Hello All.

So I posted a couple month ago about noise coming from the rear differential. So after having the unit pulled and inspected by jack's transmission, they found the following: RUST!

How does rust get in a differential like that. I live in San Jose CA, so a very dry place. The car is a Final Edition FE i bought brand new early this year like Late March/Early APR. Currently I have 7K miles on it. NEVER BEEN IN SNOW OR DEEP WATER. We had a drought here so rain was few and far in-between. Anyone experience something similar before? The rust is focused mainly on the two bearing pictured below. They are from an inner hub area of the diff. Having the rear rebuild and would LOVE to avoid this in the future.

Side note, when the noise came up, Mitsubishi cancel my warranty and said I blew my Diff due to mod/tune so warranty voided.... shows how much they know.

 

What fluid did you have in there?

 

I just added water in there.... Jk jk.

Stock fluid, Diaqueen.

 

That sucks to hear. Did you have any mods on the car at all when you took it to Mitsu?

 

So I had full bolt on and a tune. When I brought it in, I was thinking no way in hell they are going to void a rear diff warranty claim from engine mods. When I brought it in, I said it was modded but I believe the issue wasn't caused by my mods. They kept the car for a week and told me to come back in. They said that they can't perform warranty work because the first thing corporate asked was for my dealer to pull data from the ECU to see if anything was ever flashed. Base on that, they said the added power from the COBB OTS stage 3 tune voided the warranty because the rear diff can't handle the added power. I guess in their mind, they established that my rear differential damage is caused directly by modification I made to the car, therefore, my entire warranty is voided.

 

thats really sucks

 

ouch sounds expensive.

 

Can you go back to the Dealership and show them the diff., or the photos?

 

I would. Power doesn't cause that.

 

What else does the ecu log ?
I never knew that !!!!
I'm sorry to hear that, but you gotta play the game !
These car companies will do any and everything to avoid a high dollar warranty repair, gotta read the fine print.
You gave them a reason not to service the car, but they should at least try to compromise and work something out
Power doesn't cause rust...

 

Its not that the ECU logs flashes (it does that too), but the dealer can pull the ROM file and the computer can compare it to the OEM rom file that is supposed to be on the car (tracked by VIN#). When its all different, the computer comes back and says the ECU has aftermarket programming on it.

 

This.

 

That sucks man. I would bring the pics to Mitsubishi as well if you feel like fighting it. You will need to open a claim with corporate but you may get something back towards the repair. Chances are really slim but hey it'll only cost you time and maybe some gas driving there.

Just have to weigh what your time costs to you really.

My question is have you/a shop ever changed the rear diff fluid at all since it was bought new??

As for the warranty that is pretty standard you can't expect them to cover any drive train items when the car/ecu have been modified to make > stock power. Though in your situation this is where you may get a good faith warranty repair from mitusbishi as in no way shape or form would increased power cause rust inside of the differential.

Which is why I asked if the fluid was ever changed since you bought it new. I wouldn't imagine so at only 7k but maybe you were bored or whatever

 

He breached the Contract, game over..
Why didn't you flash the stock rom back on the ecu, and remove all the aftermarket parts ??
They call Mitsubishi satan when it comes to stuff like this man !!
Anyway, lesson learned, let the shop repair the diff and keep it pushing, don't waste your time fighting a already LOST battle.

 

So the thing is, if I busted my rear diff due to my mods there is no way ill go and make mitsu pay for my recklessness. I became more confrontation after a series of exchanges I had with them which eventually led me to back down. Their argument is that after their research, my added power broke my diff. So fine, I left and just went on to get the issue resolved on my own.

So now im here trying to figure out how rusted bearings got in my car because their claim now completely doesn't make sense. Never knew cobb ots tunes rusted rear diff bearings. My diff is being rebuilt as we speak. All my original parts are in very good condition per my tech and going back into the rear diff except these two bearings.

When I get my car back, ill have to go back to the dealer any how since I been trying to cancel my extended warranty... Which apparently after all that has happen, I need to continue paying until both me and my car can be there in person in order to cancel. If I can conclude the fault here is really not my tune after all, ill raise hell.