I believe you're right Stephen. The only thing I'm wondering, is how my Throttle Body plate got stuck open when my engine was revving up on it's own.

Hmm, come to think of it, that's when they broke my plastic factory BOV. Perhaps he took off the factory BOV or the factory I/C piping to inspect the damage done to the BOV and one of the bolts somehow found its way down to the I/C pipe. The car then sucked the bolt into the throttle body plate, hence why the engine was revving up on it's own.

I had the car flatbedded into the dealership when this was happening. The dealership stated they could not replicate the symptoms. Perhaps the bolt fell through the throttle body plate, fell down one of the intake manifold runners and lodged itself somewhere in the valve cover. It's pretty hard to believe, but 2 years and 20,000 miles later, that bolt is now wedged between one of my exhaust valves and screwing my engine up. Is it possible that the bolt lodged itself somewhere in the valve cover during the 2 year period and maybe finally broke itself loose and made its way down to where the valves are? I know that it would be pretty hard to believe, but it's possible I suppose, right?

 

sounds like a cylinder is not firing.even if it had a boost leak you wouldnt hear massive noises from the valve cover.you need to take the valve cover off,look at the lifters and see if any are broke.(it happens and it runs really shitty),if you see that everything is ok take a compression test,sounds to me like it is a internal problem.i alawys blew my i/c piping off and it ran it would idle just wouldnt go any where near boost.but that could of been the massive fuel my car was gettin lol..

 

Hey, thanks very much for the reply, . We already know what the problem is though, read all the previous posts to see what's going on now, yeah, I know it's becoming a frinkin' novel.

I'm obviously going after the dealership at this point to try and cover the damage done, since they were the only ones to do any major work on the car in the past.

Obviously, a 10mm bolt could not of just made it's way in there on it's own. Somehow, it made it's way through the intake tract (most likely the upper I/C pipe in my opinion), lodged itself past the throttle body and has been rattling around in the valve cover area for the last 2 years/20,000 miles, and now has finally made it's way down into the block area. It currently, lodged itself in between an exhaust valve, killing my one cylinder, hence why my motor was running like shit.

Compression results were 0-165-165-160. Minus the 0 cylinder, those aren't too shabby readings for a 90,000 mile motor.

Anyways, the only people who did any internal/major work on the car before, was the dealership. Therefore, it had to of been them who dropped the bolt in there somehow. I have all my service records still, and the service advisor's boss is supposed to be contacting me.

Go to the following link to see another bad experience someone had with Brandon Mitsubishi. One of the things that caught my eye about this person's experience, was the fact that he mentioned that his tires on his 3000GT picked up "several screws that were dropped on the ground". Goes to show that people are after all human and drop shit, which I believe is what happened in my case. The tech who was working on my car, lost a 10mm bolt in my intake tract, and didn't realize it.

Here's the link to the aforementioned story: http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff84048.htm

 

Problem with that theory: the only direct connection between the valvetrain and the intake ports is through the valve guides, which are pretty much taken up by valves and pretty effectively sealed with valve stem seals. The bolt would have to have been in the intake system somewhere, maybe slowing working its way through the intercooler one fin crushed at a time? I don't know how to explain a bolt hanging around in the intake system for such a long time as anything other than a fluke.

 

Okay, really thinking back now, I think I know what's going on. When I picked up my car from service (timing belt job, including cam shaft/crank shaft seal replacements, etc.), that's when my factory BOV's vacuum nipple was broke. They attempted to JB weld it but it didn't hold up well. When I was picking up my car from service, they brought it to me and parked it in a spot.

I popped the hood to inspect the work (making hte sure a/c, alternator, P/S belts were replaced, etc.) This is when I noticed that they left a torque wrench laying on my valve cover and that my factory BOV's nipple was broke. I got one of the tech managers to come out. He came out with the tech that was working on my car and basically said "well, that's a good thing that you caught that, that would of been a real expensive tool to lose". I brought up the broken BOV to him and he simply told his tech to apply more JB Weld/RTV to "rig it back together". I brought this up to the service advisor and he basically said "oh sorry, the tech was of hit it when he was working on your car, those things break easy, being that they are plastic". He offered to replace it, if I payed for it. I wasn't in the mood for arguing (especially since the factory Bosch BOV is a POS and they wanted a rediculous price for replacement). I basically told him not to bother. Looking back, I should of had them at least document it though.

Anyways, what I think may of happened, was perhaps the tech unhooked the factory BOV or I/C to inspect it, when he broke my valve, and perhaps dropped the bolt in there without realizing it. Now, the bolt may of sort of wedged itself down where the factory upper I/C pipe sort of kinks.

