Get ready to laugh.
Jun 7, 2004, 12:18 PM
#1
Get ready to laugh.
So I have a new Evo. '04 Rs. I picked it up from Max Madsen in Chicago in mid-may. I literally got it the minute it rolled off the truck; a quick arrival inspection and we were off.
700 miles into the break-in, everything was going smooth. There was a little bit of grind on the 1-2 upshift, but I found that I just needed to pay closer attention to what I was doing. As a daily driver, the road and tranny noise took a little getting used to. But after about a week, my girlfriends WRX started to feel soft and floaty (where it used to handle so sharp). Anyhow, I was quite happy.
About 8pm saturday night (6/5/04), I head out to a movie. Driving through the lights of downtown Chicago, I stall the car in somewhat heavy traffic. Now I can count the number of times this car has been stalled on one hand. Regardless, I still get really worried whenever a car has to go through that kind of strain. After the restart, it _seemed_ as though I had significant power loss. I say seemed because it's hard to be sure. I'm in heavy traffic, not an good place to induce 19psi of boost. After a block or two it felt as if the car was driving normaly. I know it's ok, could have happened to anybody, etc. Yet I was a little concerned. At the movie, I don't think it ever really left the back of my head.
The movie ends. I get back in the car and head home. I'm at a light downtown (being 11pm on a saturday EVERYBODY is checking out my car) and I hear a low scraping sound as I pull into first, right under my seat. "Hmmm, did I knock something loose?" I rolled down my window to listen closer. At this point I'm rolling along at 35 mph. As I slow down the sound does seem to change. "I must not be dragging anything, I thought". I pull to a stop. Sound vanished. Pull back into traffic, this time the sound is MUCH louder. "Ok, I must be dragging something", I thought. I pulled over and look under the car. Everything was normal. It sounded exactly like I was dragging a large, hollow piece of steel across asphalt. "If it's not dragging something, it must be the transmission". I got back in and started to drive forward, there it was again. Rather than due any undue harm, off to the shoulder I go to call mitsubishi roadside assistance.
I dial roadside assistance at 11:30pm. I figure, "Hey, I'm in downtown chicago. How long could it take?". Answer, "We'll get a truck out to you within a couple of hours." That right, I was in the middle of a LARGE metropolis, at night, in good weather, and it would take 3 hours and 15 minutes to get a tow truck to me. To make matters worse, did you know that the owner of the vehicle has no say in where they vehicle is towed? They take it to the closest dealer always. Or at least, whichever shows up as closest in the computer. Turns out in this case, the closest dealer was in a VERY shady part of town. Now it's saturday night and the service dept is not going to be open until monday. Not really the best conditions to leave a broken down car on the street. The funny thing is, _my_ dealer was only a couple of miles farther and in a really good neighborhood. I might have been able to convince the truck driver to tow it a little farther, but I could see he'd had long night (and I had a buddy who could watch it for me during the day sunday). I arrive home at 4 am. That was entirely too long to tow a care 8 miles.
Ok, so let me back up a minute. As you can see I had several hours to sit and worry about what could be wrong. I've been following this forum pretty closely. I knew one thing for sure, it wasn't the clutch. Nope, the sound happened regardless of the position of the clutch, gear, etc. "Differential?", i thought. "Maybe the transfer case." With mitsubishi voiding warranties left and right, I had gotten really scared. Here I was, having my car towed to dealer who didn't know me and I had possibly ****ed the entire back half of the drive train. Ugh.
At 7 am on monday morning I prepared for battle. I put on my "board room camouflage" (dress slacks, button down shirt) and headed out to the dealer with written records of every car wash, fill up, etc. and a log of the day of the accident; just in case.
I walk into the dealer and, lucky for me, I'm the first customer there. "you parked your evo outside over the weekend? and it's still there?" Wonderful. Anyway, I go ahead and describe the problem and a tech walks out to where my car is parked. Remember that my car is technicaly drivable, although I am hesitant to drive it. I get in and pull forward and we both hear the sound, like metal on pavement. I give him the keys and straight into service bay number one it goes. I start talking to the paper work guy. "At 700 miles your warranty is going to pay for it, no matter what it is", he says. Boy am i relieved. (Bosak mitsubishi for those of you wondering).
