Pending recalls for K members
#91
Its been several weeks since I did mine and I had it up on a lift today to check out some rim damage (argh) and got a chance to see how it looked after lots of aging.
Yeah, it's a worse situation than I previously indicated when talking about (real) show quality cars and ultra low milers. The interior stuff is no longer actively dripping but there is very light seepage likely from air being pushed through the member while driving. The big deal is the external coating. It does not harden entirely as I mentioned, but it is even softer than I expected after adequate curing time. If you drive down any dirt roads, it sticks. Badly.
I took some pictures, I'll have to upload them later though.
Yeah, it's a worse situation than I previously indicated when talking about (real) show quality cars and ultra low milers. The interior stuff is no longer actively dripping but there is very light seepage likely from air being pushed through the member while driving. The big deal is the external coating. It does not harden entirely as I mentioned, but it is even softer than I expected after adequate curing time. If you drive down any dirt roads, it sticks. Badly.
I took some pictures, I'll have to upload them later though.
#92
To anyone with a particularly nice car and no rust to speak of and no likelihood of rust forming, it might be worth blowing it off until (if) there is a valid reason to do something about it.
Rear picture is blurry and hard to make out, but that is a view of behind the driver side of the cross member where of course there is probably the least exposure when driving forward. The white dots all over are grains of sand stuck in the coating. Disregard the white on the sway bar, that is just muddy water spots. There is no coating on the sway bar.
Front picture by oil filter is much more obvious why this is a problem. It is just as nasty as it looks when seen in person. To those of you here in the industry as I know there are a few... this consistency is like the underside of pretty much any VW that is over 5 years old. If you've worked on one of those and know what I am talking about, you likely know how nasty it is to work on as they smear you with gunk as you reach through/around/etc the gunk. Of course in VW case it is more a product of not being able to keep oil inside the car then dirt caking in it, but the end result is the same; oily gunky dirt coating. Not cool for techs.
#94
Nah, nothing too obvious there. The third pic shows some heavy surface rust but that is about it. If you want to test it yourself, take a drift and hammer and tap firmly in the circled area to see if you can bust through it. That is what they are going to do if you take it in (a bit more precise, but you get the general idea).
Further... inspection protocol is a 1lb hammer with a ~4 inch swing only. So not a lot force for the test. I may or may not be a little more zealous when I do it
Of course if you see any signs of perforation even not in that area, that is a sealed deal for replacement. That area is just the most common point to rust through and potentially be dangerous, so on "Clean" looking ones, that is where they go to see if there is any signs of rot forthcoming.
Further... inspection protocol is a 1lb hammer with a ~4 inch swing only. So not a lot force for the test. I may or may not be a little more zealous when I do it
Of course if you see any signs of perforation even not in that area, that is a sealed deal for replacement. That area is just the most common point to rust through and potentially be dangerous, so on "Clean" looking ones, that is where they go to see if there is any signs of rot forthcoming.
#96
It looks like someone did some sketchy welding there too maybe... That can complicate things, but as long as the original structure is what is rusting, I would take the stance that it was an attempt to repair the rust (though likely untrue, probably just a really bad job changing control arms), and they are likely to overlook it and replace anyway.
The following users liked this post:
Rocky_D (Feb 24, 2017)
#98
Evolving Member
iTrader: (3)
Just got my Evo back from having the crossmember recall performed. I was told if they can't successfully remove the control arms from the crossmember, Mitsu has to throw on new control arms. I ended up getting new control arms installed for free ... keep that in mind for guys in northern states with loose ball joints.
#102
EvoM Guru
iTrader: (50)
Yeah the pay sucks on them, I wish we could bill 10 hours... hell I wish we could bill 5 hours..
Actual paid labor is 3.2 hours. If you have an extremely bad example you could get up to an hour added however it is not easy and requires a corporate over ride and thorough justification. Basically you get 3.2 hours no matter what.
....
Actual paid labor is 3.2 hours. If you have an extremely bad example you could get up to an hour added however it is not easy and requires a corporate over ride and thorough justification. Basically you get 3.2 hours no matter what.
....
#104
Evolving Member
iTrader: (3)
Just got my Evo back from having the crossmember recall performed. I was told if they can't successfully remove the control arms from the crossmember, Mitsu has to throw on new control arms. I ended up getting new control arms installed for free ... keep that in mind for guys in northern states with loose ball joints.