Evo X GSR Engine Rebuild
Jul 28, 2009, 11:46 AM
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Evo X GSR Engine Rebuild
As some of you have already heard my Evo X Engine had an engine failure. It was definitely a freak incident and I will only blame myself. I bought my car brand new in October of 2008 and when the incident occurred approximately May 25 2009 it had 11,000 miles. I was leaving to Vegas with my friends for the holiday weekend and I wanted to spruce up my car a bit. Also to note: my car was bone stock before I left to Vegas and I drive VERY conservatively. I never push my car, never accelerate too fast from a start, and never go to redline. I asked my good friend on what he thought was the best mod for my car for the price and he told me a tune and a catback exhaust. He did a little research for me and recommended Vishnu. I did a little research on the forums myself and everything seemed very positive. I also wanted something quiet so I went with the Buschur "Quiet" catback exhaust. Yes, I know it's not very quiet (now) but being the noob I was I went with it. So I shipped the ECU out before I left and had the catback ready to go in my car for my friend to install for when the ECU came back on Friday/Saturday (I sent it out to Vishnu early in the week and left for Vegas Thursday night). My friend is very knowledgable about performance cars - owns a Mitsubishi Lancer (not Evo), his Dad owns a repair shop, and he has worked on cars all his life. Once he installed both the Vishnu flashed ECU and Buschur Catback he noticed that the power door locks, air conditioning, and stereo was not working. He couldn't figure out what was wrong so he decided to drive it over to his Dad's shop about 20 minutes away.
On the way there (by the way he said the Vishnu tune was working well before this happened - turbo pulling consistently through lower RPMs like it's advertised) when he was getting off the offramp of the freeway the car completely turned off. Luckily he was close to the shoulder and was able to pull to the side. Temperature gauges NEVER went up. He waits 5 minutes, turns the car back on and notices the car is not running right. He decides to take it straight back to my place - during the drive home the car backfires, idles like a crazed gorilla, and runs exceptionally poor. I think it's important to note that the car was running like this the moment the car was turned on after it died on the freeway. He calls me up and we agree that I would take it to the dealership when I get back - so Tuesday morning.
I take it to the dealership Tuesday morning (May 27) and stupidly I tell them I had a tune. Yes - very stupid of me, and my friend even told me not to say this, but I hate lying and didn't think it would be an engine failure. I figured I just needed a new battery or something (god I was an idiot). They do a diagnosis and tell me the bad news shortly after: my spark plugs essentially blew up. They were completely demolished and the second cylinder spark plug's electrode broke free and fell into the cylinder. They did a compression test and found that there was zero compression from cylinder 2. I call up Vishnu, mind you I'm going nuts at this point, talk to Shiv, and Shiv tells me their tune absolutely could not cause what had happened to my engine.
At this point I realize that I still have to get my car fixed. The stealership quoted me a minimum price of $10,000, so I decided that I would do some research and pick a nice shop to do it instead. After some research I decided on EDO Performance in Huntington Beach, CA, mainly because it's close to my house and they specialize in STIs and Evos. I met with Edwin, the shop owner and manager, and I really liked his professionalism so I went with EDO. Before taking it to EDO I had HB Mitsu fix the electronics problem since that was still an issue. They replaced the ECU which still did not resolve it, and they nailed it down to the ETACS system. They ordered a new one (approximately $400) and that resolved it. That was probably the first good news of this whole ordeal lol. One issue resolved! Bad thing was that I was already set back $2400 because I had to buy a new ECU and ETACS + labor. Those together cost me about $1900 from the stealership so $500 in labor was actually a good deal. Paul from HB Mitsu treated me fairly and did his best to help me.
I took my car to EDO about mid-July (I was still able to drive it) and they had to wait until I got a loan approved. Took me about two weeks to get the loan I wanted so they started the work about a month ago. So here I am now, about 2-3 weeks from getting my car back. I feel like I'm doing the right thing at this point. It's taking a little bit longer for the rebuild only because the valves for the head were on back order from Mitsu and I'm not comfortable putting oversized ones in.
About two weeks I talked to Shiv again, stating that I was thinking about going to court with him but I decided against it. I am not the type of person that sues people and now I realize I ran a risk of blowing my engine by doing any mods to my car. It was a bad situation and I'm trying to just move on with my life and get the car how I want it to be so I can enjoy it. Today I talked with Shiv again and he agreed to refund 50% of the cost of my tune and he will flash the ECU back to stock so I can possibly sell it in the future (if anyone needs it let me know).
