Clutch Problems...Class Action Lawsuit??

[tabio42]

Would anyone else be interested in starting a class action lawsuit against Mitsubishi for all of our past, current, or potential clutch problems? I myself had my clutch go out at 4755 miles and I had to go through hell to try and get it fixed but with no luck.

The first dealership I went to was Tuttle Click Mitsubishi in Lake Forest/Irvine. I pulled into the service department (my car making all sorts of noises and a cloud of noxious gas surrounding me) and tried to talk to one of the service managers. I explained that my clutch was working very poorly and it was smelling pretty bad. His first reply to me was, "$1400." I was surprised, I thought maybe he didn't see that it was a brand new car. I explained to him how I have had it for a little over a month and the car was well under the 12 month 12,000 mile clutch warranty. All I got was, "Nah it doesn't matter, $1400." Finally I got him to explain that Mitsubishi wont cover the clutches in any of their EVO's because it is in his words, "A racing car." That's ridiculous, it is a street car, that's why it is DOT approved for everything! And on top of that it is a sports car so it isn't meant to be driven like a grandma by any means. After trying to explain to him that in writing it is warrantied and that he should at least take a look at it he told us he could take it apart, take a look at it and put it back together all for a nominal fee of $1,000! Then he said if they open it up and see that it's covered under warranty I don't have to pay that $1,000. But wait.... didn't you just say that Mitsubishi doesn't cover the clutch in any of their Evos? I left confused but it was ok because I was still able to drive away. And drive I had to do because this car was my main mode of transportation to and from work and school.

So I tried calling the dealership in Costa Mesa. They told me to bring it by and they will check if it is covered under warranty. Well by now I was kind of wise to the procedure so I asked if I would incur a tear-down charge if it wasn't. Well there it was an $800 fee if it wasn't covered under warranty. I asked why it wouldn't be covered and the tech told me if it is determined that the clutch went bad due to driver abuse and not a defect. And I asked what would determine that and he told me that the regional service manager will take a look at it and if the flywheel is glazed then she will determine it to be driver abuse. Ok now here's my question and I asked him this as well: When a clutch is proven not to completely disengage due to a weak clutch line isn't it going to over time keep slipping and put material on to the flywheel? And isn't this one of those problems that builds upon itself and the magnitude of its destructiveness only multiplies as time goes on? Now talk about scripted protocols for answering questions over the phone, "Well you'd have to bring it in and we'll have to take it apart and take a look at it." Well that wasn't much help, but at least he gave me Mitsubishi's general help phone number (1-888-648-7820) which I called after this last ordeal which I will explain.

Shortly after I dealt with these two dealerships, my clutch completely let go. The car didn't move. So I had to call AAA to tow it to my house. I would have used Mitsubishi Roadside assistance at that point but I didn't know which dealership to tow it to. So I got it home and called the dealership I bought it from, Murietta Mitsubishi. I hadn't gone to or contacted them before because to get there from my house you have to go through Ortega and windy canyon roads with a burning clutch didn't seem like a superb idea. When buying my car at Murietta I mainly dealt with two people- One was a salesman (I don't want to give his name out right now because I'm not sure if he is responsible for giving me any grief or not); the other was Jim Felps the Fleet Manager at the time (that might not be the right way to spell it). When I bought my car everyone was great. I had seen an ad in autotrader for a special deal on EVO's that they had going on and called in to inquire. The deal was for EVO's without sunroofs and all they had left were ones with sunroofs. The salesman I mentioned early was the first person I spoke with. He told me the situation about the current stock of EVO's but he had spoken with Jim and he said he could get me a similar deal plus the price of the sunroof. So I kept in contact with the salesman paying special attention that I don't talk to anyone else so that he wouldn't have to split his commission. I was finally able to go in to the dealership with my family (my parents were co-signing for me because I don't have well established credit yet). And they took good care of me and gave me a great deal as promised.

So when I called about my clutch I spoke with the same salesman. Actually at first I asked to speak with Jim but I was told he no longer works with the company. Which is a shame because I'm confident if he were there he would have done something to remedy this situation. I explained my situation to the salesman and he said he would ask someone if he could do anything. He spoke with his General Manager and told me that his GM said "Yeah bring it down we'll take care of it." I even overheard part of the conversation -
"It's the guy who came down with his family"
"Yeah bring it down"
I thought finally someone is going to help me out. And I had faith in these people because they helped me out in the past also. So I had my brother take it down to Murietta for me via Mitsu Roadside Assistance because I had to be at work. He went expecting everything to go well and the problem to be solved, I expected the same thing. But when he got there the service manager told him that they had to tear the car down, take a look at the problem and see if it is covered under warranty, if not it was going to be $750! WHAT THE HELL? Then it was going to have to wait a couple of days to even be looked at, and on top of that it would take 2 weeks to repair! Then General Manager denied that he ever said he would take care of the problem! And on top of that he admitted that the EVO has been known to have a weak clutch but he still refused to do anything about it. They jerked my brother around for hours. So we decided to tow it back home. Now Mitsubishi Roadside Assistance only tows to a dealership, if the dealership refuses to fix the problem you're left on your own. So we had to use AAA again and incur towing charges from Murietta to Laguna Beach (that's something like 60-70 miles).

