back-up lights stay on. However, since the switch is probably broken inside, then it should not allow you to start the engine. So, it could also be internal corrosion of the switch. When you shift the tranny shifter, do all the lights come on in the dash......that is, as you move the shifter, the P light goes out, and the R, N, D, 2, 1 lights come on in proper sequence?

Your switch should be similar to this one:



Internal view:



With broken "arm":

 

So. the TLDR version is I ended up unloading the car to peddle.com for $1200.

The long story is - I pulled the switch that 1960StudebakerHawk referred to, but didn't find any problems with it. I opened up anyway and cleaned the contacts, put it back in, re-installed the battery and did a test drive. When I started the car, it still wouldn't allow me to shift out of park. Used a screwdriver to get into drive and it drove away normally. This lasted for about 30 seconds, then the Service Trans msg displayed, backup lights turned on and went into limp mode. Drove back home and tested the switch signals at the connectors in the fuse box and all was good there. Found the TCU under driver side dash by the fuse box. Tried to remove the connector there for testing but just couldn't get it off. Gave up after 20 min and packed up for the night since it was dark by this time. By this time, I already had an appt to look at a 2016 Jeep Patriot the next morning. The next morning I drove the car t my mechanic and asked if he could put his computer on it to see if the TCU was going bad. I left it with him while I went to look at the Jeep. Liked the Jeep, but did not commit to buying it. The dealer wanted nothing to do with Mitch for a trade in and suggested ebay or craigslist. Went back home and went to peddle.com website, got an offer for $1200 and decided to take it. Called my mechanic, who hadn't looked at the car yet, told him not to bother and that I would come pick it. A few hours later went to the dealer to close the deal on the Jeep. On the way back, my wife dropped me off at my mechanic and I picked up Mitch. Started her up and everything worked just fine. Shifted out park, drove 2 miles and didn't go into limp mode. Ugh. My wife and I discussed backing out of the rushed Jeep purchase, but we decided to stay on the current path and so peddle picked up the car on Wed morning and on Thursday we had a new to us Jeep Patriot with 63K miles.

The further back story to this is that I was planning to replace the car due to the high mileage, but did not have a particular timeline for it. My daughter had the car away at college. She came home that week for my son's high school graduation. Knowing the car had 180K miles on it, we decided to give my wife's car to my daughter and we would drive Mitch until we found a car for my wife. 3 days later, the tranny goes into limp mode. I'm really kinda grateful it happened while the car was home and not while my daughter had it 3 hours away. So this event just kind of accelerated our plans a bit. TBH, Mitch owed me nothing. I bought it new in 2013 and had no real problems with it in the 9 years I owned it except for this last event.

 

dcmoon.......Interesting story behind the Mitsubish issues. Like you said, you got a great service life out of it, and maybe it was time to pass it to the next guy. Good to see you made a gallant effort at pulling off the P/N switch, cleaning it, and doing everything in your power to solve that problem. This "Limp Mode" stuff should never have been introduced into vehicles......maybe someday, makers will be allowed to go back to "simple and long lasting" once again.

 

Thanks 1960StudebakerHawk. What bugs me most about this whole event is that the car had a full tank of gas when it was towed away. I had just filled up that morning before the troubles started. That's $55 down the drain.

 

DCMoon.......Thats one of the big things I like about these old Monteros......there is a drain plug in the gas tanks, and you can drain out every last precious drop of that liquid anytime you want. At the upcoming $20/gallon prices, thats about $500. Soon you will see cars being advertised on CraigList that say "Full Tank of Gas For Sale.....$500". Buyer must haul away the car."