QuestionMy Mitsubichi Dealership service dept. rebuilt my Spyder's engine back to original factory specifications- Cost: $4,0000.
after engine was completed, I have made 2 attempts to drive my car over 5 miles away from dealership: IT BREAKS DOWN! First they said it was the "crank shaft"... again broke down. NOW they are telling me that there are TWO sensors that need to be replaced ...that MIGHT be the problem. but, I need to pay for the parts and labor because these sensors have nothing to do with the rebuilt engine. What should I do?
This Mitsubichi dealership diagnosed the need for the rebuilt engine. I have paid the $4,000 in full...CASH! Please give me some good advise! Thank you! Char
AnswerHello Char,
Sorry to learn of your problems. I wish I knew more about the engine in you car...is it one that is also used in the Chrysler line, and if so which one is it?
After the first breakdown when they said the problem was the crankshaft, did they repair that for free? (What was the cost of the first rebuild, and the cost after the first breakdown/crankshaft repair?) If not, then I think you have an issue with them because in the rebuild process the crankshaft should be checked and machined as necessary and if done right and reassembled right should not break immediately after a rebuild unless they did the rebuild incorrectly. Any further engine crankshaft work should have been done by them for free. So let me know about that history.
I would say about the sensor question that it is true that such sensors are really not part of the mechanics of the engine but are mounted on the engine and are part of the fuel control or ignition system. So they would not part of the engine rebuild unless your understanding was that the job was supposed to be a rebuild of the entire engine AND its control systems. But don't despair, most sensors are not inordinatately expensive and should be very little labor to replace. Did they happen to say which sensors and give you a cost estimate? I suspect that they may have diagnosed this problem by reading out the engine control computer to see if it registered any fault codes. You are likely to be able to do this yourself using your ignition key, at least it is worth a try to verify what they are saying. The way you do it on the Chrysler line is as follows: turn it "on-off-on-off-on" and leave it "on" (doing this quickly, no longer than 5 seconds). Then watch the 'check engine' light which will be 'on' for a few seconds then to begin flashing, then pause, flashing, pause, etc. Count the number of flashes before each pause and keep track of the numbers. Repeat the readout and verify the counts are correct. Then group them in pairs in the order that they came out, thus forming two digit numbers. You may notice that the pause is shorter between the digits of a given number, and longer between the numbers themselves. Then send me a 'follow-up' question telling me the results of your readout. By the way, 55 will be the last number (two groups of 5 flashes each) and that is the code for "end of readout".
I have the troubleshooting manual for several Chrysler engines including the Mitsubishi 3.0L V-6 so let me know which engine you have and we can look up the possibilities of what is wrong based upon what fault codes you show, if any. I can't be sure your controller works like the other Chrysler ones, but give it a try.
There is also an essay on Chrysler fault codes at the site:
http://www.allpar.com/fix/codes.html
which gives the meaning of the code numbers. But even then you need to get specific info for what exactly might be the diagnostic tests or parts to replace to complete the repair.
So let me know some more of the history and whether you successfully got any codes to readout.
Roland
