New to me 2014 Mirage question

[Miragefan]

Hi all new member, Just got a low mileage 2014 mirage. Everything works fine, a little loud in the cockpit, but will get used to it. For some reason the previous owner did some cutting into the wall behind the air intake. No idea why! Would anybody have any idea the reason for this? I plan on patching it, but wondering why this was done. Please see the photos. Thanks

[inuvik]

I'm not sure why the previous owner would have done that but since you just bought it get the CVT serviced with fluid & filter changes ASAP!

[FreeYourSOUL]

I don't know if it the same in US, but here in Asia that location is for chassis number.

[allrock]

Hi all new member, Just got a low mileage 2014 mirage. Everything works fine, a little loud in the cockpit, but will get used to it. For some reason the previous owner did some cutting into the wall behind the air intake. No idea why! Would anybody have any idea the reason for this? I plan on patching it, but wondering why this was done. Please see the photos. Thanks

i think the VIN is in there better find the history of that car if i where you.

[Top_Fuel]

i think the VIN is in there...

You guys are right. I remember working on my warm air intake project and I had my head stuck in there to see what was going on. And I noticed that in the area below (in the yellow square) the VIN of the car had been etched into the steel. I bet most people don't even know it's there.



But cutting the entire panel out with a frigging sawzall seems a little extreme! If the VIN on the dash is there and the label on the doorjamb is intact, maybe this is some sort of crazy cowl induction attempt gone bad.

[klroger]

Maybe repairing the wiper transmission???

[Cobrajet]

Maybe repairing the wiper transmission???

This is what I was thinking. A die grinder would be a much better choice for removing the VIN. Maybe they had a wiper problem and were too stupid to realize the plastic cowl cover comes off in like five minutes??

I notice one of the clips for the cowl cover is missing.

[Fummins]

That's really odd. My first thought was someone trying to make a ****ty cold air intake. But after reading that's where vin is stamped I too would be checking the sticker on the lower a pillar and see if it matches the dash. Hopefully it's intact and doesn't say void all over, check the rh b-pillar and check the metal tag there, I think the vin might be stamped on it too? Check the vin on the dash, I can't remember if they're riveted or just glue on stickers on these cars.

I'd be concerned the vin has been swapped. Before pissing away money changing the cvt fluid and getting an alignment for no reason I'd look into that....
But it's hard to say, it's pretty clear someone was effing with the cowl and looks like it's all bent to s**** where it should be a flat flange.

[mohammad]

I can personally confirm the vin is located there. its a very strange shape and location to cut a hole in if your intention was anything other than vin tampering. The reason they wouldn't use a grinder to grind out the vin would be A because it would make the intent too obvious to the next owner that the vin number had been tampered with. and B because even if you grind the vin out it can potentially be recovered with some fancy acid chemical thingy that reveals the difference in the density of the metals. Its how ground out firearm serial numbers can be recovered.

[Fummins]

Maybe repairing the wiper transmission???

That's one part that I'm really surprised I haven't had to touch on these cars. Many drivers aren't swift enough to make sure the wipers aren't frozen to the windshield and remove all the snow and ice from around the arms before turning them on.
I've changed a lot of sonic wiper transmission because they seize up solid and burn out the motors. The Nissan nv200's have crappy sloppy wiper transmission that are pretty fragile.

The Mirages wiper transmissions must be either over built or maybe the motor is designed to stall out and kill power temporarily if it senses an overload?
Now if only they'd relocate the fuel door release handle somewhere higher up.