Hey all,

To make a long story short, I found out this month that my turbo has a bad seal (after less than 25K miles) and my dealership refuses to repair it under warranty.

Rather than spend the exorbitant amount of money the dealership is asking for a stock turbo ($3.2K + labor) a very reputable shop has suggested getting an MHI 18K.

That said, I currently have very few mods on the car.

EDIT: Lolz looks like another thread about the same turbo and mods showed up about an hour after posting mine. Apologies if this has been asked before too many times.



- 3port
- Intake
- Catback
- UICP
- Tune

I'm not really looking for a huge amount of power, and would mostly prefer to stay as stock as possible since it is my DD.

I've opted to swap out the manifold for the MAP Cast manifold, but am having a hard time deciding if I need a DP or not. Obviously the cost of labor to replace to turbo makes the install of the DP a good choice, but I really do not want to swap out the stock cat. I hate emissions problems and would rather leave it as is. (Not to mention that this repair came in as a huge surprise and I don't have a lot of money to spend).

So, thoughts? Suggestions? Should I opt for a DP (most likely ETS recirculated since the AMS DP won't bolt up to the cat very well) with the stock cat, or just keep the stock DP.

Thanks for your insights and help!

 

He refused to warranty because you have a modded car?

 

That's correct....

Had an intake on the car and they just denied the warranty. I called up Mitsubishi customer service and they contacted the district manager, they told me the District Manager has the last call and that according to the pictures, my car is modified so they won't cover the expenses...

 

I have an MHI-18k turbo, great choice for a daily driven car- the best period honestly.

In regards to the downpipe, I have the AMS unit, I would upgrade the stock unit for sure. The stock unit is not a smooth design at all, peak power aside a good downpipe will help retain stock like spool- the greatest strength oh the MHI turbo.

 

Awesome, thanks for this, sir_z33.

I was also thinking of snagging an AMS downpipe, but it looks like because the AMS unit is a bit on the short side, it won't exactly bolt up to the OEM catalytic converter very well, and may result in exhaust leaks.

Does anyone have any comments on the above? I've also been told to go with either the ETS recirculated DP or the Tomei Expreme DP. The Tomei looks impressive and looks like the resist any cracks along the welds more so than the ETS piece. I'm just not entirely sure the these downpipes can be used with the stock heat shield.

Most importantly, adding in a DP would allow me to install an AFR gauge in the future once my wallet recovers

 

The AMS downpipe should have no issues bolting up to the stock cat, you'd just want to get a 2.5" to 3" flange adapter from ETS to make sure it's all sealed up.


The Tomei piece is the same design as the AMS piece, just 2 parts and titanium instead a single cast piece.


You'd be fine with any of the mentioned downpipes, they're all quality pieces from reputable manufacturers.


Note, you could get a bung welded in to the stock cat pipe if you wanted to skip the downpipe (though I recommend doing a DP with the turbo swap regardless).

 

Ahhh perfect! Thank you shekaar!

That's just what I wanted to hear, I'm going to talk to my local shop and see what they say! I'll probably go with the Tomei to help with the costs a bit since it's slightly on the less expensive side.

 

I know dealers can deny you warranty claims because it's modified, but shouldn't they be able to at least somewhat prove that the modifications could cause the issue that you are bringing in for warranty? A bad seal on a turbo is not something that some simple bolt-ons are going to cause.

 

A tune can tho..



- zeRep

 

I would challenge them not warrantying the turbo due to an air intake if the car has not been tuned. They need to be able explain to you have the intake caused the turbo to fail. And they're going to have a hard time doing that.

 

Well he did say the car was tuned, but this is my point. They have to be able to actually believe that some super basic mods caused a turbo failure, and that's not something that typically happens.

 

Flash it back to stock, "tune" is not an issue.


In reality, it's a good excuse to upgrade if you have the money. Definitely purchase a downpipe/O2 eliminator to go with the turbo upgrade. The dp and O2 housing are removed in order to replace the turbo, so there will be no additional labor charge for these pieces. And the larger turbo can use the increased airflow of a better down pipe.


You could also find a good stock turbo for about $400. Or take your turbo off and send it out for a rebuild for a few hundred bucks. There are several less expensive options than upgrading to an 18k if you can't/don't want to spend the money right now.

 

if im not mistaken you can actually see if the ecu has been changed i.e tuned and then reflashed

 

I have an ams downpipe for sale. https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sa...-downpipe.html

 

While agree that the down pipe will be beneficial, wouldn't the gains be negated by the cat? The down pipe will get the exhaust out faster, but then only to be slowed down by the restriction of the cat.