Today, I get a phone call from a local dealer that there is a recall out on my 2003 Evo. They tell me about the one for the fan relay (which I knew about and had a different dealer do that work) then they say that my ECU needs a reflash. The recall is to check the ECU to see if my catalytic conveter is alright and then they will reflash the ECU to fix the problem. They continued to say that the converter can overheat and cause problems. But the way it was phrased by the service manager was that it was after the fact and the converter was overheating without the flash... ???? This is the first I have heard of this for the '03. My car doesn't have the CEL, which I assume it would do if the catalytic converter truely had a problem. Has anyone else had this recall? I did a search, but not much showing up about this...

 

I've never heard of nor seen that recall. I don't see how a reflash can have anything to do with the cat overheating. Weird.

 

Retarded timing and/or excessive fuel will overheat the converter. Maybe some of those previous P004 or whatever reflashes caused overheating in a few situations.

 

You've got me, man. I haven't heard anything about it nor recieved any info for my '03.

 

Perfect, that is why you get new calibrations. The manufacturers calibrators have to worry about the bozos out there so they are way conservative on the cal to save the cats. Especially for turbo or supercharged engines.

 

It gets more interesting... My car has never been to this dealership, but they have my VIN from Mitsubishi about the recall. The more I think about it, it really doesn't sound right. My car runs perfect now with no problems. Why would I have them reflash it (probably more conservatively), and risk a new problem. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" Could it be a certain range of VIN's with the issue or would they recall the whole '03 production? The service department offerred to make an appointment for an hour to reflash, so I think this is legit and not a sales ploy to get me to the dealership...

 

If your car runs perfectly now and no diagnostic lights, I would leave it alone. Like the saying goes "If if aint broke, dont fix it".

 

Running lean would cause your cat to overheat. Evos run rediculously rich from the factory. This sounds bogus to me.