Here's what is being done to my car:
-EDO Mitsubishi Evo X Stage 1 Short Block w/ JE Pistons and Carillo Pro-H CAR Connecting Rods
-FP Red
-ARP Head Stud Kit
-Cosworth MX1 Cams
-Magneflux Head
-Head work and CNC porting and polishing
-Port and Polishing Turbo and Exhaust Manifolds
-800cc Deatschwerks Fuel Injectors
-Upgraded Fuel Pump
In addition, EDO has kindly agreed to put the following parts that I have ordered in the past month during the install:
-ATP Downpipe (the new one!)
-Nisei 1-piece UICP
-Works Drop-In Filter
-I also already have the Buschur Quiet Exhaust so I'll be keeping that for now.
I want to let everyone know how great of a shop EDO Performance is. They are truly professionals and they are definitely making this difficult time easier for me. They're doing everything they can to get the car how I want it to be, and even going through hoops at times to make me happy. I will be updating this thread with pics and how my car comes out as I go. I also have pics of the damage that was caused to the short block and head. FYI - the damage is believed to been caused by the electrode falling to the head, where it fell into a second cylinder valve, valve cracked when it went down on the electrode, then the pieces of the electrode and valve fell into the cylinder and caused some straight up and down scratches to the cylinder wall. The short block and head have been repaired / CNC'd / ported and polished by a local machine shop that EDO uses and trusts.
Thanks for taking the time to read,
Wilbdog
Pictures of Damage:
Last but not least, the straight up and down lines on the second cylinder wall:
On the way there (by the way he said the Vishnu tune was working well before this happened - turbo pulling consistently through lower RPMs like it's advertised) when he was getting off the offramp of the freeway the car completely turned off. Luckily he was close to the shoulder and was able to pull to the side. Temperature gauges NEVER went up. He waits 5 minutes, turns the car back on and notices the car is not running right. He decides to take it straight back to my place - during the drive home the car backfires, idles like a crazed gorilla, and runs exceptionally poor. I think it's important to note that the car was running like this the moment the car was turned on after it died on the freeway. He calls me up and we agree that I would take it to the dealership when I get back - so Tuesday morning.
I take it to the dealership Tuesday morning (May 27) and stupidly I tell them I had a tune. Yes - very stupid of me, and my friend even told me not to say this, but I hate lying and didn't think it would be an engine failure. I figured I just needed a new battery or something (god I was an idiot). They do a diagnosis and tell me the bad news shortly after: my spark plugs essentially blew up. They were completely demolished and the second cylinder spark plug's electrode broke free and fell into the cylinder. They did a compression test and found that there was zero compression from cylinder 2. I call up Vishnu, mind you I'm going nuts at this point, talk to Shiv, and Shiv tells me their tune absolutely could not cause what had happened to my engine.
At this point I realize that I still have to get my car fixed. The stealership quoted me a minimum price of $10,000, so I decided that I would do some research and pick a nice shop to do it instead. After some research I decided on EDO Performance in Huntington Beach, CA, mainly because it's close to my house and they specialize in STIs and Evos. I met with Edwin, the shop owner and manager, and I really liked his professionalism so I went with EDO. Before taking it to EDO I had HB Mitsu fix the electronics problem since that was still an issue. They replaced the ECU which still did not resolve it, and they nailed it down to the ETACS system. They ordered a new one (approximately $400) and that resolved it. That was probably the first good news of this whole ordeal lol. One issue resolved! Bad thing was that I was already set back $2400 because I had to buy a new ECU and ETACS + labor. Those together cost me about $1900 from the stealership so $500 in labor was actually a good deal. Paul from HB Mitsu treated me fairly and did his best to help me.
I took my car to EDO about mid-July (I was still able to drive it) and they had to wait until I got a loan approved. Took me about two weeks to get the loan I wanted so they started the work about a month ago. So here I am now, about 2-3 weeks from getting my car back. I feel like I'm doing the right thing at this point. It's taking a little bit longer for the rebuild only because the valves for the head were on back order from Mitsu and I'm not comfortable putting oversized ones in.
About two weeks I talked to Shiv again, stating that I was thinking about going to court with him but I decided against it. I am not the type of person that sues people and now I realize I ran a risk of blowing my engine by doing any mods to my car. It was a bad situation and I'm trying to just move on with my life and get the car how I want it to be so I can enjoy it. Today I talked with Shiv again and he agreed to refund 50% of the cost of my tune and he will flash the ECU back to stock so I can possibly sell it in the future (if anyone needs it let me know).
