I have purchased this car as a second owner as I was told. The transmission was acting funny at first and I was told that this is normal because the car was sitting for a while. The car had only 115,000 miles when purchased, the reason I bought it with low miles and appearance. Last week when it was driven, the car acted even funnier until it stalled: the car will not engage in any forward gears, it will only engage in the reverse gear. After researching the fact, I was told by many sources that the 2002-2005 lancers had a lot of issues with the transmissions in many ways. I need to know if that's true and what could be done especially after I looked at the blogs about what's so named " lancers". It will be a shame for a manufacturer to release a car in the market with such problem.
2002 Mitsubishi Lancer transmission problems
22 complaints (15% of all complaints for this car). Typical mileage when it fails: 55,000. 2 crashes reported.
- owner complaints
- 22
- of this car's complaints
- 15%
- typical mileage
- 55,000
- crashes
- 2
- recalls
- 0
Which part fails
- Manual transmission6
- Clutch assembly5
- Automatic transmission3
- Clutch assembly: pedal/hand lever(motorcycle)2
- Axle assembly: axle shaft1
- Automatic transmission: torque converter1
- Automatic transmission: lever and linkage: floor shift1
- Automatic transmission: lever and linkage: column shift1
At what mileage
Complaints by mileage at the time of the problem.
Mitsubishi Lancer transmission problems in other years
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
What 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer owners say
Most recent owner complaints, unedited.
My slave cylinder failed due to leakage from the transmission. As I was driving uphill and tried to shift into 2nd gear the clutch pedal just went straight to the floor and my car got stuck in neutral. Its costing me 1000 dollars to fix it. There is a tsb out on this problem and I don't understand why this hasn't been made a recall yet??? It looks like a quite common problem for people and a costly one at that. Very unfair that we are having to pay for these repairs when this was a manufacturers defect.
The slave cylinder on my 2002 mitsubishi lancer went out while driving the car. I was driving on the freeway when this happen and I could no longer get my car to go into gear. I had to get over from the left lane of traffic to the shoulder of the right lane without being able to accelerate because my car would not go into gear. I had to cut other drivers off and almost caused an accident. The slave cylinder leaked brake fluid all over the clutch and now that has to be replaced too. Mitsubishi knew this was a problem because they changed the design in 2004. I have read about this same problem from others who have the same car.
Clutch slave cylinder went bad I was stock in the middle of the highway not able to shift into gears. Very costly repair forced me to replace clutch plus the cylinder.
1/ at about 207000 miles check engine light came on. Dealers diagnosis and 2 other repair shops : catalytic converter has to be replaced. Cost for this job: $ 1500. I did not replace catalytic converter and was performing normally. This happened first time in my life, that catalytic converter gives up during the life of the car. 2/ at 246,570 miles while vehicle was on, would not go into gear. Dealers diagnosis: car needs clutch assembly and resurface flywheel and clutch slave cylinder. Cost for this repair: about 1,200 plus tax again 1st time happened to me that car needs clutch assembly work with slave cylinder during the live of the car. 4/ while they checked the car for gear problem they recommended to me to replace timing belt: cost $ 723 plus tax and replacing valve cover gasket: cost $ 264 plus tax I believe they ripping people off, because while replacing timing belt they have to remove valve cover and they should not charge 2x for removing valve cover. This was estimated by mitsubishi-mazda dealership in san bernardino, ca. I'm questioning their prices and ability to properly diagnose and do this repairs based on the statements they made and their prices. After every time this car is serviced at mitsubishi dealer this car have more problems: screws missing, broken parts, engine check light comes on. I need from mitsubishi motor of north america inc. List of good repair facilities where the car can be repaired not sabotaged, where they have knowledgeable technician not monkeys. I had a few cars, but never happened that catalytic converter or clutch needed to be replaced during the life of the car, or I had to spent few thousand of $$ for repairs while maintaining the car properly during it's life.
I drive a 2002 mitsubishi lancer oz rally and out of nowhere I lost all resistance in the clutch and was stranded with a blown slave cylinder. I did some research and it seems that this is a very common problem and I believe it should be recalled.
Failure of the slave cylinder 5 times in my car twice in 2005 twice in 2006 to 2007 and once presently this part is unbelievable how many time do I have to change this one part and spoke to a mitsubishi rep and said this isn't the first time. 2002 mitsubitshi lancer oz edition.
Purchased car brand new in 2002, daily driver nothing special. Had to replace full clutch assembly in 2004 due to massive mechanical failure (cost 900$ out of my pocket) not even 1 year later, clutch fails again due to mechanical failure (680$ to repair) now in 2007 I am looking at another busted clutch, the slave or master cylinder gave out while driving. There is no reason for this car to need a clutch job 3 times in 4 years......
2002 mitsubishi lancer, 5 speed manual. The car is a daily driver, and is never driven hard. It just turned 68,000 miles. Driving in a parking lot to a restaurant, the car makes a loud noise and rolls to a stop. It restarts but will not go anywhere in any gear. I lost all gears. I had it towed home, and I see nothing obvious. I ended up at a transmission shop where I paid to have it taken apart and they found the transmission itself was ok, but the axle shaft had broken inside of it. The transmission still had to be disassembled to retrieve the broken piece. A new axle cannot be found for this car anywhere but the dealer where they wanted 750.00. The transmission diagnosis was 300.00. Parts I had to replace upon reinstalling, was 488.00. I have all documentation. I had to borrow and rent cars for 10 days until I had my parts, of course they had be ordered.
Dt*: the contact stated while accelerating from a stop, the clutch felt as if it had lost pressure. This caused a hesitation in the manual transmission. The vehicle was not seen by a dealer. Also, the contact stated the front brake pads wore out too quickly. The brakes had to be changed 7 times in 5 years due to wear on the pads. The vehicle was previously taken to a service dealer, where the dealer was unable to determine the problem.
Questions about the 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer transmission
Does the 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer have transmission problems?
Owners have filed 22 complaints about the transmission of the 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer, 15% of all its complaints.
At what mileage do 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer transmission problems start?
The typical (median) mileage in owner complaints is 55,000 miles.
Was there a recall on the 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer transmission?
There is no recall for this problem on this model year.
What year does the Mitsubishi Lancer have bad transmission?
The Mitsubishi Lancer model years with the most transmission complaints are 2003 (51 complaints), 2002 (22 complaints) and 2016 (21 complaints).
Other 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer problems
Visibility 26Airbags 23Engine 22Brakes 18Suspension 15Steering 12Acceleration 10Body 7Fuel system 6Electrical 4Wheels 3Seat belts 2Seats 2Locks 1Tires 1
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history