My last hope was calling Mitsubishi's Corporate number that I listed before. All that accomplished was frustrating me more. I spoke with a woman who was a warranty claims something or other who knew nothing about cars. She gave me the same thing about the flywheel getting glazed from driver abuse. I explained to her about the problem with the clutch from the manufacturer and after a 30 second pause of confusion on her part she said there's nothing we can do except take it apart and take a look at it to determine if it is driver abuse related. I swear Mitsubishi must have had a conference to tell these people to all say the same exact thing over and over. I'm sick of this. My car is broken, and now I have to fix it.

SO! Here's the point: We all bought sports cars. It is implied that when you buy a powerful car, all the parts would be able to handle that power. But in case something goes wrong, you have a warranty. So how many of you had to pay out of pocket for clutch problems while you were still under warranty? Whether it was paying to replace the stock clutch, having an aftermarket clutch installed that will actually hold up, buying an aftermarket clutch and installing it yourself, or for those few of you that were lucky enough to get your labor warrantied but you still had to purchase the clutch. I THINK MITSUBISHI SHOULD COMPENSATE US FOR ALL OUT OF POCKET EXPENSES

So now, How many of you would be interested in starting a class action lawsuit against Mitsubishi of America?
This is completely possible if we all join together! I don't know how bad this problem is outside of California but I bet there are a lot of people that will support us all over America. Please reply to this post with support or suggestions. Or you can Email me, the address is in my profile. And maybe in the near future we can get a meet going somewhere to discuss in person.

Thanks for reading this and I hope it doesn't get deleted because it is a legitimate problem concerning all Evolution owners that needs to be solved.

[han74j]

hey man i feel u, although i still have my clutch, but it doesn't feels liek a 6000 mile clutch........ this is a really good post u put up, u should go to every evo fourm, and post this!!!! when i got my car the dealer told me that in california alone there had already been 75 people that bruned their clutch... so im sure ther has to be over a few hundred may be even in the thousands in American.... 4500 total 03 evo made........ so its pretty sad. i think just people that are very active in this web site i think may be like 3-4 people already burned their clutch. good luck!!

[NRG]

I currently have 12500 miles on my clutch and it is still running strong as the first day I got it.......

If you didn't launch it and you have experience driving manual, I see no reason for the clutch to wear like that. And if it does, it is definitely Mitsubishi's responsibility to replace it free of charge and even pay for the rent-a-car while the car is under service......

You guys might have to open a case with the Mitsu headquarters. If enough customers opens a case like this, they might just do something about it.....

[drmosh]

Is this your first manual car tabio?

[QuickShifter]

NRG proves a really good point, most people dont stop bitching about how their clutch burnt out and all this crap, first off, its a pretty shabby clutch to begin with, yet it is quite suitable for the car, but what people dont understand is that if you launch your car at 6,000....6,500 rpm's....your BURNING THE HELL OUT OF THE CLUTCH, and when you do that many times, expect to find yourself at least 1,000 dollars in debt to a new upgraded clutch and install, i had my clutch for 15,000 miles and launched at the strip well around 100 times, no joke, Mitsubishi in my opinion, should not be responsible for your clutch, and im all up for a free clutch!!!! so take my word for it, if you know how to drive and you dont torture your clutch, it should last you around 30,000 miles.....but who the hell buy's an evo and drives like a bitch

[Dr. Evo]

273 ft/lbs of torque + all-wheel drive + hard launches = something breaking. This is why the clutch disk is weak. It was engineered (sp?) that way. Think about it. It may be a "race car for the street" but someone still has to stand behind it. If something is going to break, make it something easily fixed (ie. not the trans or rear end), and something that cannot easily damage anything else when it goes. If YOU made sometihing and sold it with a warranty, and the buyers took it, changed it, broke it, and brought it back complaining, would you fix it for free? Almost all of the clutches Mits has seen have been MELTED. Not worn out, but from a everyday driver's standpoint, abused (ie driven hard, launched, slipped, raced). I have seen them come apart. Now don't get me wrong, I am 24 and my Evo is driven that way too. But when it comes time to need a clutch, Mits isn't going to pay for mine either. And, yes, Mits knows that they are going to be driven like that. They were designed to be driven like that. But for reliability the clutch is made to be the weak point. If the clutch didn't go, the Tranny would. Get it? Just way too much dealer flaming without knowing what really is going on. If you don't like the clutch in the Evo, trade it in on a nice, reliable Civic. Maybe one with an automatic. I heard they last forever. :D

[sidewaysevo]

hmm strange. I guess I have a lucky clutch. because I have launched it like crazy and drag the ish out of it. I guess I am just doing it right. and I got 16000 miles on it. sorry to hear about your clutch.

