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My Story I have owned my 2000 Eclipse GT 5 speed for 21 months / 22 000 miles now, and it has been serviced more times than I care to remember, I can safely say that I never had to buy any windshield washing fluid yet. Before I start with more details, let me list all the problems that I have encountered with this automobile so far and how those were resolved: Out of curiosity, I stopped by a local Mitsubishi dealership (Roby Mitsubishi, Dublin, Ohio) during my lunch brake and took one 2000 Eclipse GT for a test spin. Of course, in comparison to my underpowered car, the Eclipse was very exciting, plus there was the incredible salesmanship of this dealership's sales associate. So only few days later I rode out in my brand new red Eclipse GT 5 speed, base version. Before I picked it up, my new Eclipse had only 9 miles on it and sat in the dealer's show room, all covered with balloons and promotion stickers. As soon as I got in the car and drove home, I noticed two things:
The first thing I did was set up a service appointment with the nearest Mitsubishi dealer. Roby Mitsubishi had just opened up then and did not yet have its own Service Department, so I went to Dennis Mitsubishi, Columbus, Ohio. The warped rotors were immediately confirmed and resurfaced (not replaced), so that took care of my braking problem for the next 9 000 miles. They attempted to reattach the plastic shifter console, but it broke right in the middle (It's not always the muscle you put in it…) and because of that I had to wait for a replacement part to come in and be replaced. The console got replaced, but was never attached properly, and kept swinging left and right, driven by the shifter. Also, the silver shifter boot trim got broken and fell off completely after a few days. By that time, I was fed up with this minor issue and decided to "live with it" before something else got broken. The clutch was declared "within Mitsubishi specs" by a Dennis Mitsubishi Service Manager named Kent. I heard the following from Kent: "give it some more miles, it is just breaking in". At that time I bought his explanation, even though I understood that there is no such thing as "clutch break in period." As it got colder outside, my car was more and more difficult to drive in the morning. If I did not have the time to warm it up for at least 10 minutes, it would be insanely hard to shift it into second gear, so I drove it without using "second." I would go from first gear directly into the "third" until the car was fully warmed up. Just to let you know, I have always owned manual transmission cars, and I never had any issues with shifting, I never damaged clutches, or gearboxes. So when people ask me things like: "maybe you don't push the clutch all the way in", or "are you sure you are not abusing this car," my answer is, absolutely NOT. Even now when I am completely dissatisfied with the car and no longer want to own it, I take exceptional care of it. Meanwhile, after "giving" my car another ~1500 miles, I came back to Dennis Mitsubishi and told Kent that the clutch was still the same and that the shifting was very hard in the morning. In return, I was told to leave it at the dealership when it was cold outside and let him drive it cold. Driving every time to this dealership on the other side of town was no fun, but it was my only option to hopefully get my car to the condition of the new vehicle. After driving my car cold, Kent told me the following: "yes there is some vibration, but this is the nature of the beast. I just drove a brand new one off the lot, and it did the same thing." His award winning comment was: "What if we replace your clutch and new one does the same thing? " So I asked my good friend Michael Breydo, who happens to be a foreman at a very well known car shop (Westerville Automotive, Westerville, Ohio) to test drive my car, just to get a second opinion. When you are told something too many times, you start actually believing in it, and I was starting to think that maybe it was me, not the car. Immediately after driving my car for 5 minutes, he told me that I had a warped flywheel and for some reason the clutch was not releasing fully. I could keep driving the car like that or have my clutch replaced. He also said that warped flywheels are rather common with high mileage cars. And here I was with the high mileage of ~1500 miles being run around by Mitsubishi Service. So I gave the car more miles and brought it back to Kent of the Dennis Mitsubishi Service Center, but only to get nothing again! I hope you understand my frustration at this point. Every visit to Dennis Mitsubishi had to be accompanied by a full or half day off work, and you know how difficult those are. I had a total of 3 runaround clutch visits. Finally, I decided to go to Ricart Mitsubishi, which was 40 miles away, where my clutch (by that time at ~4200 miles) was declared faulty and the entire clutch assembly got replaced. Too bad I had to waste another day off work to get that done, but I was very happy. My car did not shake and shifted better. I decided to avoid Dennis Mitsubishi from now on and asked them not to call me about routine maintenance appointments, and eventually they stopped. Finally, at 4289 miles my car was fairly safe and sound. During the next 5000 miles on my