Earlier this week a friend of mine took his 03 Evo (red 19000 miles) with an upgraded intercooler, cams, exhaust, AEM thats it i think.

He took his car in becausethe syncroes were bad and needed them replaced he also burned his clutch out as well. Dealership ok'd the warranty claim and and agree'd to install aftermarket clutch for a fee. So far so good.

Before the car went in the car was running perfectly other than the tranny grinding but non the less engine would get full boost and felt strong.

He gets a call after the car is torn apart and tranny is down to come in. He is told his timing tensioner is bad and the timing belt is loose. The next thing was he must pay for all parts and labor for the timing belt and tensioner or they wont work on his car or warranty the syncroes. Also if he wants to pull his car out they will not put it together give him the parts and charge him labor to pull the car apart and he would have to tow it out the same day.

Has anyone ever had this happen let alone have the timing tensioner go bad?

 

they are trying to scam him. He needs to speak to the service manager or the GM of that dealer immediatly because he never brought his car in for timing issues. He only agreed for the work on his tranny and that is it. He also needs to call Mitsu corporate as well.

 

I agree, then are trying to scam him. I had a similar event happen to me when I first got my car. Security system problem. They tried to tell me it was not covered under warranty....the system was installed by the dealership, the car was bought brand new with only 3000 miles on it. I called the GM and told him if they were not going to fix it under warranty then I would return the car and get my money back and if it not resolved in a week I am getting a lawyer. I got a car back in 4 days...did not pay a dime, rental car, and a free oil change.

 

Well that was my first impression because honestly they had no business even touching the timing belt in the first place and if im correct they had the timing tensioner removed before he even got there.
If they removed and worked on the tensioner without is approval and or signature everyting will be free anyway.

 

Your buddy should be happy that they are fixing the tranny for free with those mods. Pay the few hundred bucks for the timing-belt etc and be done with it. Its not a bad idea to have a nice new timing belt etc on a 3 year old car anyway, even if the miles are low. Your bud is lucky the dealership didnt laugh at him.

That said, why would they cover the tranny and not the engine part? Unless they are trying to get the arm and leg into you.

 

STEALership

 

During a routine oil change the mitsubishi service manager told me that my head studs were causing a head gasket leak. They were quick to quote me a $1200 charge to fix this. They pointed me to the area on the backside where the motor was aparently leaking... I removed the plastic motor cover and notice that oil had spilled here (probobly due to a previous oil change) causing some dripage down the backside. Their gasket leak was nothing more then some careless oil dripage during an oil change.

Just to note, my car had been running these mods with out issue for over 12k miles.

why do they try stuff like this? its because the vast majority of people are stupid and they can get away with it..

 

+1

although i dont agree with what the dealership is trying to do, but with his mods, i am shocked that they are even servicing the car.

 

I agree it may be something that really needs to be done and if so he shold be happy.

Its just that the mods were known before he even went in and everything was agreed upon before his arrival. Like i said his car was running strong and i'm pretty sure everything was fine.

Now once the car is in pieces the hydrolic timing tensioner is removed with his permission and now has no choice but to fix it and pay premium for it as well.