Here's what is being done to my car:
-EDO Mitsubishi Evo X Stage 1 Short Block w/ JE Pistons and Carillo Pro-H CAR Connecting Rods
-FP Red
-ARP Head Stud Kit
-Cosworth MX1 Cams
-Magneflux Head
-Head work and CNC porting and polishing
-Port and Polishing Turbo and Exhaust Manifolds
-800cc Deatschwerks Fuel Injectors
-Upgraded Fuel Pump
In addition, EDO has kindly agreed to put the following parts that I have ordered in the past month during the install:
-ATP Downpipe (the new one!)
-Nisei 1-piece UICP
-Works Drop-In Filter
-I also already have the Buschur Quiet Exhaust so I'll be keeping that for now.
I want to let everyone know how great of a shop EDO Performance is. They are truly professionals and they are definitely making this difficult time easier for me. They're doing everything they can to get the car how I want it to be, and even going through hoops at times to make me happy. I will be updating this thread with pics and how my car comes out as I go. I also have pics of the damage that was caused to the short block and head. FYI - the damage is believed to been caused by the electrode falling to the head, where it fell into a second cylinder valve, valve cracked when it went down on the electrode, then the pieces of the electrode and valve fell into the cylinder and caused some straight up and down scratches to the cylinder wall. The short block and head have been repaired / CNC'd / ported and polished by a local machine shop that EDO uses and trusts.
Thanks for taking the time to read,
Wilbdog
Pictures of Damage:
Last but not least, the straight up and down lines on the second cylinder wall:
Last edited by wilbdog; Aug 25, 2009 at 10:22 AM.
Jul 28, 2009, 11:51 AM
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rebuild already? man that just sucks, bad luck and all, well hope everything works out and hell I'd do the same thing upgrade the internals since its pulled apart already.
good luck with build and keep us informed
good luck with build and keep us informed
Jul 28, 2009, 12:01 PM
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WOW, that's all I've got to say! I've been in your shoes before, I owned a 1994 3.8 Mustang (High School) mind you (laughs)! Any way I was working full time financed the car, drove it for less than a year and the head gaskets blew. I was stupid and went with a split port swap, I replaced the stock engine with a 2000 3.8L. I also replaced the headers, had my computer flashed, added dual exhausts, cold air and was pushing close to 210hp. Essentially I spent a large amount of money on a car that never ran right after the work was completed! I hope your experience turns out a lot better than mine, needless to say I'll never modify again!
Jul 28, 2009, 02:23 PM
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That kind of sucks. I've had my Vishnu map for 7 months now with no problems at all *knock on wood*, although I noticed that after I got catback exhaust the car backfires sometimes when I downshift. Probably going to get it retuned at some point w/ more mods but for now it runs fine. Shiv actually did the reflash for me on the spot when I did it and took it for a test drive to make sure everything was running smooth. I guess what I'm trying to say is that for your engine to blow so soon after getting a flash sounds like some kind of freak accident. Kind of surprised that he'd be so cheap not to give you a full refund though lol.
Edwin's a good guy and knowledgable but I feel like he's the only one who knows what's going on at EDO and he gets overworked. Anyway good luck with the rebuild and keep us posted with updates!
Edwin's a good guy and knowledgable but I feel like he's the only one who knows what's going on at EDO and he gets overworked. Anyway good luck with the rebuild and keep us posted with updates!
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Jul 30, 2009, 02:05 AM
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Feel for you, thats some major unexpected bill and highlights the risk of modding, even tho the mod may not have caused a problem its an excuse for mitsi to worm out of warranty.
Good luck and i hope it works out OK for you.
Good luck and i hope it works out OK for you.
Jul 30, 2009, 07:14 AM
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Man that sucks! I had a 1G Eclipse explode on me. I sucked it up as my fault as well, then put a Buschur Stage 3 block and head, so I can relate. It sucked when I blew it, but I got about 5 years of trouble free fun out of it, and I never regretted building it!
Jul 30, 2009, 09:33 AM
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Man, I hope all goes well.... I have heard about things regarding Vishnu, especially on the NASIOC site (both good and bad), but definitely won't be doing business with them. I would have hoped they would have refunded 100% on this situation. That's crazy money you had to spend now on the total cost.
Big ups to you for not coming on here just bashing them, even though I think it's partially warranted.
Big ups to you for not coming on here just bashing them, even though I think it's partially warranted.