[Chris in SD]

I just cracked 16,000 miles, too, and I have NO problems with the clutch. The only I've even had an issue was when a certain tall, gangly Ricardon paused in front of me while going uphill out of the beach at Malibu. I slipped the crap out of my poor clutch and smelled it all the way home. I keep stressing this phrase for a reason: MECHANICAL SYMPATHY. This doesn't mean to granny your car, it means you need to understand what operations in driving require patience and care, like shifting. Of course with practice you can cut the time required to do a proper shift, but a proper shift is required. There are a couple guys here who appear to race a lot that understand what I mean. Mechanical sympathy is what makes winners in endurance races.

[leaveit2bevo]

12700 on my stock clutch and I have burned it really good a number of times and although my clutch pedal is heavier than when I first bought the car its still going strong.

[sidewaysevo]

haha yep I have burned my clutch a lot before to lol

[EVO Neil]

Not to rain on your sorrows, but if you had this concern with any other make of vehicle the response would have been the similar. I will agree that the Tuttle-Click service advisor could have chosen a better way to word it. I wrote service at the dealership level for 9 years for different manufactures and that's exactly how clutch situations are handled under warranty. Tear down and inspection is the ONLY way to figure out what caused the situation, otherwise how do you expect them to correct the concern? You have to see what the cause was/is and you can't do that with the transimssion/clutch in the car. If you are so confident that you didn't cause the situation then what are you worried about? The dealer gets paid for legitimate warranty concerns, so they only care about making it right and being able to defend the claim in an audit, when their records are questioned. Let them tear it down, either way, you are going to have to get it fixed, so that leaves you with a better chance than taking it to an aftermarket vendor who I can guarantee you, won't be able to get it fixed under warranty. Sorry to be so harsh, but you are way off on this one. Oh, and I have 18,,000 miles and original clutch in mine.

[tabio42]

Why should anything be made to break? If Mitsubishi had told me when I bought the car that the clutch was weak and liable to burn out I wouldn't have bought it. I'd be driving an STi with no stereo right now. My brother's WRX never had clutch problems and it was driven way harder than my EVO. You're probably gonna say well that has 220lb/ft and the EVO has 270 but it doesn't matter. They are both stock cars. A production car should be made so that all of its parts work together without a "weak point" to go out. It's not like I dropped the clutch while bouncing off the rev limiter! I even broke the thing in and drove like a sissy for 1000 miles. I've driven a lot of different manual cars for extended periods, 3 of them are all wheel drive turbo cars and one of those makes buttloads of power. So even though I'm no pro, I know how to drive. My problem is, Mitsubishi knows the clutch is weak, the dealers know the clutch is weak, but no one decided to tell us when we bought our cars, so why should we have to pay for it?

[EVO Neil]

My problem is, Mitsubishi knows the clutch is weak, the dealers know the clutch is weak, but no one decided to tell us when we bought our cars, so why should we have to pay for it?


Did you read the above replies, not one of them talked about having the same problem as yours and most including me have way more miles than you. I didn't say you couldn't drive, just that you are being unreasonable. If you had a Subaru WRX STi and had the same concern, they would be telling you the same thing. First inspect, then find the problem (it doesn't matter who's fault it is, until you know what caused it), then fix it. It could be that you have a warranty-able problem with your car, but whining about "the weak Mitsubishi clutch" isn't going to get it fixed. Find the answer to what caused it BEFORE you accuse Mitsubishi of having a problem with the clutch. Right now, all you have is heresay, not facts...

[drmosh]

Why should anything be made to break? If Mitsubishi had told me when I bought the car that the clutch was weak and liable to burn out I wouldn't have bought it. I'd be driving an STi with no stereo right now. My brother's WRX never had clutch problems and it was driven way harder than my EVO.

Personal experience is always different, and I can tell you, the WRX tranny is really shabby, not just the clutch, the entire thing, enough horsepower and you will break gears, crack transfer cases, etc. I know numerous WRX owners who have plenty of tranny problems. So, each person gets his own mileage, sorry your clutch went out, you may have gotten a bad one, but I don't think you will get a class action suit out of it. The problem with a class action is you have to have enough probable cause to file suit, unfortunately with all the clutch bitching, Mitsu can easily just say you are abusing it or whatever. You will get pennies on the settlement which means you'd be better off using an aftermarket clutch and having it installed instead of wasting your time to get back like $100 bucks for a class action settlement.

[Dr. Evo]

[quote="tabio42"]Why should anything be made to break? If Mitsubishi had told me when I bought the car that the clutch was weak and liable to burn out I wouldn't have bought it. I'd be driving an STi with no stereo right now. My brother's WRX never had clutch problems and it was driven way harder than my EVO. You're probably gonna say well that has 220lb/ft and the EVO has 270 but it doesn't matter. They are both stock cars.