Driving the car home, was basically in stop and go traffic, so I wasn't boosting high at all. Now, when I went to go to work later on, I did get on the gas a little bit more, and that's when my car all of a sudden started accelerating on it's own and pegged at redline. So, something was holding the throttle body plate open. I had the car flat bedded in immediately. This is when the techs were not able to "replicate the symptoms I described". I know for a fact that something was wedging that thing open though. But, I guess it could be possible that during the process of having it towed to the dealership, the bolt may have slipped through the throttle body plate, fell down one of the intake runners, and has been sitting in the valve chambers since.

Now, at this current time, the bolt may have finally managed to wedge itself between the exhaust valve. I suppose it could be possible that the bolt was rattling around in the valve chambers right?

As you said, those valves open and close quickly, so it would make it rather hard for the bolt to roll around and wedge itself in between a valve at the right moment.

Do you think that this could be possible?

What's even funnier, is that my service advisor told me that it was a 10mm bolt.

3 days later, he called back, saying they were not going to cover my repairs and that the bolt they found, is not an official "Mitsubishi bolt". Sounds to me like they are try to cover something up. Quite frankly, this whole thing really wreaks of bull shit.

 

It seems strange that the bolt would hang around in the intake manifold or head for so long. Stranger things have happened though. I'd get your car out of there and to somebody who hasn't screwed it up several times for whatever repair it needs.

 

I definently agree with you. Do you think it could have been rattling around in the valve chamber this whole time though, (intake and exhaust valves open and shut rather quickly, so I guess I could see it being pretty hard for the bolt to get itself stuck up until now. basically, it was one of those "the bolt happened to wedge itself right at the moment that the valve was opened and was slamming itself shut).

I would definently take it somewhere else, but I also don't think I should have to pay for any of the work they performed. Do you agree? I believe the dealership should cover their screw up. Whether that means them fixing it or them cutting me a check to go get it fixed elsewhere. At this point, I don't care about the motor being totally rebuilt. I'm an honest guy and I don't expect them to give me a brand new motor or anything crazy like that, just return it to it's original condition, that's not asking too much is it?

I'll get the motor refreshened down the road when it's closer to its time to croak, by the "appropriate people" of course.

 

Well, Brandon Satan is of course denying the work. The service advisor there, by the name of Bob, was pretty reluctant at first, but when he took the time to listen to my side of the story, he seemed to kind of understand the possibility of them possibly making the error. Bob isn't allowed to make the call of whether or not the dealership will cover it though, so he got his service manager involved, by the name of Lee.

When I first saw Lee coming out, I could tell he had an asshole swagger to him. He asked me "who are you!?" in a very rude tone. I told him who I was and explained the situation. He wouldn't even let me finish my sentences without cutting me off and continually shaking his head. They keep claiming that the bolt is not a "Mitsubishi" bolt. I told him I find it odd that it took them 3 days to tell me it wasn't an official bolt. He kept rambling on and basically stated they are not going to cover the work. He continued to cut me off, so I eventually yelled at him to listen to me and to quit cutting me off. At this point, Lee told me to leave the premises or he would have me arrested. These guys are total slime balls and I must say, that he truly is the right guy for the position. This guy is so close minded and his customer mannerism down right sucks.

I'm probably just going to get the car out of there anyways and take it to someone much more reputable like the Brothers. Do you guys still think I should try to keep fighting though and make them eat the $500.00 in labor they charged me to open up the head? I know deep down, that their tech had to of dropped the bolt in there. No one else has ever worked on that car since I've owned it, except that dealership, and I got all the service records to prove it. I technically think that they should be covering the costs for everything, since this shit wouldn't even be happening if a bolt hadn't been laying in there, but at this point, I'd just be happy to pay the Brothers to do a good quality job on fixing the problem.

Would it be worth it to maybe take them to court? I suppose that I do have "circumstantial evidence" with my printed service records.

Their argument is that there is no way a bolt could have been lodged in the intake manifold or valve chamber for 20,000 miles and then it all of a sudden gets stuck in a valve. Keep in mind that this was a pretty long bolt that they found, so I could actually see it being stuck in the manifold this whole time and it finally managed to wriggle down through one of the intake runners, and it may possibly even of been rattling around the valve chamber for some time now.

Well, if there is anything to be learned from this, DO NOT take your car to Brandon Mitsubishi for work. They will lie and cheat their way out of anything they did wrong. I plan to lodge some complaints elsewhere as well and will type up a nice long detailed story at ripoffreport.com.

I believe we can officially give Brandon Mitsubishi the moniker of "Satan" and add it to the continually growing lists of other Satan Dealerships.

By the way, if anybody personally knows the Brothers (I already PM'ed them), can you tell them to PM me when they get the chance. I tried their number they gave me a while back in a PM, but it's no longer working.

Thanks for your all's time folks.

 

hey if you can get your head off on your own or get it done cheap 50 bucks or so. clearwater cylinderhead will rebuild the head with all your stock drive train replacing the broken with new for like 250. i brought a neon head there and had them deck the head, replace a couple bent valves installed crane valve springs and crane cams. for 250....good luck