car, I noticed that shifting got harder and the transmission would occasionally jerk and grind when shifted into second. I tried to find some explanation to this, but nothing would make sense. Even though this might not be such a major issue, considering that my vehicle was still drivable, it did not feel right owning a $20 000 car that drove and felt like a used vehicle approaching 100,000 miles. Close to 10,000 miles, I noticed that my steering wheel again started to pulsate when the brakes were applied at freeway speeds, so I called Roby Mitsubishi Service Department. Since this was the dealership where I bought my car, it was only 3 minutes away from my work and now, its Service Department was open, so it sounded like a dream come true. I called the dealership and stated my concern, but in return I got an excuse. Apparently, if pulsation occurs at speeds higher than 65 mph, the Service department is not able to verify this concern. I believed this excuse, and the fact that they did not want to take my word for it did not bother me. After little while, the pulsation appeared at lover speeds, and my rotors got replaced on 7/15/2001 at 9880 miles. Around the same time I noticed that my Eclipse decoration plate on the rocker panel started to corrode. I called Roby Mitsubishi Service and Ron, the service manager, told me that this was my fault. Apparently, there was a very thin, clear film on the top of that plate, and since I did not remove it on time, it kept moisture underneath, which triggered metal corrosion. We were talking about a very inexpensive part that I was ready to replace myself. But the fact that I was actually to blame here, for something that was supposed to be done at the dealership before a new car was delivered, totally threw me off. I insisted on this plate being replaced under warranty, and also I wanted Ron to take a look at my car's shifting. So after driving my car during two different appointments, he said that nothing out of the spec was found, that it shifted fine, and that those cars were known to be a little rough to shift. He said I had nothing to worry about. As for the rusty plate, he said that he was going to contact the regional Mitsubishi service representative and have him come out and look at my car in regards to the plate and my shifting complaint. I dropped my car off for the Mitsubishi representative to see on 4/16/2001, along with a letter for the Mitsubishi representative, see below: To whom it may concern, I purchased my car, 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse new (000019 miles) at Roby Mitsubishi of Dublin on September 5, 2000. I did not get to drive it prior to signing the papers since it was on the show room floor. Instead, I drove another unit with a 5 sp. gearbox and the same, 6-cylinder engine. As soon as I received my car, I immediately noticed that the front braking rotor, possibly both of them, were warped since the steering wheel was pulsating during braking at 45+ mph. I also noticed a vibration of the entire vehicle when the clutch is being released on the takeoff at 1st gear. A few days later I brought my car to the Dennis Mitsubishi Service dept. where the braking rotors were resurfaced, but the clutch was declared to be "the nature of the beast." I was also told that it should go away soon and I should not worry about it. I gave it ~1000 miles, and the vibration did not go away; it actually increased. When the weather got colder, I started having major difficulties engaging second gear when car was cold (i.e., the first ~10 minutes of driving). Preheating would help, but it was not always available. The clutch would vibrate and not release fully until the car was completely warmed up. Then it would release, but still vibrate. I tried to get service at Dennis 3 times all the way until my car reached 4200 of mileage and received nothing but: "what if we replace it and it does the same thing?", "you might have burned it yourself….", "they all do that, I just drove new one and it shook even more"! At that time I finally went to see Ricart Mitsubishi, and their Service dept. immediately told me that the clutch was faulty, issued me a loaner car, and replaced the warped components (See receipts.). As soon as I received the car, the vibration was gone, and it has stayed the same way ever since. During my problems with the original clutch and cold shifting, I replaced the original gear oil with Redline MTL-MT90 mix, which fully complies with Mitsubishi specifications and being fully synthetic fluid exceeds those. Replacing the fluid significantly improved shifting in the cold, and I was able to engage second gear. B it did not fix the problem at the time. When I drained the original gear oil, I cleaned up a lot of metallic shavings from the magnet at the drain plug. Approximately, 3000 miles after the clutch replacement, I checked again and found approximately the same amount of shavings again. After the most recent check I found not only shavings, but also yellow particles in the fluid. Even though the clutch is fine now, shifting to second gear is clunky and occasionally, when the car is driven for a long time, I get grinds on certain rpm (~1500-2000) when I shift into second. It occurs only after driving for a while. Every time I check the drain plug magnet, I get more shavings. I do not think that