Evo IX BRICKED from ECM reprogramming recall
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Joined: May 2016
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From: Southern California
Evo IX BRICKED from ECM reprogramming recall
So I went today to the dealership to get the air bag recall done and the ECM re programed. Long story short what happened is that they basically bricked my car to my understanding. I have been researching and it I have read somewhere that it could happen to some cars if the tech does not no what his doing or if he did something wrong. I am just really scared and stressed out that they messed up my evo and I dealerships tends to rip you off. So my question is what is my next step to this? I am really paranoid that they just leave me hanging and that they wont fix it. Thank you very much
Side note:
Evo is completely 100% stock.
Side note:
Evo is completely 100% stock.
If your evo is 100% stock and they bricked your ecu, they need to take responsibility for that and get you another ecu that is 100% compatible with your car. Don't worry, they can't just take your car in and screw it up. That's not what a recall is about. Give them a call back and politely ask them when they will be done fixing it.
Evolving Member
Joined: Jun 2016
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From: oregon
Yup this is 100% on the dealer don't let them skate you around on this hold your ground and make them fix it if they try to hand you a bill say nope your not paying for anything if they can't train there idiots to do there job it's there problem not yours....
PS when I bought my first car brand new a 2006 wrx I was young and dumb and almost got screwed by the Subaru dealer my cars clutch lasted 700 miles we kept telling them we could smell burning clutch they said it was normal for a new clutch lo and behold it wasn't lol turns out my flywheel was loose from the factory they tried to make me pay for it saying I ruined it till my dad went in and looked at it then they had to man up and fix it
PS when I bought my first car brand new a 2006 wrx I was young and dumb and almost got screwed by the Subaru dealer my cars clutch lasted 700 miles we kept telling them we could smell burning clutch they said it was normal for a new clutch lo and behold it wasn't lol turns out my flywheel was loose from the factory they tried to make me pay for it saying I ruined it till my dad went in and looked at it then they had to man up and fix it
Last edited by Evo_Goodness; May 10, 2017 at 07:06 AM.
What do you mean by its bricked? Can you expand on that? Given that your car is 100% stock there is no reason that their ECU reprogramming should make your car run like crap if thats what its doing. Dont let them push you around and don't take no for an answer. If it ran fine prior and thats no longer the case then something is amiss and they need to make it right.
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Joined: May 2016
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From: Southern California
What do you mean by its bricked? Can you expand on that? Given that your car is 100% stock there is no reason that their ECU reprogramming should make your car run like crap if thats what its doing. Dont let them push you around and don't take no for an answer. If it ran fine prior and thats no longer the case then something is amiss and they need to make it right.
I do appreciate your guys help.
See post #79 (quoted below also). I helped my local dealership twice with this exact issue. One of the owners took his complaint all the way to Mitsubishi NA which sent the dealership scrambling.
bboypuertoroc is correct. There's unfortunately only one Mitsubishi dealership here. That's exactly the step that this dealership is not doing right. Long story short, there was an Evo IX there that just would not start after a "failed" reflash. The tech stated he attempted to reflash but could no longer communicate with the ECU, which I thought seemed odd. I hooked up my laptop and guess what.... I was able to communicate with the ECU. I downloaded the ROM image and poked around for a bit. I disabled the immobilizer, reflashed the ECU, car fired right up. A couple months later, I get a call from them asking me to help them out again with another Evo IX. 
Since I was nice enough to help them out the first time, I kindly asked for some sort of compensation for my time if I were to bail them out this second time. I'm still waiting for a call back from them.Oh and attached below is the updated 88590016 ROM that Mitsubishi is reflashing into Evo IXs.
Since I was nice enough to help them out the first time, I kindly asked for some sort of compensation for my time if I were to bail them out this second time. I'm still waiting for a call back from them.Oh and attached below is the updated 88590016 ROM that Mitsubishi is reflashing into Evo IXs.
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Thread Starter
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Joined: May 2016
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From: Southern California
Could you elaborate and tell us what the dealership did exactly? Did they reflash your ECU or did they pull the main ECU relay to reset your ECU and then reflash?
Thread Starter
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Joined: May 2016
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From: Southern California
Sorry for the thread bump but I am having a similar issue. Where is the “big main ECU” relay?
Pulling the "ecu relay" doesn't do anything, its the same as if the key is turned off. And before it comes up, pulling the ecu fuse is no different than unhooking the battery. So if you think you need to "reset" the ecu (which is not a thing), just unhook the battery.
If the ecu bricks during a factory reflash, all they need to do is hook up the toughbook MUT and full size VCI and force a reflash. The old hardware can still get in there and reflash it; the toughpad MUT/VCI Lite does not have that capability (and is also prone to bricking old ecus).
If you (aamoedo) bricked it with ECUFlash, then all bets are off. The factory system has a fail safe, ECUFlash does not.
If the ecu bricks during a factory reflash, all they need to do is hook up the toughbook MUT and full size VCI and force a reflash. The old hardware can still get in there and reflash it; the toughpad MUT/VCI Lite does not have that capability (and is also prone to bricking old ecus).
If you (aamoedo) bricked it with ECUFlash, then all bets are off. The factory system has a fail safe, ECUFlash does not.