I am wondering if any of the experienced owners here have experienced and solved these symptoms. My 2007 Outlander has 107K miles and has been maintained regularly. It is due for a timing belt service this month but I don't think that is the cause of my problems. It was running like a top yesterday and upon cold startup this morning, it was suddenly misfiring and stalling just off idle.

The check engine light lit immediately but my generic code reader found no stored codes. I am a retired mechanic/engineer with many years servicing aircraft and automotive engine electronic control systems so I am not really out of my depth here. The lack of generic codes could mean that I have to go to the dealer so their computers can pull the proprietary codes that Mitsubishi does not release to the public. I am a long time BMW owner and that is a common occurrence with their fault codes. Fortunately, there are aftermarket readers for bimmers that can read the proprietary factory codes. I have not found something like that for the Mitsubishi.

I checked for the obvious possible causes like vacuum leak in the intake rubber elbow and PCV line but they looked OK. I am afraid it is potentially a clogged fuel filter and bad fuel pump. I have seen these symptoms on other vehicles when the fuel pump failed but was still providing a little fuel. I priced fuel pumps online and they are more than twice as expensive as one for my BMW 2003 E39. That is hard to swallow and I don't want to jump to that conclusion until I can measure fuel pressure. It has been raining non stop and I will have to wait to do more troubleshooting.

So, has anyone else had a sudden onset of rough idle with some cylinders misfiring and stalling when you pressed the gas pedal off idle? IOW, did your car run well one day and suddenly start running rough and stalling? I searched and found some posts with similar conditions but none of them pointed to a solution. I will post what I learn.

 

My 2011 galant had a coil pack failure, it showed those symptons, rough idle, no power, stalling...Gee, its doing it again and I just got it back from the dealer today...

 

Obviously your problem is elsewhere.

 

My problem turned out to be extremely low oil level due to someone sabotaging the Outlander. I had just changed oil and oil filter the week before this happened and did not bother checking oil level as a first troubleshooting step. When I did check, it was 3 quarts down. I am 100% certain I put the correct amount of oil in. The only other variable was that I had the car at an alignment shop the day before this happened. They tried to sell me brake work my Outlander did not need yet. I do all my own brake work. I can only conclude someone at the shop did not like my turning down their proposal to replace my rear brake pads at $220 parts and labor for the cheapest pad formulation. This is a job that takes a skilled mechanic with a lift 30 minutes. I do it in well under an hour at home. I explained this in polite terms but obviously, someone there decided to mess with me. My engine has no oil leaks - the only way this could have happened was for someone to drain the oil.

Bottom line, I drained the crankcase and refilled with some Euro spec Mobile 1 0W-40 oil I had at home. I know Mitsubishi calls for 5W-20 but I am sure the 0W-40 will be fine. My Outlander has been running perfectly for about 5000 miles now so I am confident problem is solved. Needless to say, I will never go to that shop again. This could have turned out much worse if the engine did not misfire on cold start the day after they drained some of my oil out. I wish I could prove they did it but I can't.

 

So you think it was sabotaged why?

I see no evidence.

 

I changed oil and filter on a Sunday. I used most of a 5 quart jug of Castrol Synthetic 5W-20. (4.5 quart capacity for V6 engine) There were no oil leaks. Outlander went to alignment shop on Wednesday. Shop tried to sell me rear brake job that I turned down. Thursday morning on cold start, it misfired and wouldn't idle right. After thorough troubleshooting, the only thing I found wrong was the engine low 3 quarts on oil with no leaks and no problem with the PCV valve. Correcting low oil condition fixed the problem. Engine has run flawlessly ever since. You tell me how a reliable vehicle lost 3 quarts in less than a week with no external leaks, no driveability issues, and no smoke if it wasn't sabotage.

There is more to this story. I don't make accusations like this lightly but I know I did the maintenance properly on Sunday before this happened. Only place this could have happened was the alignment shop. This was not my first negative encounter with that shop. The owner is a very earnest young man that inherited the business from his father. He had contacted me prior to this incident and asked me to give them another chance to earn my trust. He made a point of telling me that the man I had trouble with earlier had been forced to retire. He has some bad eggs working for him and apparently still needs to do some housecleaning.

I am not a young man and I have been repairing autos for about 40 years. I worked professionally as a mechanic in my teens and twenties while going to college. I am serious enough about it to have a lift in my garage and a professional set of tools. I believe one of his mechanics or service writers did this out of spite because I turned down their brake job proposal and told them I could do it myself at home. It is a shame because they are local to me and I was a satisfied customer for ~10 years while the father ran the business.

 

Fair enough. I'll buy it.

If you're burning 3 quarts in a week, you're sure as **** going to notice. Either that, or you're pushing the car way beyond its design limitations.