2014 starter / flywheel / ring gear issues (Update: repaired under warranty)

[dspace9]

didn't plug the crankcase breather into the back of the valvecover and few other top notch screw ups.

Terrible. The worst screw up I heard of was my dad's work van, one of the local shops (most are good) forgot to bolt the tire back on, so his tire fell off on the way home. Good civic lawsuit grounds there. Hope your car is running good now Fummins!

[Top_Fuel]

Yep, the dealer says I complained around 85k, and that's all recorded on their end, so that's good.

I assume you mean 85,000 kilometers, right? So the car would have still been under the 5/100KM Canadian warranty when this issue was first documented.

That's good...because as far as I can tell, the starter is not covered under the powertrain warranty...but the flywheel/flexplate is. When I look at the Powertrain Warranty I see "flywheel" in there...but I don't see the word starter anywhere.

I don't know why the dealer would tell you that the corporate office has reversed what they said. That makes me think the local guys may need a little "help" from someone higher up at Mitsubishi. Don't hesitate to call the 800 number if you feel like you have reached an impasse with the dealership service manager. Those dealership guys are often overworked and not well-trained. Here in the US almost anyone can be a dealership service writer. You barely need any automotive knowledge at all...which is crazy.

[dspace9]

I assume you mean 85,000 kilometers, right? So the car would have still been under the 5/100KM Canadian warranty when this issue was first documented.

Thanks, yea they documented the issue at 85 000 kms, but honestly this has been an issue since 2014. I called the 1800 number, then the dealer called me after they chit-chatted. That's how this began.

Now I'm waiting for the dealer to do "round two" with Mitsu HQ.

Most shocking is that I can't believe they retracted on their promise of a "goodwill" repair. Be a man of your word, or not.

I love my Mirage but I'm turned off Mitsubishi. I'm turned off car dealers and companies, they just want you to buy a new car every 3 years. Houses and cars, you need them both, and both industries are riddled with crooks of every stripe.

[Fummins]

Terrible. The worst screw up I heard of was my dad's work van, one of the local shops (most are good) forgot to bolt the tire back on, so his tire fell off on the way home. Good civic lawsuit grounds there. Hope your car is running good now Fummins!

That's not good! I got one more, we had 2 or 3 cvt's replaced in a 14' spark all under warranty. No questions asked about any service records which was nice. But shortly after picking it up the last time, the driver pulled into parking lot and the ball joint popped out of the spindle in a driveway. The dealer didn't tighten the nut. Get it towed back, they fix it, then a day or 2 later I hear a complaint that it pulls when you hit the brakes. I take a quick drive, hit the gas it pulls left, hit the brakes it pulls right. The tie rod end was loose on the spindle. The dealer couldn't get the nut tight so they just stuck a washer in behind the nut to take up a little slack and kicked it out the door. It got towed back to them and they ended up having to replace the spindle cause it was now wallowed out from having the tie rod flopping around loose.
We sold the car quickly after that before any more problems arose lol

[dspace9]

We sold the car quickly after that before any more problems arose lol

I hope these are isolated cases, it's just nuts if you think about the car as a machine you drive at high speeds, and negligence happening in the repair shop (rarely, I hope!.

[dspace9]

I'm not sure anyone out there in cyber space with a Mitsu Mirage thinks its good to threaten to sue a dealership, but I'm thinking about it. The only thing I can think of doing with my car starter issue the dealer won't recognize, and was going to replace then backed out, is 2 calls.

1 from my lawyer and 1 from better business bureau BBB ). Anyone have suggestions, please let me know thanks

Otherwise I love my little Mirage

[Eggman]

I wouldn't bother with the BBB. I could be wrong, but in my estimation, the name of that corporation seems designed for Business, not consumers.

dspace9, sorry if this is repetitive and also sorry if this has been covered but do you know exactly what causes this starter grinding? Is your starter loose, or is the Bendix drive gunked up? In your years of ownership, have you ever taken it apart to diagnose what the problem is? I read your reply to MetroMPG but it's not clear if you took a wrench to the problem yet.

[dspace9]

I wouldn't bother with the BBB. I could be wrong, but in my estimation, the name of that corporation seems designed for Business, not consumers.

dspace9, sorry if this is repetitive and also sorry if this has been covered but do you know exactly what causes this starter grinding? Is your starter loose, or is the Bendix drive gunked up? In your years of ownership, have you ever taken it apart to diagnose what the problem is? I read your reply to MetroMPG but it's not clear if you took a wrench to the problem yet.

No I haven't, I bought the Mirage for the good warranty, and good fuel economy, so I figured I shouldn't be taking anything apart, dealer serviced minus my krowned rust control that's it. I haven't taken apart starters but operative word was going to take apart my old starter, I'm still stuck with. What would you do? ? I figure wait for another call if the dealer will ever even call me back.. ugh.
I'm not even that rude really, pretty truthful

I don't have replacement gears anyway so no point in taking it apart

I feel like a little fish here eh

[Eggman]

No I haven't, I bought the Mirage for the good warranty, and good fuel economy, so I figured I shouldn't be taking anything apart, dealer serviced minus my krowned rust control that's it. I haven't taken apart starters but operative word was going to take apart my old starter, I'm still stuck with. What would you do? I figure wait for another call if they call me back.. ugh

I don't have replacement gears anyway so no point in taking it apart

I feel like a little fish here

If the service department won't fix it, I would look toward options. The options I see is another dealer's service department, an independent repair shop, or the owner.

If I were to do it, I would spend a lot of time looking at the condition of the gears and try to somehow measure the mesh to find what is causing the problem. Your symptoms sound like the problem is intermittent, which tells me that the gears usually mesh just fine, sometimes not. I would focus on finding out why it sometimes doesn't. That's why I wonder if there is some gunk in the Bendix drive.

Thankfully, I don't suffer this problem. I hope you are able to identify what the problem is and find a solution that can be applied to others who also have this problem.

[dspace9]

If the service department won't fix it, I would look toward options. The options I see is another dealer's service department, an independent repair shop, or the owner.

If I were to do it, I would spend a lot of time looking at the condition of the gears and try to somehow measure the mesh to find what is causing the problem. Your symptoms sound like the problem is intermittent, which makes me think that maybe the gears sometimes mesh just fine, sometimes not. I would focus on finding out why it sometimes doesn't. That's why I wonder if there is some gunk in the Bendix drive.

Thankfully, I don't suffer this problem. I hope you are able to identify what the problem is and find a solution that can be applied to others who also have this problem.

There's an old school adage, don't buy the first year of any model of new car, they work the kinks out,like periodic not meshing of gears. Consumer doesn't notice this, only when they have an early effected "whatever issue" car, and they find a bulletin online. I live with it, it's the principle. The flywheel anyway is drivetrain, not sure why Mitsu is squeezing the cheapo towel on this one all over me, not fair really oh well I guess.

Might get a new Fiat 500x 6 speed manual turbo.

I read somewhere last month they sold like 7 only a literal handful really of 500 x's in Canada last month, so less than 1 manual probably. I think mosty out of the Chrysler Fiat dealership network. (like Mitsubishi) Sharp car the 500x