Then sell your Evo and buy a damn WRX, or shut up.

[sidewaysevo]

I used to have a wrx, and the tranny really sucked. popped out of gear when I drove it hard, and in the morning the clutch would be slipping when cold. the wrx tranny and clutch are crap. I used to have one so I know. up grade your clutch if its that big of a problem. I would rather have a strong ass tranny with a weak clutch rather then have a sorry ass tranny with a weak clutch. like i said i got 16000 miles on it and drive the ish out of it and my clutch is still good. if u don't like it trade it in for a wrx and the tranny take a dump, and see which u would like to replace.

[pangaroo]

Just bend over and take it, MITSU will not help you. I spoke directly with the district manager because my clutch started slipping at roughly 1,000 miles(so shut the fuck up all of you who say ALL bad clutches are from abuse). I was still breaking the car in at the time when it happened, and he still said too bad, pay the $$$ first then we will worry about it.

Finally, the dealer came back after the fuckhead manager left, and said, sorry we'll do the labor if you want to buy an aftermarket clutch. I was lucky because they knew this shit was ridiculous. I talked candidly with them and they said MITSU will NOT take any clutches from EVOs from the dealers, so your chances of getting a replacement are slim to none. Just pray for a nice dealer. My dealer was nice to me because they had screwed some other things up, so I doubt they will help unless their is special circumstances.

As for the clutch, I asked for the clutch back, and despite the fact that it was not abused, showed some slight heat spots, enough that they tech said it is enough for them to accuse me of abuse.

As for class action lawsuit, Im down to help, not so much to get my money back, but more so to say FUCK YOU MITSU, take care of your business and show a bit of respect to the people that bought your top of the line automobile.

Dont get me wrong, I have nothing but love for my EVO, its just coporate Mitsu that deserves a kick in tha ass.

For those of you still defending Mitsu, please feel free to ask me questions, its just that every time i hear someone say that they have a bad clutch, everyone jumps on them and call abuse. With our own people against us, its no wonder that Mitsu is getting away with being unreasonable.

I understand there is a lot of abuse, but there isn't any more abuse than any other similar car. Was there a good % of VR4 owners loosing their clutch well under 10K? What about Subies? 911 turbos? And the coutless number of high powered Rear Drives. I feel the EVO owners are so content with allowing the car they love to have a weak clutch because they insist that it is impossible to build a high powered AWD car with a clutch that will last.

Sorry for the long post. I'm still pissed at the attitude i recieved from MITSU as well as EVO owners jumping on my back.
Im no expert by any means, but I feel I am extremely reasonable and try to understand both sides, so if i posted anything wrong, just let me know.

[Dr. Evo]

Here's the "Inside Scoop"

50% of all Mitsubishi's warranty cost worldwide (minus the US) comes form the Evo. So Mits US is being VERY suspicious of any warranty claim that is made on an Evo. I recently fixed an Evo that had a fuel injector stuck open under Warranty, and the part got called back for inspection.

The reason why dealers are telling you that there is a teardown fee in case the clutch cannot be covered is because if Mits decides to reject the warranty claim, the dealer does not get paid for the part OR labor. Understand that they are a business there to make $$.

Now, the dealer does not make the call to cover or not. That is made by a district service manager (DSM). Depending on where you go, they may or may not. I know that my DSM told me that he will generally cover the first one if it does not look TOO BADLY beat up. This is a judgement call, probably dependant on how well he slept the night before. It sounds like alot of you are having poor experiences with certain dealers. The way the Service writers and managers treat customers is terrible for Mits. Mits is like 25 out of 30 in CSI in the US for auto manufacurers. That sucks.

I understand that it is frustrating to pay 30K for a car and have somebody tell you that you drove it too hard, and that is why it broke. I do my best to look the other way on warranty when it comes to abuse, because I can still make good time on warranty, but it is very hard on the Evo. Even if I say it is ok, the part will be recalled and inspected. I can and have been overruled.

I usually tell people to strike a deal with the dealer, ie. agree to pay for a clutch if they cover the labor. Then have them install a good one. This works most of the time. But threatening them with silly law suits will NOT work. You have no case against the dealer, so why would they care? Remember, the dealer has to show that it was not abused to get it covered, and Mits is making that very difficult.

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to clear things up a bit. :roll:

[EVO Neil]

As for the clutch, I asked for the clutch back, and despite the fact that it was not abused, showed some slight heat spots, enough that they tech said it is enough for them to accuse me of abuse.

Not to be a smart ass, but how did the hot spots get there? At 1,000 miles you shouldn't have them, right? Please give me a reasonable fact-based explanation on how a clutch gets hot spots without slippage? I am willing to say I am wrong if you can convince me.

