RayBaer

So my new MR just turned a month old. I was driving home from Buschur Racing with my stage one kit in the trunk. Can't wait to get it on, oh it's going to be great. I spot a blue M3, buz past him. He catches up to me and floor it. I stay in front of him untill he backs off. I back off, let him catch up, give the friendly thumbs up. He's now in front of me so I step on the gas again. No power. "that's odd" I think to myself. Hit the accelerator again, I hear a slight flapping noise and feel a small vibration in the pedal. "Did I lose a boost hose?" I look at the boost guage. That's not it, there's plenty of boost. I hit the accelerator again, this time the noise sounds more like a clunk or a knock. "****, that's bad. I'd better pull over." I'm on the side of the highway now, pop the hood... "Oh god, is that comming from...." I pull on the the throttle cable. "Son of a! That's inside the block!"

I get her towed to Mitsu, she sits over the weekend (this happened on saturday). They "supposedly" looked at it on Monday. I had to call them.

"Yeah, it sounds like a spun bearing. We don't know for sure yet though 'cause we're still waiting to hear back from Mitsubishi to find out who's going to pay for the short block we just ordered." says the service advisor.

Excuse me? Find out who's going to pay for it? the car is a month old with 1500 miles on it.... why wouldn't mitsu pay for it?

"well, I haven't heard from them.... so untill they call me back I can't say anything."


Now, here's the kicker. I bought this car, and it had 394 miles on it (that was my first mistake, never buy an evo that has any miles on it from the dealer, I knew this, but I got caught up with having the first MR in town, etc. etc.) Well supposedly the those miles were put on by the owner of the dealership, and they were to take the car to the Columbus auto show. They swore to me that in the auto show, nobody sat in it, it was corded off and was just there to look at.

LIARS!!!!!

I have first hand accounts from buddies that that was the exact car they sat in (missing shift knob, that's another story)

I also have first hand accounts from some techs and other employees at the dealership that that bastard owner abused the **** out of the car. He was trying to race them and just drove it to hell.

So.... could this have been caused by a really ****ty break in during the first 400 miles?

Well, it looks like my baby's going to have her revenge. If all goes well, I'll be getting my new short block and I'll be able to break her in the right way.

Anybody have any thoughts as to why this happened? Manufacturer defect? Abuse in the break in?

Well I'll keep you all posted and let you know how this plays out.

Noize

iTrader: (24)

THAT SUCKS!
Very sorry to hear it man. That said, I think you have a good case. Since it was stock at the time, there is nothing they can say about it.

Event-Horizon

iTrader: (1)

tell them you want a new MR if you have proof that they were lying to you.

OppositeLock

You never know. Some people swear by beating on the car during break in and others drive soft for multiple oil changes. A spun bearing is usually an oil starvation/heat issue, how was your level? Good luck and hope it is covered.

WrX Kila

iTrader: (18)

If the car was not properly broken in you are going to have problems. For the rest of the cars life on the road it will not perform like it should. Have them pay for it. You are not suppose to rev past 3000rpm Or abouse the car (they say 600miles) but I would not do it until after 1k.

Evo007

Yeah the dealership tells you not to abuse the car for the first 600 miles. They made me watch a video and take a test before I left the dealership.

Greg K

iTrader: (2)

My guess is that it wasn't broken in properly. You want to avoid very high rpms (above 5500) for the first couple of hundred miles to allow the bearings to take a set. During that time you want to constantly vary the rpm (cruising at one RPM is the worst thing you can do) and I recommend running in boost. Keeping the cylinder pressure up forces the piston rings into the cylinder walls and causes them to seat quickly when the honing marks are fresh in the cylinder walls.

I know some people who want to stay out of boost for the first 1000mi and change the oil every 20 minutes or something silly, but a lot of them have problems with blowby after break in. I now have over 13k mi on my evo, and it only used about a quarter of a quart during breakin and hasn't required that anything be added since. Motor feels very stout for a stock car too. I picked mine up with 9mi on the odo. Good luck with your new shortblock.

