atombomb33

iTrader: (28)

Guys, lets be honest here. A clutch is a "wear and tear" item. Wear and tear items (clutch, brake pads, etc) are not covered by the bumper to bumper or powertrain warranty unless it absolutely fails (meaning clutch falls apart...not worn out). It did not absolutely fail in this case...it's simply worn out. You all talk as if Mitsu is the only company that won't cover a worn out clutch...every manufacturer would also decline this and charge the customer for replacement of the clutch.

OP, is this is your first manual AWD car? Did you own a Civic or something similar before this?

sailorcor

iTrader: (5)

Try Ourisman Mitsu, that's where i've had recall work done and they've never *****ed about my mods.

BoostFTW05

iTrader: (4)

Honda is the same, A buddy of mine has a 2010 civic si and wore the clutch out (it was his first manual car and he freaking sucked at it!) He got really pissed when his clutch started to slip and honda would not cover his warranty I said I told you so cause I tryed to critique his style but he got mad at me again so I said just wait you clutch is going to fall out...sure enough lol You can imagine how smug I was haha

sailorcor

iTrader: (5)

Technically you could say everything is a wear and tear item but a factory clutch has gotta last more than 3k miles. We'd be changin clutches with our oil otherwise. My theory is Mitsu knows they cut costs in certain areas so they come up with whatever excuse they can not to pay for things that are clearly their fault. My uncle is a service writer for a Ford dealership and it looks better for them, they even get bonuses, when they can get work done paid for by the customer. So its in their best interest to deny every warranty claim they can. Capitalism is a ***** sometimes

trexxx8739

k here it is if Mitsu won't cover it(it is covered for 12k miles or 1 yr) Then u simply file arbitration papers. I've threatened it twice in less than a year because they refused warrenty work on my timing chain or to repaint the car and put 3M film on it. I never went to arbitraion either time. Filed on the paint and they were calling right away to paint it and resolve any other issues I had. Second time I told the Rep I'm not dealing with it just send my paperwork. Next day they agreed to do the work. THEY DO NOT WANT TO GO TO ARBITRAION! Especially if you have a valid claim.

Webman

They don't want to go to arbitration, but they will sit on their *** until the last possible second. I waited 6 months before I finally got a lawyer and threatened to sue. As soon as they got a letter from my lawyer, they were all responsive and happy to help out and get the matter resolved. I must have cost them thousands of dollars in legal and other fees. All I wanted was for them to fix my car. They finally did, after 9 months. If they had just done that from the beginning, it wouldn't have been such an expense for them.

dek0026

i've heard this happening and i don't understand it. aftermarket or not, there will always be an UICP there and if it's in the way (which it is....well at least if i were doing it), they're all pipes and take about 1 minute or the same amount of time to remove.

mlomker

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, pretty much nobody will. I think the OP's problem is that he doesn't have the cash right now. I sure wouldn't put another stock clutch in there if you have to pay for it.

sailorcor

iTrader: (5)

No matter what mods you have done to your car, they cant charge you to fix a recall. It's being fixed because its defective from the factory, not because of anything you've done to your car.

manofdafam

iTrader: (5)

Heres the pics of the clutch and flywheel. tell me what you think it has 3700 miles on it
http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/IMG_0460.jpg
http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/IMG_0461.jpg
http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/IMG_0459.jpg
http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/IMG_0458.jpg
http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/IMG_0455.jpg
http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/IMG_0456.jpg
http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/IMG_0458.jpg

acm_evo

The flywheel looks somewhat glazed, but the clutch disc looks fine to me. Glazing on the flywheel usually indicates excessive clutch slip, as in you riding the clutch while driving or launching the car at high RPM's while slipping the clutch. But i agree that the dealer should honor the warranty and get you on your way for free, since you only put 3700 miles on the car.

blk-majik

iTrader: (6)

Did you not replace the flywheel, too? You might need another clutch during your next oil change =/ Ok, some background on flywheel damage....

If you slip the clutch too slowly all the time (like amc just suggested), you'll end up wearing it down pretty fast. 3700miles fast? doubt it, but it'll still wear faster. Even if you're crazy slow at engaging the clutch, as long as you don't rev like a maniac at every stop, you'll probably still get 10k miles out of the clutch if this were your only problem, which would be past mitsu's warranty point. Which is why they consider pretty much anything else 'abuse'.