"You wanna leave it?" He asks. "Nope, I'm staying until you can figure out what is wrong." I go into the the waiting room and pour myself some coffee. At least i'm financially ok. About 10 minutes later I see my car go out the of the service entrance and around the corner, quickly I might add. "What the hell? Did he just steal my car?" To my relief it comes zooming back about a minute later and parks by the door. I walk back around the service desk and the tech is standing there with a grin on his face.
Ready for this? "Pebble stuck in the brake housing." He hands me a plastic bag. Inside is a tiny little piece of lakeshore drive. Relief.
d
700 miles into the break-in, everything was going smooth. There was a little bit of grind on the 1-2 upshift, but I found that I just needed to pay closer attention to what I was doing. As a daily driver, the road and tranny noise took a little getting used to. But after about a week, my girlfriends WRX started to feel soft and floaty (where it used to handle so sharp). Anyhow, I was quite happy.
About 8pm saturday night (6/5/04), I head out to a movie. Driving through the lights of downtown Chicago, I stall the car in somewhat heavy traffic. Now I can count the number of times this car has been stalled on one hand. Regardless, I still get really worried whenever a car has to go through that kind of strain. After the restart, it _seemed_ as though I had significant power loss. I say seemed because it's hard to be sure. I'm in heavy traffic, not an good place to induce 19psi of boost. After a block or two it felt as if the car was driving normaly. I know it's ok, could have happened to anybody, etc. Yet I was a little concerned. At the movie, I don't think it ever really left the back of my head.
The movie ends. I get back in the car and head home. I'm at a light downtown (being 11pm on a saturday EVERYBODY is checking out my car) and I hear a low scraping sound as I pull into first, right under my seat. "Hmmm, did I knock something loose?" I rolled down my window to listen closer. At this point I'm rolling along at 35 mph. As I slow down the sound does seem to change. "I must not be dragging anything, I thought". I pull to a stop. Sound vanished. Pull back into traffic, this time the sound is MUCH louder. "Ok, I must be dragging something", I thought. I pulled over and look under the car. Everything was normal. It sounded exactly like I was dragging a large, hollow piece of steel across asphalt. "If it's not dragging something, it must be the transmission". I got back in and started to drive forward, there it was again. Rather than due any undue harm, off to the shoulder I go to call mitsubishi roadside assistance.
I dial roadside assistance at 11:30pm. I figure, "Hey, I'm in downtown chicago. How long could it take?". Answer, "We'll get a truck out to you within a couple of hours." That right, I was in the middle of a LARGE metropolis, at night, in good weather, and it would take 3 hours and 15 minutes to get a tow truck to me. To make matters worse, did you know that the owner of the vehicle has no say in where they vehicle is towed? They take it to the closest dealer always. Or at least, whichever shows up as closest in the computer. Turns out in this case, the closest dealer was in a VERY shady part of town. Now it's saturday night and the service dept is not going to be open until monday. Not really the best conditions to leave a broken down car on the street. The funny thing is, _my_ dealer was only a couple of miles farther and in a really good neighborhood. I might have been able to convince the truck driver to tow it a little farther, but I could see he'd had long night (and I had a buddy who could watch it for me during the day sunday). I arrive home at 4 am. That was entirely too long to tow a care 8 miles.
Ok, so let me back up a minute. As you can see I had several hours to sit and worry about what could be wrong. I've been following this forum pretty closely. I knew one thing for sure, it wasn't the clutch. Nope, the sound happened regardless of the position of the clutch, gear, etc. "Differential?", i thought. "Maybe the transfer case." With mitsubishi voiding warranties left and right, I had gotten really scared. Here I was, having my car towed to dealer who didn't know me and I had possibly ****ed the entire back half of the drive train. Ugh.
At 7 am on monday morning I prepared for battle. I put on my "board room camouflage" (dress slacks, button down shirt) and headed out to the dealer with written records of every car wash, fill up, etc. and a log of the day of the accident; just in case.
