Wow, what a find

What prompted you to pull the valve cover? (noise?) & are you sure no head / cam work was done to this EvO?

That could have or did it do any damage?

 

2006 Evo 9 MR ~64k miles original owner
I've owned it since four miles on the odo. from South Coast Mitsu
Never did any internal engine work I've only done brakes and suspension

The engine was making some lifter tick noises under cold-start, so I figured the lifters needed bleeding/replacing


Looking at the markings it belongs to a Nagahori Heavy Industries



After contacting them...

 

Interesting find, bet you would have never thought that was what the noise was!

 

Contacted Mitsubishi







And after a lot of back and forth they say the vehicle is out of warranty, and they will only cover the $ 300-700 of diagnostic fees at a Mitsu dealership ($ 155/hr, quoted 1-2 hr for drive-test diagnostic, then 4-5 hrs to pull valve cover to investigate upper valvetrain for damage) if the socket is determined to have caused any damage.

Meaning, if the dealership says it's mechanically fine, then I pay the fees...
to which I explained it's akin to finding a fly in one's soup, but didn't get sick, however it doesn't explain how or why there's a socket there in the first place.

Thus we've reached an impasse.

 

That valve spring and retainer should be replaced, and check the valve guide for excess wear. Pretty ****ty mitsu isn't willing to do anything when it's clearly 100% their problem. That's not even a "warranty" issue. I would take that higher up the food chain.

 

Apparently it went as high up as it could, spoke to someone who's the customer service manager Lupe Barra(sp?) who told me the Operations Manager and the District Manager was involved.

 

I would ask to speak directly to them. This isn't some questionable manufacturing defect. A tool was left behind.

 

Isnt there a way to release all this info on facebook and spread it around the world about how Mitsu puts cars together?

 

I tried pushing but ended up getting stonewalled, this was the culmination of a month of e-mailing, phone calls, back and forths between dealerships and Mitsubishi Corp. and sleuthing on the socket itself. It's disheartening, for sure, after participating in MOD multiple times at their Cypress Headquarters I had at least an inkling feeling that they gave a damn about their fanbase... so I wanted to give 'em a chance by keeping this under wraps but ultimately now I just feel like sharing the lulz

I gave it a shot by sharing it on facespace, twitter, and insta


but it's just a funny story at this point.

 

Wow, that is pretty insane.

[ Btw, going to have to ask you to stop stealing my name please... ( lol jk :P ) ]

 

Yea it might just be cheaper to replace the valve springs and retainers rather than pursue any action against Mitsubishi. Amazing effort though I would have definitely not taken it as far as you did.

 

Mistubishi should stand tall on this one. That socket is definately theirs... if it were a craftsman or Blackhawk ect.. I would say your wrong but it is clear as day. I'm sure if mitsubishi would take care of you that you would take down all of the posts. I mean cmon.. at most what would it cost them to fix this... then they would have a happy customer that would speak well of them.. I say keep pushing and see if mitsubishi will take care of this. They don't realize how involved and passionate us mitsu guys are. CMON MITSUBISHI hold it down for us guys representing you out here! Especially with your 100 year anniversary and pushing back into the American market!

Super rare scenario. Take care of him.

 

just to remind everyone... mitsu's automobile business in the US is TOAST.

no north america presence.

in general, the company is in bad shape.. and until nissan figures out what to do with it, i would not expect Mitsu "standing tall" on anything.

just my opinion.. but maybe im wrong.

your just lucky there hasnt been more damage.
i say replace the valve spring and rock and roll.

 

Have not kept up on the current business issue w/Mitsu NA but will have to read up on it

Youre right though, take that socket & put it in your tool box & say thanks Mitsu

Good thing it didnt do much after all these years. That really could have been the "monkey wrench"