Besides slow slipping, you can also damage part of the trans by dropping the clutch (or slipping too fast) at a high RPM during a hard launch, like when drag racing. This can actually instantly destroy your clutch by creating enough heat and force to rip the clutch fibers apart. This obviously didn't happen.

However, another thing that happens when you launch like this is that you produce a HUGE amount of heat between the clutch and flywheel. So stop thinking about the clutch for a moment and consider the flywheel. It's a metal disc who's job is to create friction with the clutch without overly wearing the clutch material. The flywheel has to be made of a soft metal, otherwise it would destroy any clutch material instantly. Metal hardness is measured using a Brinell scale, and most flywheels try to usually have a Brinell Hardness (HB) rating of around HB250.

IIRC, the OEM flywheel is an iron cast. Think of wheels. Everyone wants forged wheels over cast ones, right? Why? Because forging makes metal stronger! That is, the forging process causes the metal to have a higher HB-rating. How do you forge a metal? You heat it up while applying pressure. Think of what's happening between the clutch and the flywheel when you drop the clutch to launch. You see where this is going? Enough heat and the high pressure will not just give a hotspot... it'll increase the metal hardness of the flywheel!

When you launch the car hard, if you do it hard enough, you can actually create enough heat on the flywheel to 'forge' the flywheel, such that you increase it's hardness! It's pretty common to see scortched flywheels with HB250 rating on the outside, but HB750 ratings on the burns. Thats 3x as hard! Imagine what that'll do to the clutch material! It'll take a few months, but once you get a bad hotspot, you'll need a new clutch AND flywheel within months!

In a flywheel, it's best to use a metal that is soft AND is resistant to increases to it's hardness rating at the heat ranges it's expected to see. I'm not saying mitsu cut a corner or their process produces faulty flywheels or anything. It's possible, but that's not the point I'm trying to make. But it is clear that the OEM flywheel is less durable than it could, and maybe should, have been.


-----

So back to the 'wtf happened?' part of this thread. My theory is that the OEM flywheel in the Evo X hotspot's relatively easily when launched hard. That is, the metal used isn't very resistant to suffering from increased hardness at relatively low heat levels. This is pretty easy to verify: look in the 'For Sale' section at people selling OEM flywheels with 25k miles on them and a clutch that's still working. They're all covered with minor hotspots, even when clearly not abused. But they still last sufficiently long, so no big deal as long as there's no abuse, right? Right...

If you hotspot your clutch and it dies early on, tough luck and you're a total piece of scum if you even TRY to warranty it, knowing what you've done. But remember, this is an evo, and they are sold by MMNA dealership scum (not saying all MMNA people are scum, but the ratio is pretty freaking high).

What happens when a Mitsu sales rep, mechanic, jerk on a test drive, etc, goes for a joyride in that X that's on the lot and drops the clutch from 5500 RPM 'just once!'. Shy of a bit of tire wear, no one will ever know, including whoever buys the car.... oh until about 3700 miles. It happened to me at about 4000-4100 miles. By that time, the hotspot on the flywheel will have destroyed the OEM clutch. The owner will take it in for warranty, and Mitsu will claim that it was abused. And they'll be right. But there's no way for either party to prove who the abuse was by. The only thing that can be proven is that it was done VERY early in the car's life, based on the severity hotspot and number of miles on the car.

I found a nice video showing what happens when you hotspot the flywheel
[youtube]KeqzZniVmrM[/youtube]

nyczlegacy

iTrader: (2)

star mitsubishi is absolute sh*t. AVOID THEM

atombomb33

iTrader: (28)

I could agree with what you're saying if this was a widespread problem. But, it's not. There are so many guys on this forum who have a perfectly functioning OEM clutch. Many of them are bone stock, many of them have mods, some of them have gone to the track.

I have a feeling this is driver error due to the fact that this is probably this guy's first AWD manual car. He's probably been slipping the clutch too much on every shift and especially from a stop.

atombomb33

iTrader: (28)

Is this your first AWD turbo manual car?