[tabio42]

Please give me a reasonable fact-based explanation on how a clutch gets hot spots without slippage? I am willing to say I am wrong if you can convince me.

Ok let's discuss this in a civil way. Don't start jumping all over me and please do not tell me to shut up (that's you Mr. Sosa). What if the car was abused at the dealership? My car had somewhere close to 20 miles when I got it. I know for a fact that salesmen and other employees test drive the cars. My salesman was talking about how fast they are from personal experience.

[EVO Neil]

Please give me a reasonable fact-based explanation on how a clutch gets hot spots without slippage? I am willing to say I am wrong if you can convince me.

Ok let's discuss this in a civil way. Don't start jumping all over me and please do not tell me to shut up (that's you Mr. Sosa). What if the car was abused at the dealership? My car had somewhere close to 20 miles when I got it. I know for a fact that salesmen and other employees test drive the cars. My salesman was talking about how fast they are from personal experience.

I will agree that it could have occurred before you took delivery of the car, which would make it impossible to prove down the road when the clutch goes out. I also know from personal experience that it is very easy to slip the clutch in an Evo starting out in first gear from a stop, without knowing you did it. I've had several occasions where the tell-tale was a slight odor and no other indication. It's really easy if you have just started driving one for the first time. I am not trying to be mean-hearted, just logical about my assessment of the situation. After all, I've been on both sides of the fence having written service in the past. Heck, clutches are the biggest area of complaint on a high-performance car, just look at: http://www.focaljet.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB36&Number=914077&page=1&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1 . The SVT Focus guys are complaining about the same problem, clutches going out early. I bet if you check the Subaru WRX sites you'll find a thread just like it.

[pangaroo]

I can't explain why their are hot spots, im trying ot figure out why. I'll take a pic when i get the chance and show you what it looks like.

The only explaination I have is the car was taken for 30 miles when it was sitting at the dealership for a detail. They sourced the detail to another company, and that company says they didnt do it, and the dealer says they didnt do it. When i brought this up to the DSM, I was told too bad, that doesnt prove anything, can't help you. (thats the reason the dealer went behind his back to help me). The dealer even thought the DSM was full of shit. When I asked what they could do because the car is in possesion of the dealership and whoever took it could have been doing 7K launches all day long in 30 miles, he said it was impossible to do that much damage in 30 miles :roll: . So all you who say these 5-6K drops are killing the clutch, according to the DSM it doesn't unless you do it every day :roll: In otherwords, he refuses to do anything and continued to say I abused the clutch.

The entire time, I tried my best to be extremely courteous and listened to the BS the DSM said before I talked. All of this to no avail.

Remeber I was still breaking in the car, and I've been driving a stick for 7 years. No matter how bad I am, I didn't cause that much damamge in 1K miles considering 90% of those miles are highway driving.

I'm glad you (EVO Neil) are showing sympathy to the customer. Unfortunately the DSM (a tall older white dude) pretty much flipped me off.

Let me ask you this, if you were in charge, and a customer's car was taken from your possesion for a 30mile joyride, would you take responsibilty for it? I insisted if there was any damage it was from that, he said you can't prove it, too bad. Should it be my responsibolity to do so? He said, you just assume they drove the car hard. WTF else would they be doing!!! you dumb FUCK!! Grocery shopping? If someone is going to steal an EVO for 30 miles... they are going to drive it as hard as they can. ( I assure you no foul language was used to the DSM)

Sorry everyone has to hear me rant, we can do this via PM if you want, but i think everyone should know how MITSU treats its customers, and it aint pretty.

[budzik]

With my first EVO (note, I had a silver one that was rear ended, totaled out, now the engine is in a rally car...) at about 2000 miles the clutch made a funny noise, sounded like a screeching metallic noise if I let the clutch out slowly. I took it to Browing and the guy told me to let the clutch out quicker and the noise will go away. I went to Whittier and the tech said the noise was not normal. Service manager was involved, the district manager was involved, I made some phone calls, Mitsubishi engineer was in the neighborhood came to my house and drove the car. Said it warrented an inspection but if the clutch was found to be toasted, I'd have to pay for it. He also showed me a burnt out clutch was ~200 miles on it. The thing was purple... They pulled my clutch apart and found hotspots on half of the flywheel and half of the clutch disk in the same spots, engineer came to the dealership, looked at it for 1 minute and said, OK replace it. The clutch in general worked just fine but had a funny noise. Well that car was totalled out and I bought a new one (Blue)

So my current EVO has 2 track days on it, clutch works just fine and I am at 9500 miles. My brother has 10 - 15 track days on his beyond modified EVO and his clutch works just fine, he probably has 20000 miles on it by now. In the morning I get some clutch shudder depending how I let out the clutch. My WRX had it too, even after getting it warrentied twice. So am I going to take the EVO in to get the clutch looked at? NO, shudder goes away, clutch works just fine.

