I bought a silver 03 evo in June from the local dealer (only mitsu dealer in 100 miles) and it already had A pillar guages (boost and AFR, not wideband so it just looks pretty), hks turbo timer, fidenza cam gears (i was told it was at stock settings, but i'm not sure how to check for myself), RMR exhaust (through a stock cat), HKS green intake, and Kumho tires. As far as i know those are all the mods, i'm not sure about the clutch. I bought the car with 17800 miles on it and being that i'm out of town half the month i'm now only at 20800.

Now the problem, i have had the "service engine soon" light on and off ever since i bought the car. If i am in 5th gear sometimes when i accelerate gently it will shudder, boost guage will sit at 5 psi, and the car has no power. That is when the SES light comes on. I drive it to work off the highway and don't use 5th gear so after a few days it goes away. I have read here about the problem and asked Mitsu to reflash my ECU and they did but the problem persists. They keep telling me i have a "cold start" engine code and that is why my SES light comes on. They also are telling me it is caused by my mods. The only "mod" i have put on myself was a Zaklee clear cam gear cover since the cam gears were exposed when i bought it.

Do i have the right to keep pushing this issue about my SES light even though i have mods? I could understand if i bolted this stuff on myself and started having problems but i bought the car from this dealership with these mods and have only driven it 3000 miles and am still covered by factory warranty. I thought about driving to another dealership about 90 minutes away but i was told they were a terrible dealership to work with. I have an appt on Saturday to get this recall work done (something in the exhaust i think) and the techs are supposed to try to tell me what aftermarket part is causing the problem. Of course so far all they have recommended is getting all factory parts and getting rid of all aftermarket parts. What would you do in this situation?

 

I'd say press the issue the with the dealer you bought it from. If you plan on going with someone else, i'd try to return everything as close to stock as possible. Also, ask for the codes your engine is throwing. If the dealer says its a cold start code, ask them for the number and do a search on them. Maybe it's something you can fix yourself with the head ache of a dealer?

 

Take it back to the dealer. I don't know why you didn't ask or press them to warranty the car (put it in paper documenting the current mods) before buying it.

 

well that's just it... when i bought it i pointed out that it had at least an intake and exhaust and asked if i was still covered under warranty and the sales person and sales manager as well as the finance manager all agreed that i should still be covered 36k miles or 3 years bumper to bumper.

Of course now when i'm working the issue my sales person doesn't work there anymore and the sales manager doesn't work there any more. Luckily i have been working with the same service dept people and showing them time and time again that i am not modding the car just trying to get it working properly. I just hope i can resolve this soon so when my warranty is up i can start modding.

 

Man..you might not be covered under warranty. I would do exactly what they say...put it back to stock with the exception of TT and gauges. I had serious issues with my used '03 silver with 12K on it (it was abviously put back to stock), and i was lucky enough to have the dealer literally take apart almost everything and put it back together to make sure everything was right. They kept it for 13 days, but fixed it. The service manager stated that if, (even though i bought it from another mitsu dealer) it still had any engine mods (intake, cams, etc...) , they would have not done the work under warranty. Also, dont forget the 36k is far away..but our cars are creeping up on being 3yrs old....so no warranty anyway. Make up your mind fast!

 

That is why I refuse to mod the car. Unless you have stock parts you can go back to Mistu is gonna stick it to you.

All I wanted was to be able to hear the BOV but when reading all the posts about intakes they all have problems just like yours. I am willing to bet a stock air box would fix that issue.

 

you should have asked for the continued warranty in writing...rather than taking the sales manager and finance manager's advice...you should have gotten it in writing from the service manager and general manager before purchasing the car...i can assure you that they would have given it to you if you demanded it before buying the car

i know its much easier for me to say this after the fact, but i guess it can be a lesson learned...dont accept and believe what everyone tells you...especially a car salesman

 

You can check the codes yourself and see what the problem is before going to the dealer. If you check on the board several people get codes all the time for their mods. If you don't have a code reader many auto stores will check them for you free, call and check before going.

 

Thank you all for responses. I have my appt in the morning so i'll update then as to what the Mitsu service guys are telling me. I went to the track on Wednesday to talk to some of the other Evo owners (didn't know anywhere else to find 4 other evos in 1 place) and they all pretty much agreed it was my HKS intake that may be causing a problem if it is actually from any of the aftermarket stuff on the car.

I am going to call some local parts stores today when i get off work and ask if they pull codes. If that doesn't work i am going to ask Mitsu what code they are showing. Thanx again!

 

Sounds exactly like a P0300 code behavior. Some of us are a bit plagued with it. Mitsu has firmware updates for the ECU for it. Some of us have just purchased a C-Reader so it can read and reset - even while you're driving down the road.

All that being said see what the dealer will do for you first. I've heard of folks returning Evos through the lemon law on the P0300 but they have to have a number of chances to fix it. If those folks at the dealer were going to say it was covered under warranty I wish you'd have gotten it in writing.

Again, if it's the P0300 (random misfire) it can be weathered. AutoZone and other places will read codes for free.

Feel free to do a search on here about the P0300 should that be what it is - there is much typed up on it around here.

Oh, and my advice is get a hi-flo cat asap and a decent flash - Works is a good place to start looking.

Good luck!

 

I have read up on that code and i was excited to see it was the same problem i was having. I told the tech at mitsu about it and they said they would reflash my car, they did and the problem persists. I asked what reflash they used or if there was more info on the reflash and they didn't know what i was talking about (acted as if there was only 1 reflash available). I need to verify for myself if the code they keep telling me is a "cold start code" is really P0300.

 

id take off mods to save warranty

 

C-Reader II's are on e-Bay and I think Vishnu uses them alot and may have stock due to they're trying to get around it while tuning. I ... THINK it's Vishnu ... got mine from e-Bay.

 

Oh, and I have mine permanently mounted with a strip of velcro that uses the screw on the right below the steering wheel just a few inches away from the OBD-II port. put the screw thru the center of the velcro strip and wrapped the head of the C-Reader. I'm also using a double-sided sticky foam piece to keep it insulated a bit from vibrations of the dash - won't make noise or marks that way.

AGAIN - all this being said, let the dealer deal with it and make up your mind if you're truly willing to live with it. Reports of the problem going away vary from tunes, plugs, plug gapping, clutch replacements, tranny replacements and even NONE OF THE ABOVE helping ... do what's right for YOU in the long run!

Good luck!

 

Take them off and then do what? i don't have the stock parts, i bought the car with these mods from the same Mitsu dealer i'm trying to get service from. Are you recommending i just go out and buy all stock parts and put those on? Don't think so. I think i will wait and see what item is causing the problem, replace that item with stock item, and wait to see if it is fixed!