First of all, let me start by stating that this thread is for my own personal gratification and ventilation of frustrations with stupidity. I think that I had exhausted enough searches of the other threads and I honestly am seeking help from the EvoM community. Ready, let's begin.

I purchased a 2003 BBY Evo8 at a dealer in Chicago (I live in NC). He clearly stated that the car was "bone stock" and still had the balance of the factory warranty. I bought a plane ticket and flew up to see, drive, and finalize the purchase on a Friday. It looked a little low and I asked if it was factory ride height or if it had springs. The dealer stated that it was all factory and he put it through their service depatment to make sure that it was all clean. I then proceeded to drive 13 hours to get home. On hour 12 after crossing the NC state line, the Service Engine Soon light illuminates.

Week 1 of ownership- I took the car to my local Mitsu dealer which has been nothing short of great. There was a pool of tranny oil on the garage floor. They find that the car has Tein lowering springs and an Exedy clutch. Those things would not void the warranty and he would fix the problem which was a broken EGR valve. Whoever had replaced the clutch had broken the EGR valve. A cost which I passed on to the dealer in Chicago. Took 3 days to get the part in. The gear oil had a tint in it which allowed them to locate the leak- Input shaft seal on the tranny.

Week 2 of ownership- the tranny seal finally came in and I had to set an appt to get it in the shop. The SES light was on again, the EGR valve popped off. I finally got it back thursday.

Long story short (too late I know), I have owned this car a total of 5 weeks and each week it has been in the shop for at least 2 days. This morning I take it in with a SES light and they checked the plugs to find that the gap is too small, and they put in 4 new plugs and charged me with that since the only other alternative would be to void the warranty. The Tech stated that if he can't fix it by tommorrow that I should see about sending the car back. The asst said something about the clutch having something to do with the P0300 Random Multiple cylinder misfire code? He stated that he couldn't clearly tell me exacly what the reasoning was but the tech explained it to him such that it made sense.

So here I stand- I have a burning hole in my pocket from the lack of funds to buy the car, a car that has seen more shop time than road time, and a broken dream. I don't know if I can send the car back since I have owned it for over a month, and if I do send it back what would I buy next? Nothing compares to the Evo.

 

This is why dealerships are gay. The car was most likely heavily bolted on at the least, abused, and when the owner couldnt deal with the problems he created any longer he sold the car. Now there yours. The P0300 code gets set off by the clutch chattering sometimes, I know it does it a lot with tiltions (really loud clutch) never heard of it with an exedy single though. Maybe its a twin disk. Either way, try and get it fixed. Good luck.

 

If there is any written evidence of the guys you bought it from saying it was bone stock and, since it clearly isn't, I'd think you'd have a case against them.

 

Sorry to hear about your problems, but personally I would never buy a use sportscar especially an evo..I dont know if you could return it since you finalized the paperwork already...

The only thing would be to just fix the problem & be done with it...Hopefully nothing else comes up..

 

Send it back!! That's dealer fraud!!
you have no idea what was done to that car, or what kind of money pit it's going to be!!

 

wow...that sux, you should have inspected the car a little better...how much did you pay? Sounds like you are stuck...how many miles on it?

Evo you own my have been raped...many times...without protection.

I would change all fluids immediately ...TC, rear diff, engine oil, system flush, check for leaks and stuff, maybe a compression test too.

...hows the car other than the madness? and did they get a fix for the p0300?

 

thats why u dont buy used cars

 

i bought my evo used... 8300k on it. Clean as hell...wasn't stock, but definetly well maintained

send it back, get with the BBB or something see

 

Other than the code nothing else has come up- 03 33xxxmi, it's still in the shop trying to get the code fixed and that has turned up nothing. I did get a free timing belt tensioner which the dealer here stated that it didn't look like it had been meddled with, and a free timing belt

let's not talk about the used car issue, I was a dealer for a long time and I saw people raped on new cars, not "gently" used cars. May have just been my clientele

 

The code is a normal occurance for 03 Evo's and it's also happening on all the other model years including the 06's. The most prevelant reason is that the 5th gear teeth are just a smidge smaller (or bigger?) than the input shaft. This cause the teeth to wobble a little bit causing the misfire sensor to see this and react buy pulling timing. Hence the code. Shepherd Racing and TRE have both said their transmissions will fix the problem.

I'm sure your tech will exhaust his efforts to try and find the problem but the P0300 flash won't help and it's something you'll have to get use to. As for the other problems, I'd take that up with the dealer you bought it from. If the car came with warranty and not "As is" then you might have something to work with.

 

That really sucks, I hope it all works out.

 

I bought a code reader from autozone that clears codes too. So if they say it is somthing like cirrusly stated, and it happens alot without any real negative effect than you might want to invest in one aswell. Or ou can go to autozone and they run codes for free( not sure if they clear them or not however ) .

 

how much was the reader and clearer you purchased-

the SES light came on at idle waiting for a gas pump to be available at a popular gas station. I had quite a bit of attention on the car and as if that was not enough attention, the long list of extremely improper language that streamed from my pie-hole was enough to get the off duty cop to come over to tell me to watch my mouth- to which I replied that it was none of his business and to eat me. George Carlin would have been impressed with the use of all of his list of off-color words.

 

LOL...nice.

I also have an Actron OBD-II tool. It cost me $105 at Pep-Boys awhile back. It's come in very handy within the last year and I think it's a tool every modded Evo should keep in thier toolbag.

 

i paid $170 for the nice one...
...i've used it on the go...well, pulled over...well worth the investment.