Compared to other cars I have driven, the EVO clutch is well softer, but after you get use to it, there is nothing wormg with it until you have 500 hp. It is made by Exedy, incase you didn't know that.

So I have had 2 EVO's (lucky me) and I don;t get how one can burn out a clutch in 1000 miles. IF you drop the clutch out at 6000 rpm, something is going to give, and it is not all 4 wheels on dry pavement. The car is not a front wheel drive SRT4 or turboed civic.

My 2 cents, any track events coming up soon.

[pangaroo]

I dont claim that ALL mitsu clutches are bad, but you have to admit, this is not a few isolated incidents. There is more to this than abuse. Something was designed to give a lot faster than other cars. I know people who have had the clutch for 15-20K and are fine, but I know a hell of a lot more that had problems well under 10K.

As for my incident, im breakin the car in still, so NO funny business. Clutch was not completely toasted, but it was slipping, so I thought i'd bring it in before it got worse. If some jackass dropped the clutch 20 times in those 30 miles when my car was mysteriously missing from the service department, I cant say for sure, but if you were a dick enough to steal someones car for 30 miles, i doubt you'd drive it like you were breaking it in. Regardless, there was nothing I had done to cause clutch damage whether you believe me or not.

Whatever happens, I just hope Mitsu decides to treat it's customer with more respect instead of questioning our every request as if we are asking for the world when all we want is what written in paper. A freakin warranty for parts we did not break, unless my grounding kit created soooo much power that my clutch couldn't take it, damn grouding kits.

As for others that are having problems, lets try and help them before we start saying "you fucked it up." Mitsu does a good job of this already.

[STiTHIS]

How about the grinding in second...no more syncros?

[EVO Neil]

The only explaination I have is the car was taken for 30 miles when it was sitting at the dealership for a detail. They sourced the detail to another company, and that company says they didnt do it, and the dealer says they didnt do it. When i brought this up to the DSM, I was told too bad, that doesnt prove anything, can't help you. (thats the reason the dealer went behind his back to help me). The dealer even thought the DSM was full of shit. When I asked what they could do because the car is in possesion of the dealership and whoever took it could have been doing 7K launches all day long in 30 miles, he said it was impossible to do that much damage in 30 miles :roll: . So all you who say these 5-6K drops are killing the clutch, according to the DSM it doesn't unless you do it every day :roll: In otherwords, he refuses to do anything and continued to say I abused the clutch.Let me ask you this, if you were in charge, and a customer's car was taken from your possesion for a 30mile joyride, would you take responsibilty for it? I insisted if there was any damage it was from that, he said you can't prove it, too bad. Should it be my responsibolity to do so? He said, you just assume they drove the car hard. WTF else would they be doing!!!

I agree this information does change things and I'm glad the dealer thought that the possibility could exist enough to help you. I probably would have offered the same.

[leaveit2bevo]

How about the grinding in second...no more syncros?

I have that problem everyonce and a while. I know a lot of people are getting 5th grind and thats being replaced under warrenty.

[Dr. Evo]

Ok let's discuss this in a civil way. Don't start jumping all over me and please do not tell me to shut up (that's you Mr. Sosa).

First of all, did I tell you to shut up? I think you are taking this way too personal. Just understand the facts, and we can be civil.

[Dr. Evo]

It sounds like the DSM you are dealing with is just an asshole. He does, however have a boss. If he doesn't want to even listen to your complaint, go over his head. Ask to speak with the regional manager. It may or may not happen, though. But if you do have less than 1000 miles on your car, the DSM should have covered it, IMHO. I don't mean to come off as a hardass or anything, I was just explaining the order of business that goes on at the dealership level (be it Mits or otherwise). Unfortunately, the DSM probably covers all the dealers in your area, so the only real way around it would be to bring your car to dealer out of the area. Have you tried asking to split it (you pay for parts, they cover labor)? That is reasonable enough for most DSM's, and then you could install a good A/M clutch. Just my 2 cents. :)

[Temjin]

I'm already on my 3rd clutch, and I want my money back. Personally, I am somewhat negative with Mitsubishi and feel they deserve some of the negative publicity. I remember not being too excited at the Mitsu/SCC awards ceremony-maybe it was because I didn't really care for Mitsubishi. I can say the same about the Mitubishi Pamona dealership. who blantantly lied to me when they sold me the car. Just have this negative vibe with Mitsubishi from the corporoate level down to the retail level. I say all this after driving an Evo for nearly a year. If I had to purchase a car again, I would probably buy a WRX-Sti strictly due to the fact that Subaru knows how to take care of its customers without the intention of screwing people over.

[budzik]

Umm, Subaru doesn't necessarily have the best service either. I sold my WRX because it was one, a piece of crap, 2, it took 3 months to fix a simple problem. At 45000 miles I had a fuel leak in cold weather and they wouldn't fix it. First gear was broken (all 2002 WRX's had this problem), it was a stressful event to get it fixed.

