**UPDATE**

The car is up at Brandon "Satan", err, I mean Brandon Mitsubishi. I have to have the tech crack the block to see what's wrong (yeah, I'm getting gang raped here with no lube, but unfortunately, I am far from a certified mechanic).

Compression results per test ran by dealership: 1 cylinder is dead at 0. The other 3 are at 165-165-160.

The "service advisor" stated they would need to crack the block, just to "see" what's wrong. He stated it could be a blown piston head, piston ring, collapsed valve, or bad valve spring.

I'm praying that at the "most", it will be a valve spring or valve. I'm assuming I'm fucked if it's piston related right? I know I'd just be better off with a 6-Bolt, but I don't have that type of cash to drop at the moment. Could I just get a new piston head and or ring installed rather than having to replace/rebuild the whole entire motor?

He stated that the belt could of slipped a few teeth, what I don't understand though, is how that could of happened if the car was not being totally floored/redlined?

Brothers, you guys wanna chime in, if it ends up being some rediculous amount that the dealership wants to make the "repair" to fix my problem, I may just get it towed to you fellas' if you don't mind the extra work.

Damn, figures that this shit happens right before Christmas.

Any other thoughts or suggestions folks?

 

Have them figure out what's wrong, pay whatever diagnostic fee they feel like charging, then take it to the Brothers and save 3 grand in engine repair.

 

Thanks very much for the reply Jordan . If it's just one cylinder that's dead though, it should be salvagable right? The only thing that should need to be replaced is the appropriate damaged valve or piston I assume? That shouldn't cost near 3 grand to replace I assume, even at a dealership.

 

**HELP**

Dealership stated one of my exhaust valves were stuck open. Valve needs to be replaced, along with stem seal, rocker, etc.

He is telling me I should go ahead and replace the timing belt, etc. since the tech will be down there too. Total will come to about $1600.00 freaking dollars . Alrighty guys, now that we know what's wrong, do you know of anybody who will make the repairs for much less? Please respond asap, I have the service advisor putting the car on "hold" for the moment. I can't afford to shell out near that much with Christmas right around the corner.

 

Alright, come to find out that a "bolt" was caught in the valve. WTF?

Any work that pretty much has been performed on the car, was done at the dealership, but they are saying it's not their fault. The only other things ever done to the car was oil changes, obviously doesn't involve touching the motor or intake system.

The dealership has done the timing belt, water pump, cam and crank shaft seals, etc. They also ran some intake induction cleaner and replaced the spark plug wires and spark plugs before. Could any of these services possibly pose an opportunity for a tech to accidentally leave a bolt somewhere in the intake system?

If this is the case, I shouldn't be having to pay for this service then. Let me know your guys thoughts.

BTW, they did notice my BOV upgrade, but I told him that it was his damn tech who originally broke my POS stock one, and that when I did replace it, the only thing that had to be tightened down, were the couplers, (which still have the bolts attached to them), so therefore, there could have been no bolts dropped in there.

 

Anybody own a tow truck or know someone who works or owns a towing company that can hook me up? I'm going to see if I can get the Brothers or maybe Jerry to help me out.

I'll need to get the car towed from Brandon Mitsubishi off of Adamo Drive/Highway 60 in Tampa and get it towed out to the Brothers or Jerry, or anyone else who would like to help me with the engine valve repair.

Thanks very much for everyone's input so far and for those of you who PM'ed me so far. This really sucks with Christmas right around the corner too. I could pay the ass raping charge of $1700.00 + to get this fixed at Brandon Satan, but would much rather pay one of you guys who will do a better job (at a fraction of the cost) and are much more deserving of the money, and I'll have some left over to purchase my family some gifts for Christmas.

 

The only two things you've done to the car are the intake and the BOV. If it couldn't be the BOV and the turbo hasn't had a bolt pass through it from the intake then it's probably something they did. What kind of bolt was it? Can they tell?

 

Yeah, a 10mm bolt.

That's what I was saying as well.

Here's the background on the car (by the way guys, I'm very sorry for this ridiculously long thread).

