sirsol

iTrader: (18)

Background: 2011 GSR non-SSS, purchased in September. First occurrence of condensation in the headlights was in October. The dealership I purchased it from went out of business, so it took me a while to find another dealer close enough to take it to.

Full story:
For the past 2 months, the Evo's headlights have been getting condensation in the passenger side one. After my local dealership closed, I tracked down another dealer to take it in. I took photos, made an appointment at the dealership, and took it in at the end of November. Lucky me, the one day I took it in, it was warm and the condensation was mostly gone. Ok, they looked at the photos and told me to bring it in when there's condensation they can photograph themselves. Fair enough.

Yesterday, I took it in (the entire bottom half of the headlight was fogged up) and showed the service manager. Took photos with the service manager, they all agreed they were going to order it and I should bring the car in next week to get it replaced. Their master tech (apparently the only person allowed to work on evos) walked by and started talking to us. He remembered a TSB and went to print it out.

Sure enough, Mitsubishi has a TSB telling all dealers to not replace headlights unless, and I quote, "there is a pool of water at the bottom of the headlight". Seriously?

The TSB # is tsb-06-54-008 if anyone cares to read it.

The dealer said they can't do anything about it, and that I'm essentially SOL.

After a few hours of talking to Mitsu corpoate, they said they'll look into it. The lady kept telling me that "sir, the TSB clearly states..." which is honestly a BS argument. A 37K car should not have had condensation in its headlights for 4/5 months I've owned it. Also, for comparison, my 11 year old EVO VIII never had this issue. The car doesn't even has 2000 miles on it and they're already pissing me off. Excellent.

Has anyone had experience with this? I couldn't find anything from evo owners, a few ralliart owners had this issue and got it warrantied. Any help would be appreciated.

sirsol

iTrader: (18)

Oh, and before anyone asks, the car is BONE stock. The headlights have never been opened, the bulbs have not been touched, it is all OE.

Tubzzz14

iTrader: (1)

pour a poland spring bottle into it before you bring it in agian...not kidding

sirsol

iTrader: (18)

That's honestly what my co-worker suggested, I work at another OEM so I stopped by our electronics department and had a chat with one of the headlight engineers and he suggested the same thing.

I'm going to give them until next week to see what they say, this is honestly ridiculous. I passed over a new 5.0 mustang or the Golf R to get this evo, and something tells me neither of those companies would be saying something so ridiculous if their cars had this issue.

OZR_Lancer

iTrader: (2)

wow that sucks to hear.. i know from what u have said, never open or touched.. have you looked to see if their is any type of a crack around the lense or a tear in the rubber seal on the backside where the plug is?

02-Lancer-Es

iTrader: (21)

If all else fails you could have the headlights resealed , i believe The Retrofit Source sells the glue for it .

sirsol

iTrader: (18)

I looked at the headlight extensively, there's absolutely no cracks or anything in it. I religiously clean this car every weekend, and I always keep an eye out for things like that.

As for the backside, I took a look but couldn't see any plugs. I honestly don't want to mess with it too much (just another reason for Mitsu to deny warranty work) until I get a final answer from them.

If Mitsu denies the claim, do you guys think conacting the BBB would be a good course of action? I fully expect I won't get anything from them, but I might as well harass them endlessly. Each headlight is about 700, so I'm definitly not forking over the money for replacements.

TheBlade

iTrader: (1)

That is ridiculous. I feel your reasoning is right on. When buying a car just under $40k you expect to be treated with respect for your issue, integrity in the manufactures product support, and honesty with the support process.

I can see how MMNA sees the headlight part number the same one that ships out on a base model car, but even for the non-Evo owners, having less than 36k miles on your car this should be taken care of.

Edit Update:
Yes BBB will at least force the dealership in question to submit some paperwork to keep it from being a negative mark against them. I'm sure that letter was written a long time ago and a secretary will just update the date, but It's the process we as consumers have to work with. I would also approach a different dealership (given you're already going out of your way for this one that is giving you problems).

SamsonEvoX

'Tis a sad truth that Mitsubishi has a terrible track record for honoring warranties on Evo. Heck, my son took his 2011 Evo GSR X with basic bolt ons in for an oil change to a sister dealer of the one where he bought his. The dealer he bought from was busy, so he went to this dealer because they had an opening. They refused to change the oil because "the warranty was voided". He told them to take a hike and found another Mitsu dealer who would do the oil change and do some warranty work even with the mods. Moisture in a headlight could be a safety issue at night. Keep fighting the good fight and by all means, call the BBB.

SudzRA

iTrader: (2)

I had some condensation form in one of my fog lights and in the passenger side headlight, on the Ralliart I had before I got my X. Nothing major, and it would clear out once the headlights were on for a bit. It only did this when it was cold outside. A quick fix if you have no other option is to pull the headlight assembly out, pull out the bulbs, and run a hairdryer thru it for 15-20 minutes. This will eliminate any moisture that's in the assembly. If you find it still fogs up after doing this, you definately have a defective assembly. This would be the time to pour some water in if the dealer won't help you.

Optiblue

iTrader: (5)

I don't have condensation in the headlights, but the foglights and Taillights have always had a bit in them even when I had the MR. At least yours evaporate, my foggies never did.

sirsol

iTrader: (18)

I'm completely used to the terrible Mitsu warranty system, but this seems out of character even for them. They were pretty good with my old VIII, and even got me a new transmission at 70K miles (extended warranty) when I had the 5th gear grind issue. The whole reason I sold my VIII and bought the X was that the VIII was getting fairly high mileage and I was worried it would start giving me issues. So, I justified spending the money on the X, thinking it would be trouble free (except maybe a clutch job) for 3 years.

Sadly, I get the feeling that this is not going to be the last time I'm arguing with Mitsu.

sirsol

iTrader: (18)

I also have some in my outer passenger side taillight, but it comes and goes. It is also usually isolated to a small corner, so it doesn't bug me too much.

The headlight though covers the ENTIRE bottom portion of the headlight, which is quite annoying to see first thing every morning...

TheBlade

iTrader: (1)

As someone mentioned, it could be a safety issue too, as now that it's winter time, seeing it in the morning also means driving in the dark.

73DatsunZ

iTrader: (5)

Yeah thats a hunk of bull**** man. I had a Cobalt SS a few years ago and it had the same issue. Luckily the dealership co-operated and took care of it. Keep fighting to get it replaced man they need to take care of you.