What I learned from those experiences is that if you have a rattle in your car, don't take it into the dealership, fix it yourself, it is not worth the pain and stress to get it fixed. I have also learned that the best mechanic isn't really all that good, they still have to rush to get the job done at most dealerships, with the WRX they forgot to put the transmission mount bolt in once. They will wash your car with a wire brush, and put 10 miles on your car when they change your oil. If you get a check engine light, it will go away :lol: .

Back to the clutch issue, 3 clutches in one year, that sucks.

[erioshi]

I think it would be interesting to have the preasure plate and possibly the hub springs tested on some of the cars that have had clutch failures. I'm at about 20K with my stock clutch, but it has never "hooked up" like a couple of other Evo's I've been a passenger in.

I'm an experienced driver with quite a bit of performance car exp. and I know that the preasure plate on my clutch allows quite a bit of slip even when the clutch is fully released, especially if I'm launching the car. Because of all that slip, I've only launched my car a couple of times. I've been in two other Evos where the driver has really laid into a launch and those cars didn't seem to have the same clutch slip as my car.

One thing well worth mentioning is that adding HP as really incresed the slip. While my car slipped for just under 1/2 second after the clutch was fully released (fast feather, not a drop) when stock, my car now slips for about 3/4 of second with what most people would consider a "stage one" set of mods.

I know a new clutch is in my future (probably this summer) but for now I'll skip the launches and use my "leet rev-matching skills" to help avoid a clutch job before all the snow melts here... :lol:

[Chase101]

I'm sorry to say that as of today my clutch is officially fucked up. I have a little over 4700mi and my clutch is taking a shit at a record pace. I dragged raced on Friday and then drove my car car back and forth to work this weekend (about a 4 mi drive round trip) and didn't really notice any problems until Sunday night. I started to notice that in 2nd and 3rd the clutch wouldn't engage until it was nearly fully released. Then this morning I got up to go to school and had the same problem until I got on the freeway and all hell broke loose. I got onto the onramp, made it to 3rd, and gunned it just to watch my tach jump to about 6500rpm and jump back down to about 4000 before my car took off. On the trip to school it progressively got worse and the way home, guess what, even worse.

I'll be the first to admit, I've dragged my car twice. I've done 7 launches total 6 of them on Friday. I'm going to the dealership tomorrow to see if I can get a deal worked out. All I want is the labor and I'll buy my own clutch. I know what I did to my car and I'm pretty confident that if I wouldn't have launched my car the clutch would have lasted me at least a while longer. However, I think 4700 mi on a clutch with what I would call a small amount of abuse is kind of bullshit if you ask me.

[ItsStockOfficer]

if you let the clutch over heat, its toast, period. ANY clutch. I toasted an ACT clutch in 3 days by letting it get too hot. Don't hot lap your car guys. 20 minutes off every 2 passes, minimum. Shifting does not hurt them but slipping on the launch kills them rapidly.

[QuickShifter]

I'm sorry to say that as of today my clutch is officially fucked up. I have a little over 4700mi and my clutch is taking a shit at a record pace. I dragged raced on Friday and then drove my car car back and forth to work this weekend (about a 4 mi drive round trip) and didn't really notice any problems until Sunday night. I started to notice that in 2nd and 3rd the clutch wouldn't engage until it was nearly fully released. Then this morning I got up to go to school and had the same problem until I got on the freeway and all hell broke loose. I got onto the onramp, made it to 3rd, and gunned it just to watch my tach jump to about 6500rpm and jump back down to about 4000 before my car took off. On the trip to school it progressively got worse and the way home, guess what, even worse.

I'll be the first to admit, I've dragged my car twice. I've done 7 launches total 6 of them on Friday. I'm going to the dealership tomorrow to see if I can get a deal worked out. all I want is the labor and I'll buy my own clutch. I know what I did to my car and I'm pretty confident that if I wouldn't have launched my car the clutch would have lasted me at least a while longer. However, I think 4700 mi on a clutch with what I would call a small amount of abuse is kind of bullshit if you ask me.


Wow....thats really weird, i launched....(no boilshit) at least 50 times on my stock clutch and just recently replaced it after it was DONE and my car only revved, it was 15,000 miles i put on that piece of shit, i noticed many people with the same problem as you slip their clutch, dropping it is much easier on the clutch, yet i found out today that the drivetrain cant take so many drops with a decent amount of power, so ill probably start slipping it again. If i were you i wouldnt go to mitsubishi, thell know youve been launching hard first off so if you want to keep a clean rap with them dont do that, most off though they charge 1000 dollars for clutch install, unfuckingbelievable I know, I had a good friend of mine, licensed mechanic, install in one day for 400 bucks, Its in santa monica, European Engineering, he also replaced my tranny fluid no charge with mobil one gear fluid(Synthetic Only), he said it was the worste case he's ever seen!!!, anyways, pm me if you want me to let him know his business is wanted, 400 is almost impossible to beat

[perversity]

Why should anything be made to break? If Mitsubishi had told me when I bought the car that the clutch was weak and liable to burn out I wouldn't have bought it.

