if you use an open source solution you can just download your map before you ever get tuned and then swap maps whenever you want with a tractrix cable.

I think my point is more in the ethics of the ideals.
- You change from the (IMO ****ty) factory tune, you should not be going to the dealership when you spin a rod bearing asking for warranty coverage.

I totally understand wanting to be discrete though. I totally acknowledge some scheisty dealerships will tell you they can't warranty a chain stretch issue because you put a full exhaust on your car, under the pretense "you're making too much power that the stretch will happen". I don't always agree with it, but it's pay to play.

I totally support people fighting Mitsu for warranty service on their seats, vents, power windows, windshield wipers, or whatever even if they have a 500whp daily driver with everything modified. Because the mods they did have nothing relevant with stuff like that.

But if you get a ****ty tune from a ****ty tuner, and you don't really know enough about datalogging, or even monitoring your car with appropriate gauges and something blows, screw trying to work over the system for warranty coverage. It sucks but most of the people on here that know their ****, know it from the school of Hard Knocks (and detonation).

I think we're all the same page and want to see the OP get his problem worked out, and with a different tuner. But it's why this community is a bajillion times better than iwsti, nasioc or hondatech amirite?




edit: ****, sorry Ken, I didn't even answer your question. I'm sorry.
They can:
- If you have a locked ecu (from like EcuTek) wont be able to read your ecu and it's logical that someone locked it that wasn't them
- Check the Rom ID if you flash a map it will have a different ID, but if you flash back you'll be fine with this
- In 4 years it's unconfirmed if there's a way to measure the flash counter, but Tephra proved there is one. However, anytime they update your firmware it will increment, so its worthless IMO

- And the #1 way, Social Engineering. You know how many idiotic Evo owners will brag to a tech or service writer about their mods and tune or events they go to. Or out of fear. The dealer will see a case where they will likely have to go to Mitsu Corp for warranty coverage and will push the owner with threats about sending the ecu out to be benched or whatever, when in fact most times is just a good tech that can see hoses were moved or cut or bolts are missing.

Sometimes the best way to work with a tough dealer is to be faceless. Never answer questions or hang around while they work on your car. Just drop it off and keep conversation to a very minimum on the phone and let the dealer work for it. Remember warranty work means that Mitsu pays them, and ultimately they don't care who pays, as long as they get the work. As often as a dealer pushes a customer for stuff, they push corporate to cover stuff too.

 

Your warranty is already screwed. The COBB AP is not a "warranty-safe" device. How in the hell do people justify the AP as a warranty-safe device based on its ability to flash back to stock? Are you unaware that EcuFlash is also able to do that?

And, OP, use the search button. What are the odds that no one has ever discussed this since 2007? Think about it.

 

Thanks TheBlade. I have been wanting to get a tune. But as I've said in other posts, I have had bad experiences with Mitsu and warranty. They have literally denied warranty on my stock car over an issue they put a TSB out over.

I dont want to change out any parts or perform any mods beside a tune. I just wish Mitsu would tune a little more.....I guess aggressively. But at the same time their tune is probably safest for the car. I think I'm just going to stay stock until out of warranty

 

Odin,

The last time I got tuned was last fall, and all I had on the car at the time was an ETS catback and I still got 303 whp.

Granted, the local tuner English Racing is well regarded in these parts, but I can't help but think you should be able to get a lot more out of that setup.

I have an MR too, same year as you.

 

Although I totally promote the ethics of not warrantying with tuning, it's my humblest opinion that the factory tune is so ridiculously rich it's on the unsafe side. I also believe the Evo is a solid car and the entire platform is vigorous.

I would do a drop-in filter, cat-back, upper and lower IC pipes and an AP tune in a heartbeat. Anytime going to a dealership for work I would simply uninstall the AP and still drive the car in as the car is totally safe with those mods. I wouldn't even consider something failing with those mods. Unless your using the tuner the OP is using

 

I idolize you guys that aren't going to mod until out of warranty. The self control is amazing. My 2012 is less than 6 months old and the only thing stopping me from going all the way with it is money!! No way I can wait for the warranty to expire. Maybe it is risky but I can't control it. Car is way to slow now. I would have kept my Rover if I wanted to cruise.

But I have a question, why would the dealer care if it's modded if corporate is paying? If it's a choice between the customer just saying "I will live with the damage" or getting money from corporate, why not just look the other way? Other than the moral part of it of course. Actually Morales don't really come into play because what I have read they deny coverage on things not even caused by the mod so them just billing Mistu for it wouldn't be immoral.

 

Because with Evo's Corporate likes to send their region reps out to investigate and do adjustments. If the dealership is caught, they *will* lose their ability to sell Mitsus. They risk way more than the customer is worth.

However it's not unheard of for a dealer to tell someone, "Go home and put your stock parts on then come back"

 

I really wonder if I am doing more harm then good on my car by keeping the factory tune? From what I have read others have said that the 2012 tune is at least a little better. But who knows for sure.

If I was to do any mod first I would do a tune and drop-in. But I really like the 2012 exhaust. I was surprised how fairly loud it is for being stock. So I don't know if I would want to invest in another exhaust. Plus it would be a pain to have to swap out the exhaust back to factory when it came to warranty work.

So do you recommend the AP tune? You think its worth it if I keep my car stock? Do you think it's bad to keep a factory tune?

What I was also told is Mitsu does pay the dealership for the warranty work. But they also pay them a set amount depending on the job and this is based on how many hours Mitsu feels it should take to complete the warranty work.