a break in period can extend for such long time. To me, it looks like excessive wear. Recently, I drove another 2000 5 sp. Eclipse GT and noticed that shifting on it was much more comfortable, so I will not take the "nature of the beast" explanation any more. I could drive my car the way it is for a longer time until the gear box would fail completely. But I do not think that this is right, considering that I bought this car new, and want to enjoy what I paid for. This car is used responsibly and was never abused. You can easily tell this by its condition, so I do not think that I can be blamed for any of the above malfunctions. Although I am very pleased with the design of this model, I am very disappointed with the quality of this car's components and the way it was supported by the dealer in the past. Please see my list of complaints below:
Thank you. Sincerely Michael Yankelevich Well, what do you know, he approved rusty plate replacement, but also declared my shifting to be normal (Please see receipts.). Ron told me that I should drive my car until a definite transmission failure is present and that at that time he would gladly authorize my car's repair. He said that me hearing shifting noise does not make this noise real. Again, I was left to drive my barely used, poorly shifting car, but now with the apparent noise in my own head. -I apologize for being sarcastic, but if you owned an Eclipse, you know that sarcasm is your last resort and getaway from "the noise in the head". I went online to the third generation Eclipse club (www.eclipseforums.org) and found many club members complaining about shifting to second gear also. Many complained about brake rotor reliability issues and clutch vibration. Apparently, this was another case of issues that the company does not want to admit. Many members complained about dealer service departments all across the United States mistreating their clients and running them around with unreasonable excuses. After some time, shifting into second gear became more unpleasant, and I could hear grinding more and more often. So I decided to stop by a professional transmission service to get a second opinion. ASE certified technician, team leader drove my car and stated that my second gear synchronizer is "no more." He also said that my first gear synchronizer was weak and apparently my car had developed a slow leak from the rear engine seal, leaking outside of the clutch housing. (I don't yet have this person's permission to publish his name here.) He also found an excessive amount of metal shavings on the magnetic trap of the transmission drain plug. (I cleaned this trap twice already, so now it would be the third time.) As soon as I got some proof that my car was indeed not sound and that I was no longer crazy, I went ahead, took another half day off, and drove out to Ricart Mitsubishi Service. Guess what, their lead technician found my car to be in a need of transmission repair and rear main seal replacement. (Please see receipts.) I also asked Ricart Mitsubishi to fix my loose center console, a problem inherited from the Dennis Mitsubishi help, and a flapping rear hatch that got loose. Three days later I got my car back, shifting much better, with the center console that does not swing, and the rear hatch properly attached. I am still trying to understand why my transmission went out on the first place and think that the original clutch was what originated the problem. By not releasing fully during the shifts, it put extra pressure on the First and Second gear synchronizers and caused them to wear prematurely. So my transmission break in period went directly into a breakdown. My personal opinion is that if Dennis Mitsubishi repaired my clutch on time instead of giving me multiple runarounds my original transmission parts would still be intact. Maybe all 5 speed Eclipse gearboxes are not reliable, maybe they are simply poorly designed and lack quality. In this case I will have to come back to the transmission issue again. My latest discovery is probably the most unpleasant one. Being 16 months and 16,000 miles old, my car started to develop rust, and I am not talking road chip surface rusting, I mean real, structural rust. It is coming out of spot welds, from inside the places where sheet metal attaches together around the engine compartment and strut towers. See pictures in the Most Common Problems. So now I am looking at a total car loss in a matter of few years. Apparently this issue is not new, and I am not the only one with it. I found a few other complaints of the same nature at www.eclipseforums.org. Members tell me that there was a bad batch of white 2000 Eclipses that would rust in a matter of months … but mine is red! I found a few other complaints about rust on Eclipses and how dealer services around the US refuse to cover it under the warranty. For now I know one thing for sure, that there is no permanent cure for rust coming from the inside. I am yet to take my car in very shortly and have it rust inspected, so the story is to be continued... I did not mention 3 recalls that I went through with my car, because if the manufacturer takes an extra step to prevent problem at their own expense, I can respect that and can hardly blame Mitsubishi for taking up my time here. |
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