This is how I've broken in every engine I've owned/built (including several rally engines) and I've never had a problem with blowby, and have only spun one bearing due to oil starvation due to a plugged filter (at approx 150k mi on a chevy engine).

YMMV,

Greg

money pit

iTrader: (4)

Are you serious? Thats pretty funny. I'm guessing you passed the test and was able to purchase the car?

TRINIOUTLAW

A spun bearing is usually an oil starvation/heat issue, when was the last time you checked your oil level or had an oil change done on your car? and do you have any mods done to the car? Proper break-in procedures on a motor has been a subject of great debate..I know of folks that have beat the crap out of theirs cars to break-in the motor and other that change the engine oil every 250 miles and will not drive in boost so to that end..your on your own. Post up yor mod list if any, i'm very interested to hear what the dealer is going to do.

bolio

You are so lucky you hadn't installed your mods yet, thank god. I wouldn't back of the dealer at all. Just get ready in case they make up some bs and try to rip you of. I would start talking to a lawyer and tell him/her the situation. Make sure your dealer knows you have a lawyer and are ready to go to war.

DCSilvrEvo

iTrader: (5)

MITSU BETTER PAY FOR EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!

Or Give you a car that has like 5miles MAX on it!

PoorBoys

iTrader: (1)

That sucks. They should replace it under warranty, since it is so new, stock, and you have evidence of them beating it. If they don't, sue.

Greg K

iTrader: (2)

having a lawyer ready and on retainer is a waste of time. Let the dealer do their thing, contrary to popular belief all dealerships are not out there wringing their hands trying to think of ways to screw over their customers. Also you can't go to court right away even in the event of a rejected warrenty request. If you actually read the owners manual and the paperwork you signed when you bought the car you are required to go through the mfg arbitration process in the event of any rejected warrenty claim (it actually explicitly states regarding the manusseon warrenty act.) I hate our over litigious society nowadays...

Also at this time I don't believe that you authorized them to obtain and install the new engine in the car, and being the fact that they ordered a new short block implies that they are going to replace it, they just haven't recieved authorization of compensation from mitsubishi regarding the engine replacement so they can't say one way or the other whether it will be covered. Good luck with the new engine and take care of her and she will take care of you.

Greg

RayBaer

Ok, spoke with them during lunch....

Mitsubishi has authorized the replacement of the short block. The dealership was instructed to not even disassemble the broken one and to just ship it back. It looks like they're going to take care of me on this one.

Now, if they're shipping a short block, does that mean that all the parts, (block, crank, bearings, rods, pistons) is completely assembled by the factory and all the mitsu tech has to do is bolt it up to the head? I hope so, I really don't want some Joe blow tech that's never set up a bottom end go fumbling around with mine.

At any rate, so far things are looking up. The block should be here by next Tuesday and the car complete (hopefully) by the end of the week.

Mods - Tint, stereo head unit, and stereo/gauge relocation (swapped). Like I said, I had the parts for the Buschur stage 1 in the trunk. Actually pretty funny because the exhaust portion was in the cabin laying between the front seats to the back seat. I made the tow truck driver swing by my apt. before going to mitsu so I could drop everything off. I told him the parts were for a buddy. He laughed and said sure, I see that all the time.

Oil - 1500 miles, original oil. I checked the levels at 950 miles and they were fine. I checked the levels again after this occurred, although the oil was a bit dark, it was fine.

A part of me does want to see if I can just get a new car due to the way I was treated by the sales staff. I highly doubt it. They actually just got a black '05 GSR with the sun/sound/leather package... those speakers and that leather... beautiful.

At any rate, thanks for the replies, I'll definitely keep you guys posted as this whole thing plays out.

DCSilvrEvo

iTrader: (5)

Good news man...
My Tranny locked up on me but Since i have an ACT clutch I doubt warranty is even close to my car.