For example this dealership had to change out my convertible top on my Eclipse. Mitsu may have paid them for 10 hours of work (just a guess). This dealership had my car off and on for about a couple of weeks. I think they had to put in way more time then Mitsu was saying it will take. This of course was also the dealers fault because they didnt do the warranty work right to begin with.

But overall the impression I got was Mitsu's hours for a job are hard to meet. So the dealers usually don't make that much money when compared to man hours. The service departments probably make the most money from scheduled services and out of warranty work.

You think Mitsu always sends a rep out in an Evo warranty case?

 

Ken, please do NOT let all these warranty issue people stop you from modding your car. Putting an exhaust, an air filter, CAN NOT void your warranty Period. Dressing up the engine bay with a hard pipe kit will NOT void your warranty. Period.

Many people have warranty issues when they REMOVE the cat. Too many people post on forums how Mitsubishi screwed them over and voided their warranty. The reality is they took the car in with NO cat, its illegal for any dealer to work on any car when emissions devices were removed. NO dealer wants to risk getting a 25K fine because some goof removed their cat or wont get a high flow cat and is mad at the dealer.

The Moss-Magnuson ACT prohibits a car warranty from being voided unless they can prove the modification caused the failure. Also deal with a mod friendly dealer, like Don Herring in Dallas area.

Im sure I'll get flamed but oh well.

 

I spent a couple weeks researching the difference between a 3 port and a manual boost controller, and what works best, and so on. I went with the Grimmspeed 3 port and its awesome.

Chad from CBRD (and a few others), Gave me a very well detailed explanation on the differences and why a 3 port is the way to go. If i recall correctly, only uses 3 ports when he tunes an Evo X as well. Of course if the owner wants to up the boost.

 

I have had the luxury of dealing with Mitsu and warranty though. Like I said, they denied my stock Eclipse Spyder over an issue they put out a TSB for and did not give a reason for the denial. It took a number of phone calls to corporate to finally get them to approve it. And even then they did not approve all of the issues. It was a year of hell and wasted time. I hope I never have to deal with Mitsu and warranty again. If it wasn't for the Evo, i would have never bought a Mitsu again. And I probably never will.

I just prefer to not give Mitsu ANY reason. Especially if they take a more in debt look on the Evo's prior to approval. Part of the issues here is we have poor dealerships locally. I would like a good pro tune. I was thinking of taking my car up to Cobb in Plano I believe it is. But if tuning risks my warranty then it wouldnt be worth it to me. I just owe to much money on this car and it's my DD for work. i just cant risk screwing anything up. But I don't want to continue driving with a factory tune if its not good for the car.

 

The factory tune is fine... not sure why someone said its not good. Its rich.. no doubt but that just means you need to change the oil often because excess gas degrades oil. Of course having a high horsepower monster means you need to change your oil often as well. Cobb has a location in Austin that can tune as well. Personally I like Calvin in Plano but that's all I know within the COBB empire for tuning. So my point of view is slanted A conservative Stage 2 mods with tune wont hurt your car and will give you a lot of extra driving fun. The best part about Cobb is they stand behind their work.

Anyway good luck.. just don't let fear overrule a little fun.

 

Ken, you are correct. Mitsu corporate pays reduced # of hours, in some cases below book hours. This is no different than your doctor only getting paid $60 from insurance when if you paid cash a visit would be $120 or whatever values you put to it. It all goes with them selling Mitsu's and good techs/mechanics can complete tasks well under the book hours. Lazy/bad ones struggle to meet the book time and feel like they are working for free when it takes longer.

But yeah, I have 15k miles on my X as of this morning. If I was gung-ho about keeping my drivetrain covered as a warranty claim, I would do a drop-in filter, IC hardpipes (that look nice), and a cat-back exhaust, and an AP with an OTS tune. I wouldn't be scared of my own ethics of the tune causing failure because I'm confident that if the parts are installed properly nothing will fail that woudn't have without the parts.

The 2011 and 2012 are still plenty rich, but I do think it's fine to keep. I think you'd be fine with a cat-back exhaust if you went in for warranty work, but I agree with you. The OE exhaust was much better than the 08-10 Evo's. Here's an idea of the AFRs when we datalogged my Evo totally stock last November when I had about 4k miles on the car

 

You were correct, I referenced it as "not good" because of the long term effects of washing cylinders with being too rich. I also feel you are 100% correct on just being sure to change your oil more often.

Many X owners have had their oil tested to be fine @5k miles. I still change mine ever 3-4k since I'm in Phoenix and it's so hot.

Edit: The more I read Supra's response I wish I could just "like" it, as if it was FB. Since you're in Tx, Cobb is a great suggestion too. They really are a powerhouse for proper installation of parts and safe tuning.

 

Thanks man. Calvin in Plano was the one I was leaning towards. Its just so many views on what is ok with warranty and what isn't and I think that it just depends on the dealers. And like I said, we have poor dealers her in San Antonio.

I dont think I'm letting the fear overrule the fun. I think I'm letting the rational side overrule the want of a little more out of my car. I think that if you mod you risk something occurring to the car. If you let someone tune your car, you are putting it in their hands. And then I think about how the car is my DD and needed to get me back and forth to work. And then I see the bank statement and all the money I still owe. I got a little penny stashed away but would hate to have to spend money on unneeded repairs on the car. Just makes me nervous even risking a warranty void.