My VR4 is very sick.. help..

[BraindG]

right, this is going to be hard to explain.. but before I take to garage, thought id share my problems with you, and see if anyone knows why, or what’s causing this.

okay, the other day i noticed the car was handling slightly odd, at the time it felt like one of the tires was going flat... turns out they are all at norm pressure.. then yesterday, while coming onto a motorway (long right bend for about 1/4 mile, then a small strait, then joins M6) i floored it to get past some cars, and when car hit 90 it felt like i was about to loose control of the car, i shat my self and promptly slowed down and was weaving here and there to get a feel of the car. It was unusual, like driving on jelly.

Now in the past I bought a set of Michelins (cant remember which were top rated ones anyways) and i managed to burn out the side walls of the tire after a rather enthusiastic journey up to the north of Scotland (single track roads etc) anyways, the car is feeling like that again now, yet ive not been pushing car hard (that much) and tire walls still look black, the other turned a blue/brown colour. Current tires are yokos..

so that ruled out flat tires and screwed tires.. Tonight i went of to tescos, and again strange things are happening, you floor the car and it pulls to either left or right depending on whether you have a degree left or right, when in the past it would just go strait on - no matter what..

weaving left and right quickly while running at 10mph, 20 mph and 30 mph brings up 3 bars on AYC when ive never notice this happen before (is this normal? only noticing it now, and never in the past - might just be paranoia)

finally i turned onto my road, which has this D shape junction, really nice chicane, anyways, while doing the left turn it felt like the back right tire sank away and the front left lifted of the ground, and i assure you around this s bend, this has never ever happened before..

you think this it could be suspension? Any ideas?

god, hope this isn’t going to cost to much to fix :shock:

[LeeUK VR4]

hard to come up with an answer but the drive shafts come to mind first or something that controls em - AYC/diffs etc

good luck

[LeeUK VR4]

Mitsubishi in Eccles service VR4s although they like many others have limited knowledge of them, my local Mistu dealer actually told me to go to Eccles because they didnt have the gear to service it.
Click here :- Horners - Eccles

[LeeUK VR4]

Just browsed www.Scoobynet.co.uk/bbs and found similar posts that point to the geometry, worth checking

[MTB]

it could be the rear multi-link or dampers. the multi-link system of the vr-4 is *known* to be inferior. could wear out pretty quick in just a few years time. fortunately it is relatively cheap to repair. mine had an overhaul already last year to the front multi-link.

(my guess) your ayc should be working properly. if (and when) it fails the 3 bars will never light up. (trust me, bitter experience here with the ayc!)

[BraindG]

Thanks for your replies..

another thing today i checked a couple things..
1. going round left bends still feels real scary.
2. right bends (roundabouts) is fine, like normal, untill you turn left to get off
3. i can fit four fingers between top of wheel and wheel arch on the passenger side, but on driver side i can only get 3 in..

im gonna have to address asap, as i was planning going up to aviemore tomorrow..

[BraindG]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(LeeUK VR4)</div><div class='quotemain'>hard to come up with an answer but the drive shafts come to mind first or something that controls em - AYC/diffs etc

good luck</div>

god i hope its not the driveshaft!

[Nick VR4]

Get is checked out Fast
it may be the AYC pump has failed or failing and only working on one side

Good luck

[BraindG]

its booked in for tomorrow morning.. first thing.. (at eccles)
/crosses fingers its something "easy".. err i mean cheap

[Nick VR4]

Just a thought
Have you checked tyre tread not just the outside part ?
Get under the car and check the inside part of the tyre
I was getting the AYC lighting up and it was due to only having half a tyre with thread on the back tyres

[BraindG]

i dont think thats the problem to be honest. They only light up when weaving left and right fairly quickly.. which is to be expected, but i never noticed it as much as before i started having these problems.. might just be paranoia..

Then again going round some bends one bar lights up, which i never noticed before, they arnt tight bends. its not like im pushing the car that hard for it to use ayc.

i was just outside looking at the car, and the space between the wheel and arch at back is alot smaller than the space at the front of the car, this goes for both sides.. i would have expected the gap to be similiar front and back..

:?

[ukznmcl]

Maybe you should get the suspension checked out. It doesn't look to healthy from the pic. Or maybe you should have bought a honda instead. More reliable.

[BraindG]

ban him please... hes my mate.. trying to be funneh.. :x

[Nick VR4]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(BraindG)</div><div class='quotemain'>ban him please... hes my mate.. trying to be funneh.. Â* :x</div>

[BraindG]

oh no.. dont do that... you'll just encourage him..

[BraindG]

Car is back from the garage...

They couldnt find anything wrong with any of the bushes. suspensions is all fine, basically they couldnt see anything mechanically wrong with the car..

Then the guy mentioned the AYC fluid should be changed every 4500 miles, which i didnt know. so got them to do that, as part of this fluid change they reset AYC in the ECU. They also downloadied the latest revision and updated the firmware, or something like that anyways..

there were no fault codes stored in the ECU, which is a good thing i suppose. 4 bloody hours later! i got my hands back on the car.. now it feels alot better, but not 100%. would say about 90-95% which is fine for the time being..

[BraindG]

problems back again.. pfff

while the car was at the garage i was told that stearing rack was slighly loose, but he assured me this was ok, and would not be causing the problems i was describing..

you guys got any idea what a little play there would do to your steering?
i can imagine what it does however..

[BraindG]

Right i think i can describe the problem better now.. (as the cars getting worse)

going in a strait line: the car will drift either left/right by it self.
Moterway Driving: It feels as if i have to keep the car turning. i.e. i cant keep it in a strait line, i have to do long sweeping turns.

Driving at a slower rate feels ok(ish).

Ring any bells?

[Nick VR4]

Could be your tracking is out get the wheel alignment checked
4 wheel alignment is best