I walk into the dealer and, lucky for me, I'm the first customer there. "you parked your evo outside over the weekend? and it's still there?" Wonderful. Anyway, I go ahead and describe the problem and a tech walks out to where my car is parked. Remember that my car is technicaly drivable, although I am hesitant to drive it. I get in and pull forward and we both hear the sound, like metal on pavement. I give him the keys and straight into service bay number one it goes. I start talking to the paper work guy. "At 700 miles your warranty is going to pay for it, no matter what it is", he says. Boy am i relieved. (Bosak mitsubishi for those of you wondering).
"You wanna leave it?" He asks. "Nope, I'm staying until you can figure out what is wrong." I go into the the waiting room and pour myself some coffee. At least i'm financially ok. About 10 minutes later I see my car go out the of the service entrance and around the corner, quickly I might add. "What the hell? Did he just steal my car?" To my relief it comes zooming back about a minute later and parks by the door. I walk back around the service desk and the tech is standing there with a grin on his face.
Ready for this? "Pebble stuck in the brake housing." He hands me a plastic bag. Inside is a tiny little piece of lakeshore drive. Relief.
d
Last edited by donour; Oct 1, 2004 at 06:43 AM.
Jun 7, 2004, 12:24 PM
#3
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Nice. At least it wasn't anything bad...Took a while to get to the point 
Same thing happened to me just about a month ago. It was a really horrible noise and I pulled over, but I guess the pebble had fallen out by that time because the noise was gone for good after I drove off. Another member on the boards here had the same experience. Glad it wasn't anything serious!
Same thing happened to me just about a month ago. It was a really horrible noise and I pulled over, but I guess the pebble had fallen out by that time because the noise was gone for good after I drove off. Another member on the boards here had the same experience. Glad it wasn't anything serious!
Jun 7, 2004, 12:28 PM
#4
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LOLOOL all the worrying ,and waiting, and it was a PEBBLe.....LOLOLOL.
Well ,at least it wasn't anything major and your car isnt stuck in a repair shop anywheres.
Well ,at least it wasn't anything major and your car isnt stuck in a repair shop anywheres.
Jun 7, 2004, 01:03 PM
#7
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By any chance is your car white??? I believe I heard the story of your purchase while I was getting my car serviced. As I was leaving I asked a service guy if they had seen any Evo Rs's yet, he said one, but it was sold before it was off the truck. (It originally was going to the dealer in Countryside, but it was brought to the dealer you bought it at)
Glad to hear there was no major problem, and that the service department was helpful. Im envious of your car, big time,lol.
Glad to hear there was no major problem, and that the service department was helpful. Im envious of your car, big time,lol.
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Jun 7, 2004, 01:56 PM
#9
Tristar Racing: Yup the the white RS is mine. I had been bouncing back and forth between dealerships for several weeks. It just so happened that I came in to countryside Max Madsen the day they were to be delievered. The truck went to downers grove first, so i had them pull it off and prep it there. I believe they drive their evo's between stores and of course i didn't want that. haven't gotten a chance to tell the guys at max madsen this story yet. They'll get it at 1st oil change. Since you're in town, PM me if you want to see the car or, more importantly, feel what happens at 3500 rpm 
Sorry about the lengthy post, but it's a story guys. All about the atmosphere.
d
Sorry about the lengthy post, but it's a story guys. All about the atmosphere.
d
Jun 7, 2004, 02:01 PM
#10
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Yea, actually Im at Purdue right now (1 semester to go,lol) but Ill be in town this tuesday, which I just realized is tomarrow. Ill probably be back in Orland Park (where Im from) until Saturday, so any day your not busy Id love to come see an RS....
Jun 7, 2004, 02:15 PM
#11
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I had the same thing happen to me in a parking lot. The pebble sounded like the bottom of my car was scraping along a big piece of sheet metal. Ya and i waited for 4 hours for a tow truck because of mitsu roadside assistance screwing everything up possible. I actually never got towed, i got ticked off and just drove it to mitsu and told roadside assistance that im taking it to the dealer and if anything happens to me or my car their *** is going to pay for it. regardless that it was just a pebble and might have been a little embarrassing taking it to the dealer, i learned that mitsu roadside service is not the way to go for help
Jun 7, 2004, 02:42 PM
#12
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, men, are you some kind of a writer??? you did a good job writing it up, to a point that i read every word in your story so i don't miss any point...good write up and good nothings wrong with your beloved ride.... 
