Voided warranty question
Sounds like you got tagged by one of the regional service managers. I think that's a done deal. Your normal warranty will still be in tact for the body, but as far as the engine/trans and everything else I think you are done. Might as well start modding the **** out of it now.
In response to Dennis, how is it extortion by telling them you will have your lawyer present them with a letter of intent to sue if they are breaking the law? There is nothing that even borders extortion about telling them you intend to sue them for voiding your warranty without proving that it was in fact the flash that fried the transfer case.
I am pretty sure that if you wanted to try that, you would need to go to arbitration first. It falls under the customer agreement at purchasing.
Saying you will get a lawyer because they won't fix your car is border line extortion. This guy would have to prove the car was as stock as the day it was born just as much as Mitsu would have to prove that the aftermarket part broke the car.
The OP knows the car has a tune on it and tried to get it warrantied anyway. What can suing really do at this point?
^ i wouldn't bother suing personally.
It is a broken system...it took my 2 years and lots of hours of my time and money to complete my lawsuit vs a dealership over my Evo 8. We won eventually, but I lost money overall...the lawyer got 15k though for doing ****..so the dealer still got screwed which they deserved. Honestly it isn't worth the time and hassle unless you really want to prove a point. Next time I will just accept the fact and deal with it accordingly.
It is a broken system...it took my 2 years and lots of hours of my time and money to complete my lawsuit vs a dealership over my Evo 8. We won eventually, but I lost money overall...the lawyer got 15k though for doing ****..so the dealer still got screwed which they deserved. Honestly it isn't worth the time and hassle unless you really want to prove a point. Next time I will just accept the fact and deal with it accordingly.
you went to south coast!? i thought they were one of the most lenient dealers out there right?
what do you mean by "just my bad i forgot to tell them i have a flash...?" how did they know you were flashed if you didn't tell them? or they got mad you lied at first? please explain.
i was under the impression south coast was really good to the enthusiasts. but if they voided your warrantee just for a flash, well, so much for their reputation.
(and yes, like people said above--it's not legal to void your warrantee, but you're gonna have to hire a lawyer to fight that)
what do you mean by "just my bad i forgot to tell them i have a flash...?" how did they know you were flashed if you didn't tell them? or they got mad you lied at first? please explain.
i was under the impression south coast was really good to the enthusiasts. but if they voided your warrantee just for a flash, well, so much for their reputation.
(and yes, like people said above--it's not legal to void your warrantee, but you're gonna have to hire a lawyer to fight that)
also i still can't believe it's my transfer case, my local shop and i checkup the sound, it should be coming from my drive shaft...and after seeing the dealership saying from transfer case, we compared another evo x and our transfer case sounds the same... however, i borrow my friend's drive shaft and after installed it, the noise is still here...now im so confuse...my advisor suggest me go to the dealership and try but it's not a 100% works(because the system has my record?). i called every where...they said need to be completely stock... i need at least $400 on labor to take off my parts and still it might not work...so i don't know what to do...
the answer is that there IS a "flash counter" but the regular service dept cant see it. if they take your ECU and send it off to mitsu, then they can see it.
in this case i believe that a new transfer case is mucho expensivo, thus the regional mitsu guy came and saw that the ROM is different (ie ecu reflashed) and so bye bye powertrain warranty. you dont need to make more power, as long as mitsu has proof you touched the ECU, you are SOL...
the best thing to do is bring it back to stock. and by that i mean the EXACT same rom id as stock. not a "stock" map. mitsu has your vin and your expected rom id. any difference and they will void your warranty. even if you go in for an oil change they CAN check your ecu... NOT to look for reflashes per se but to see if you have the latest rom update. that way if you dont have the latest flash, they will do it automatically and then they can bill mitsu for service you never asked for. nice eh?
in this case i believe that a new transfer case is mucho expensivo, thus the regional mitsu guy came and saw that the ROM is different (ie ecu reflashed) and so bye bye powertrain warranty. you dont need to make more power, as long as mitsu has proof you touched the ECU, you are SOL...
the best thing to do is bring it back to stock. and by that i mean the EXACT same rom id as stock. not a "stock" map. mitsu has your vin and your expected rom id. any difference and they will void your warranty. even if you go in for an oil change they CAN check your ecu... NOT to look for reflashes per se but to see if you have the latest rom update. that way if you dont have the latest flash, they will do it automatically and then they can bill mitsu for service you never asked for. nice eh?
^Very true. I talked with someone whom I know that works for Mitsu. He said that mitsu does NOT have a way to know how many times the car has been flashed using his Mitsu flasher, forget what its actually called. Once the ECU is flashed, it erases all the history of flashes, etc. I was told that it could be possible to tell how many flashes on the ECU using the crash computer. This is used for failures do to Mitsu's original programming, like toyotas brake or gas pedal thing, whatever it was. So, yes it could be possible to count flashes/tell that the ECU has been flashed, but only if there was a major issue with some programming and the crash computer had to be used, otherwise no, they wouldnt use the crash computer for something like an AWC reflash. So everyone should be good, as long as you flash back to stock.
hate to say it, but I agree with this... seems like he was trying to get a transfercase/other drivetrain problem fixed.
newsflash... altering the car's ECU to operate outside of stock parameters pretty much completely shifts the burden of proof from them to you.
the argument quickly goes from:
"you(Mitsubishi) have to prove that what I changed caused the failure"
to:
"I(the owner) have to prove that what I changed did not cause the failure"
a subtle, but significant, difference...
pay to play, etc., etc.
newsflash... altering the car's ECU to operate outside of stock parameters pretty much completely shifts the burden of proof from them to you.
the argument quickly goes from:
"you(Mitsubishi) have to prove that what I changed caused the failure"
to:
"I(the owner) have to prove that what I changed did not cause the failure"
a subtle, but significant, difference...
pay to play, etc., etc.