Almost every time I start the vehicle the first time of the day. It will only do about 20mph no matter how long i let it warm up or even taking it around the block. However, if I turn the engine off and restart it the transmission will let me go between 30-40 then slowly increase the further I travel. What is causing it to start off in limp mode every morning or if I haven't driven it within the last 2 hours?

Huh? How do you know it's the transmission that's not "letting" you go faster than 20? Do you just leave it in drive? Can you manually shift it, starting in 1st?

John B.

Its an automatic. I assume that is what it doing after looking up the symptoms online and speaking with a Mitsubishi mechanic about it when I took my newly rebuild engine in to be fine tuned. However, I can't say for 100% because I have no past experience with this kind of issue.

And so I reiterate:

Oh sorry, thought you were asking if it was a manual or automatic.

Yes, I always use Drive- never used the lower gears but I can try when I go out later today.

Auto limp mode puts it in a higher gear all of the time. 3rd I think, maybe second. It won't have any balls from a stop, but you can easily go more than 20 or 30. 55+ is no problem in limp mode. You have a different issue.

UM, that makes no sense. Limp Mode is suppose to limit your vehicle so you can make it safely home, off the road, or nearest repair shop at a very slow speed so you don't damage your vehicle. Doing 40 to 55 mph is normal speed.

OK, I changed the aft yesterday because my husband mentioned he used a multipurpose aft from Atwoods when he changed it 2 wks ago- it said it was dextron II but who knows. So I put Valvoline MaxLife Dex/Merc in it- Jez that the stuff stinks to high heaven.

Took it out for a drive the is morning, started- stalled, started-stalled ( can't wait for the new IAC to come in) - after throttling up to get her to increase the fuel so she'd run- I took her thru L-2-D like you asked. Still had a hard time shifting until it warmed up more and then smoothed out.

I did find a atf leak- small leak coming out the weep hole between the transmission and transfer case. I am so not looking forward to repairing those 2 seals(mainly because the Maxlife STINKS SO BAD). Thought I might try AT-205 reseal first.

When I bought my 94 SR the people before me had been trying to troubleshoot it for a while cause it was in Limp mode. I found that the Crank bolt had loosened and the crank sensor wheel had broken free of its locating pins which I think put it in limp mode. If your Monty is indeed in Limp mode might want to check some of your sensors.

I remember the crank bolt being a pain to keep torqued correctly when I was setting the timing while i was putting the engine back together after a complete strip down. Had to replace the rings, pistons, & wrist pins.