funks

iTrader: (4)

Here's my Review of Norco Mitsubishi..

The Good:

Bought a Silver EVO IX from them about 3 weeks ago - dealt with Manny Elizondo from the Internet / Fleet department. He was great, got it for the posted price here and they gave me a great deal on my tradein (a Stage-3 SRT-4).

The car had a small ding, and a scratch on the tint which their Service Manager (Ken Comment) fixed. I've bought a few parts from the parts department (Dave Clark) and he's great as well.

The Bad:

Driving back home after getting the tint fixed by Norco Service, my car started overheating on the 15 because I ran into some bumper to bumper traffic (it was a hot day and I don't normally run into traffic when heading to work - Fontana -> Redlands). I'm not sure if the temp guage hit the redline but it was high up there when I noticed it ( my A/C stopped working which was a hint ) - the temps were juts a hair shy under the red (1/8" or 1/16").

I setup an appointment at the dealership the next day, then posted over at SoCalEVO in regards to WTF a 3 week old car was doing this and if it was normal. Was told to check if the car had coolant (it did, was full), and to check the fuses. Opened up the engine base fusebox and noted that the "fuselink #2" was missing . Fuselink #2 provides power to the Fan Controller hence the radiator fans never turned on when the car got hot.

The question in my mind was, why was a 3 week old car sold with an important fuse missing? Overheat an EVO and there's a good possibility of a warped head, and later down the line - a blown head gasket.



The Neutral:

Took my car in last friday and asked NorcoMits Service to replace the fuse and check the compression (I bought one from Riverside Mitsu - Ken Comment @ NorcoMitsService told me it was wise to put one on before going to Norco just in case I run into some traffic at the 15 and have the car overheating again). They replaced the fuse, and checked the compression which they stated was normal.

Overall Rating:

I give them a 7 out of 10 (with the 5 being neutral, and 10 being great). The fleet / internet sales department, service, and parts are all great.

Nevertheless, not thoroughly checking the car before selling it to me cost them a few points (Ken Comment @ NorcoMitsService stated that this particular car came from a Vegas Dealership and those checks were supposedly done, nevertheless - I bought the car from Norco, not Vegas). Now I'll have to content with the FUD brought on by overheating the car, and worry if the head is warped, checking if oil is mixing with coolant due to a potential head gasket failure down the line. One shouldn't be worrying about these things in a new car.

modetm

wow, that sucks. they shouldn't have thrown out the excuse that the vegas dealer was supposed to do the checks - that's crap, it's on their lot and they need to take full responsibility for any problems. glad the car runs good now. i doubt if you'll have problems down the road.

thanks for the review.