I was told definatilvey that the clutch was the weak link in the transmission when I bought the car. Having said that, I went and talked to the techs for a long time, rather than the salesmen (who generally don't know these things).

Would you rather the clutch be burnt out or some other part of the transmission?

BTW, I have 12k on my stock clutch and no signs of slipping yet.

It seems that people wearing their clutch out are just driving the car differently to those who are not.

It states quite clearly in the owners manual that you should not "slip" the clutch. Slipping the clutch is the main reason for many owners wearing the clutch out prematurely. You are better off revving to 4k and dropping the clutch than slipping the clutch to engage it.

Anyways, I guess if you are going to persue your lawsuit then you will be able to find plenty of other people not willing to take responsibility for their actions to hop on board with you to try and sue Mitsu for what is a well-thought-out weak link in the transmission, put there so that people aren't having to pay for complete transmission tear-downs and replacements.

Meanwhile you spoil it for the rest of us because warranty issues start to get closer examination, we lose the small amount of leniencey we already have and we get a bad rep with the dealers.

Good luck!

[QuickShifter]

Both my parents are lawyers and my pops said pretty much you will waste a whole lot of money on lawyers and all sorts of other crap when mitsubishi brings out a demo evo or something with 30,000 miles on the stock clutch it had since it was built, if i didnt drive the way i did, and i was a bitch behind the wheel, or behind the clutch at least, i could make that sucker last for at least 60,000 miles no joke, ITS THE WAY YOU DRIVE

[leaveit2bevo]

I agree with above if I drove this car like an old lady the clutch would last forever, but its impossible this car just begs to be driven hard I even get shit gas milage because im always in boost the shit is addicting.

[NipponHamFighters]

I agree with bad syncros...My 2nd 3rd and 5th grind bad at times.

[Takashi]

I agree with above if I drove this car like an old lady the clutch would last forever, but its impossible this car just begs to be driven hard I even get shit gas milage because im always in boost the shit is addicting.

yeah, but there's a fine line between driving a car hard, and abusing it. abuse will lead to drivetrain failure (ie a clutch)...

oh, and someone said something about the wrx tranny. although not the best, i've never had problems with they're 5speeds, and i've had one for about 4 years now. it's never popped out of gear or had to go in for maintenance. my first one had 78k miles on it when i sold it, and my wrx has 20k now.

[Hallster]

The clutch is broke/defective. Anyone esle says different they dont have all the facts. Mistubishi screwed up: its tight budget is keeping them from handling this appropriately.

When my clutch goes out. If Mitsu doesn't replace it, I'm going to sue mitsu for the installation price of a clutch system that's not defective. Otherwise, it'll be a repeat in XX miles later.

I really think Mitsu should be slapped wrt this matter. pure negligence.

Sean

[Pops]

The best combination I've found for AWD cars like the evo is a carbon clutch (RPS Clutches Chatsworth) because the Carbon won't glaze the flywheel and the hotter it gets the better it grips. Slip it at 6000 RPM and it's smooth on the drive train, doesn't glaze the flywheel. I don't know if RPS has one for the Evo, but it might be a good place to start. Tradeoffs are chatter and stiff pedal.

I look at the clutch like ink for my printer. They sell the printer below cost and make money on the ink. The key is to know what you are getting into, and figure it as part of the expense of the car. It is a phenomenal buy, even with $2K extra for a great aftermarket clutch.

BTW I am friends with a Mitsu service manager and he says he's been told in no uncertain terms, clutchs are not covered. Unless of course there's a problem with a bearing or fork, or it was a tester and got a mile from the dealer before failure.

[EvolOne]

I know the clutch is the weak point and intended to give.

I've got 19k miles, prefer not to launch hard.

As Dr. Mosh says, somethings gotta give.

My clutch is sweet still. I prefer my hotrodding once I'm rolling.

R

[kipper215]

the clutch sucks period :x . i think we all need to realize what we have. there is a reason why the car cost what it does. if the evo was built with a real racing clutch the car would cost a lot more money. just look at how much aftermarket parts cost. :shock: mtisu gave us a base to work from. i drive like a reasonable person cause i know it will break. i still get slipage and a little shake when the car is cold. so i am saving for a racing clutch(not cheap). to own an evo you have to pay to play. i have 8500 miles on my clutch and it's still working. :wink: always remember you're drive the best car on the planet. if you want your ride to shine invest some money in it and you won't be dissapointed. suing will get you no where :wink:

[Miss Evo8]

8,000 miles and the clutch still grips like the day I drove it off of the showroom floor. ( It was in the showroom!!!!) :P True the clutch is not a high performance clutch but it will do until I save money for a better one. I think some people do not know how to drive period!!!