Mitsubishi Grandis: Heat System Failure Mystery Solved

Hey there! I had a similar issue with my '06 Mitsubishi Outlander (I've got some experience working on cars as a hobby mechanic). The symptoms were exactly the same, mirror heating and rear window defrost just died completely. Took it to my regular workshop and turned out it was a faulty cable connection to the mirror, the plug was all oxidized. They had to replace the connection and clean up the contacts. Cost me around 155€ and fixed the problem completely. Been working fine ever since. Before I share more specific details about my repair, what trim level is your Grandis? And have you noticed any other electrical issues? This could help narrow down if we're dealing with the same problem.

Hi guys, thanks for chiming in! Just had my last service about 2 months ago at 148293 km, and everything was working fine until last week. Based on what mentioned about the cable connection, that makes a lot of sense because I've noticed some other small electrical problems lately. Mine's the high-trim model with all the bells and whistles. I'll definitely have my mechanic check those connections first, sounds way better than having to replace the whole heating system. Thanks for the tip about the oxidized plug, that's super helpful!

Hey again! Yeah, those electrical gremlins can be super annoying, right? Since you mentioned having some other electrical problems too, it's definitely sounding more and more like what I dealt with on my Outlander. After reading about those recent issues you're having, I'm even more convinced it's the same problem I had. Actually, funny enough, I also started noticing some minor electrical quirks before the heating completely gave up, like occasional flickering of the mirror adjustment switch. The timing of yours failing after a service is interesting too, sometimes when they're cleaning around that area, it can disturb those already loose connections. Quick tip from my experience: when your mechanic checks it out, ask them to look at all the ground connections in that area too. After my fix, my mechanic mentioned he found a couple other connections that were starting to corrode, so we cleaned those up while we were at it. Probably saved me from having the same issue pop up somewhere else later. Keep us posted on what they find! Would be interesting to know if it turns out to be the same issue. These Mitsubishis tend to have similar weak spots across models.

Thanks so much for the detailed follow-up! That's really helpful info about the ground connections too, I'll definitely mention that to my mechanic when I take it in next week. Come to think of it, I have noticed some flickering with the mirror adjustment switch too, just didn't connect the dots until you mentioned it! It's honestly such a relief to hear that it might just be a connection issue rather than something major. Will definitely update you all once I get it checked out. Really appreciate everyone taking the time to help out with this, this community is awesome!