Mitsubishi Repair: Mitsubishi Spyder tranny and noise, mitsubishi spyder, vacuum leaks

Question
Hello, Linda.

I have been having transmission problems with my mitsubishi spyder 2.4l auto, when the car its cold, or when i just go out in the mornings to work, i will put it in drive and then go for half a block or something and then it will go in neutral by itself, and after a little while it would go back to drive, but sometimes with the rpms on the engine the gear changes abruptly, and so im afraid of messing it up for good, so what you think it could be?. oh and after running the car for a little bit that problem dissapears, and works normally again.

I also have another problem, when i first start the car up in the mornings there is this loud tapping noise coming from the engine, this noise comes and goes, from time to time and pitch changes with acceleration, and at high rpms noise will dissapear for a little bit and then it starts coming back slowly, btw it seems to me that noise is coming from the head, or from the combustion chamber around that area.

any ideas would be appreciated.

Regards.

Ed.

Answer
Ed:First off you could have the computer coded to see if anything shows up with that. As the computer controls a lot of things with the transmission. Then take the car to a transmission shop, I am thinking here is a problem with the shift linkage and there is also a neutral start switch which could be getting bad and needing to be replaced.
The engine noise, well try using a more costly fuel in it. I know we all like to save where we can. But some cars need a better grade of fuel which cost more. Such as the fuel mixed with fuel made from corn, will cause a tapping noise in the engine. My repair manual says these are things to check... the grade of fuel, ignition timing incorrect, fuel injection system faulty, improper or damaged spark plugs or wires, EGR valve not functioning and vacuum leaks. So there are some ideas to try, if you start using a bit higher grade of fuel it will take a while for the old fuel to get pushed out so give the car about two weeks to see if that helped. Other wise go with a tune up, I always try to do the easy things first and then work into the harder ones. The vacuum leak would most likely have to be done by a shop as they are sometimes harder to find. You could have the shop check your EGR valve at that time too. I do hope this helps you and God bless: Linda