I've pretty much have gotten all my service done with Brandon Mitsubishi. The only other service performed to the car, were oil changes at other places, but obviousbly, that only involves unscrewing the oil cap, the oil filter and the oil pan drain plug, so that couldn't be the case. Anything other done to the car, was done by Brandon Mitsubishi.

At 65,075 Miles, my motor was misfiring, brought it in to have it serviced. They replaced the spark plug wires, spark plugs and intake inj. cleaner. They also replaced my rear main seal.

I brought the car in at 70,452 miles to have the timing/balance shaft replaced. I also had the cam shaft and crank shaft seals replaced, along with the alternator, power steering, and a/c belts. I also had them replace the water pump and flush the cooling system and refill it.

Just later that day (after bringing the car home), I was heading off to work. My car all of a sudden started accelerating on it's own, all the way up to redline. I had to shut it off immediately and pull it over. I waited for a few minutes, started it back up and the engine started revving up immediately again, so I shut the car off again. I knew something was up (throttle body sticking open?). Unfortunately, I didn't have the tools to take off the I/C piping to inspect it, so I just had it flat bedded in to Brandon Mitsubishi again. Oddly enough, the "service advisor" told me that they "could not replicate the symptoms of the problem and that everything seemed fine". I was very shocked and stunned by this.

The last work I had performed at Brandon Mitsubishi, was for my right side window (which, by the way, they tried to make me pay full price for, I literally had to prove to them that the extended warranty was supposed to cover it). This was done at 70,895 miles.

The only other services ever performed on the car since then, was brake work and oil changes, which were performed at other places.

So, something obviously isn't adding up here. As you stated Jordan, I did replace the BOV and the intake, which, by the way, the "stock air box" is on when I took it to the dealership . Unforunately, the HKS bov had to be left on though, but I explained to the guy about one of the techs before breaking the vacuum nipple and all he did was try to JB weld it back together.

Basically, the service advisor realizes a bolt is not supposed to be in there, but obviuosly, he's saying there's no way his techs did it and there's no way that the bolt would all of a sudden get stuck in the valve after the aforementioned repairs. The car has about 90,000 miles on it currently, so yes, a bit of time has passed since those repairs were done, but could it be possible that the bolt found it's way past the throttle body, got lodged somewhere, and finanlly made it's way into the block and lodged itself into one of my exhaust valves?

What action should I pursue? I truly believe that maybe one of their techs did drop a bolt in my intake system somewhere. The problem is, it's my word against their's, but I do have all my service records. Again, the only other worked ever performed, that was NOT done by Brandon Mitsu, was just brake work and oil changes.

Should I contact Mitsubishi Corporate? Lawyer?

Also, keep in mind, I have had other issues before with Brandon Mitsubishi (yes, I know, why the hell do I still take my car to them).

Not only did they break the factory BOV. Their tech also scuffed up my spark plug cover. They screwed up my tint when they fixed my right side window (which they at first tried to deny my warranty coverage). One of the times, when I was picking up my car from repair, I checked the hood to make sure everything was in okay shape before driving it off the lot, I found a big ass torque wrench laying on top of my valve cover. THANK GOD, I happened to peak under my hood before leaving. I was an honest guy and got a tech manager to come out and get his mechanic's tool off from my valve cover.

All in all, I am an honest guy and I hate getting dicked over. I feel sort of sick to my stomach over this recent experience. I want to get my car fixed, but I don't feel I should have to pay for any of this shit. At this point, I just wish Mitsu was cool enough that they would cut me a check out for the repair amount or the dealership cover the costs. The only thing I'm afraid of is, if I bitch too much, they might do a shit job or try to fuck me over in some other way.

Keep the thoughts and suggestions coming fella's.

 

Would replacing the camshaft and crank shaft oil seals require opening up the valve cover? What about running intake engine cleaner like I mentioned before. Would that require them removing anything that a bolt could slip through, I/C piping, etc.?

I wondering if I could gather enough evidence to pin them down. I also still have the copy of the service record where I brought my car in when the engine was "revving up" on it's own, which the service department was supposedly "unable to replicate" again.

 

if im not mistaken you have to take off the valve cover to replace the camshaft seals. the valve cover itself is held on by 10mm bolts.