Lower control arm recall help

[cytsi]

So here is the story, I was parking at a wawa near my school when I hear a snap and my car wouldn't move anymore. I go outside and my passenger tire has almost fallen off the car, the lower control arm and axle have broken. I get it towed to a local shop and they confirm the lower control arm/axle have broken and that it will be around $1500 to get it all replaced. I did some research and learned about this recall since I have a 2g. The local shop said that the axle was what broke first then the control arm so the dealer wouldnt replace any of it. I am going to find/call a dealer tomorrow to see if they will take care of this.

The question is, will they replace it since apparently the axle broke first? And also will they replace everything that broke or just the lower control arm? Also, will a mitsu dealer also take a look at it or just chrysler?

 

[antlip]

No dealer is going to pay for it if the axle broke first. If it can be proven that the control arm broke first and casued the damage then yes they will have to fix everything. Good luck at trying to get a dealership say that it was the control arm that broke over the axle. If you ever dealt with a dealership you will know they will screw anyone in anyway. I guess the only way to find out is to call a mitsubishi dealer tomorrow and tell them what happen. Well tell the control arm broke and caused other damage to the car. Best of luck with working with a dealership.

 

[cytsi]

The thing is, the axles were recently replaced in the past year. I doubt they would break already. I also heard a creaking when I would turn the wheel coming from the front passenger side, I just never had a chance to look at it since I am on campus. How is it possible to tell which broke first?

 

[antlip]

If you have recipts for the axles then I would go to mitsubishi and really fight hard and bring up the recall. Im not a mechanic or know how to tell which broke first. I would say there would be no way to tell which broke first. The mechanic might be making a wild guess OR he might know about the recall and want to make 1500 off of you to fix it instead of losing buisness to a dealership for the recall OR there is a way to tell what broke first.

 

[Locke]

That particular recall says they are to inspect and replace if necessary. They will replace it if it is worn or broke, if it has not already had that recall service, and if you are using the original piece. They will probably not pay for the axle, whether it was the control arm's fault or not.

 

[91 Turbo Mitsu]

Hey fight hard. I am a mechanic and have never personally seen a broken axle break a control arm. probably what happened is the control arm was going and weakend the axle . When the control arm broke it separated the axle and when you moved it snapped,shifted and the control arm came apart completely. I ahve seen cv blow apart under load and never saw one brake a control arm. Fight Fight Fight and good luck. Travis

 

[Splitpi]

$1500 is extremely high for the work that is relatively simple to do. I replaced both lower control arms in about an hours time and they combined cost ~$300 in parts. Add in the axle and your looking at ~$550 in parts and a max of 8 hours to get the broken axle out (assuming its rusted in good).

1) Loosen the lug nuts, just a little
2) Raise the front corner of the car with the broken control arms
3) Remove tire
4) Remove brake caliper and with some wire or string tie it up out of the way.
5) Remove the rotor and set aside. Try to touch it as little as possible and away from grease and grime
6) Remove cotter pin holding the axle to the drive shaft nut
7) Remove the Drive shaft nut (Note: An impact wrench would be nice, since the drive shaft is liable to rotate as you try to loosen the nut. Mitsu has a special tool MB990767 which allows someone to provide counter leverage to hub to offset the drive shaft twist, something similar could be made if you don't have it.
8) Loosen the tie rod bolt and using the mitsu special tool MB991113 or careful use of a pickle force (so as not to damage the rubber boot on the tie rod) loosen the tie rod from the knuckle so their is play
8a) Remove the sway bar bolt and press out the sway bar ball joint.
8b) Unbolt the shock from the lower lateral control arm.
8c) Unbolt the shock from the top mount and set the entire assembled shock to the side.
9) Remove the lower control arms bolts from the knuckle.
10) With either a pickle fork or the mitsu special tool MB991113 remove the lower control arm ball joints from the knuckle. (if the joints are broken off and stuck in the knuckle, use a metal point and a mallet hammer it out.
11) Remove the axle from the engine side and from the knuckle by inserting a prybar between the transaxle case the driveshaft and then pry the drive saft from the transaxle (Careful not to insert the prybar too deep such that you damage the Transaxle rubber oil seal)
11a) Put a clean rag into the transaxle hole to stop debre from getting into it.
12) Unbolt the control arms from the body
13) Replace the axle
14) Bolt the lower control arms to the body
15) Reinstall everything and torque the Drive shaft nut to 188 ft/lbs. Tie rod knuckle bolt to 25 ft/lbs. Shock damper fork to lower lateral control arm bolt to 65 ft/lbs. Sway bar bolt to 29 ft/lbs. Lower control arms to knuckle bolts to 52 ft/lbs. Shock to top mount of body bolts to 32 ft/lbs. Lower lateral control arm to body at 65 ft/lbs. Lower control arm to body bolts at 60 ft/lbs.

With the $1000 extra in saving you can buy a nice air compressor, impact wrench and torque wrench and all the tools you need and still have ~$400 to $300 in savings

Edit:

Here is what MB991113 looks like (I bought a pickel fork for ~$2.00 from Harbor Freight which does the same job when you don't care about damaging the rubber boots of the ball joints, I also ordered from Ebay a similar tool that is nearly identical in look and function... just haven't had the opportunity to use it cost ~$45 shipped, no idea on the mitsu tool cost though)
http://mitsubishi.spx.com/detail.aspx?tid=688&g=18
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BALL...007QQitemZ170045154818QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWD1V

Here is what MB990767 looks like:
http://mitsubishi.spx.com/detail.aspx?tid=355&sid=0&g=0

 

[BISHILVR]

$1500? Someone is smoking the good stuff. A mitsu dealer will not touch it! it will have to go to a chrysler dealer. They are fully responsible for any damage caused by the control arm failing, including property damage, personal injury, and towing charges! Also, I have never seen a broken axle damage a control arm? what kind of b/s mechanic are you dealing with? The control arm came apart, and put the full load of holding the front wheel in place on the axle which then tore apart since its not designed to hold the wheel on or in place. The big question will be whether the recall has ever been done on this car, that is where the fight should be.

 

[antlip]

If they run the VIN and your car had the recall then your F-ed.

My friends girlfriend had a 95 talon front wheel drive 5spd. She was turning down her road and heard a loud noise and pulled into her driveway about 100 feet away. My friend got in the car to drive it to see if the noise happens again. (since the tire looked fine and nothing was hanging off the car). He puts it in reverse and the wheel slams into the wheel well and I yell for him to stop. The control snapped apart. It got towed to a shop and the shop told them that the car had a recall for control arms and on this car it wasnt done. So the car ended up getting fixed for free. I dont remeber if it went to the dealership or if the work was done by the local shop and turned into the dealership. They fixed everything that broke on the pass side and even replaced the driver side control arm and other parts that were weakened. This all happen in 2004.

Moral of the story, recall about 9 years old. Part broke. Everything fixed for free.
She might of got lucky, of the dealership had to fix it.

 

[Splitpi]

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/recalls/results.cfm

Make : MITSUBISHI Model : ECLIPSE Year : 1997
Manufacturer : MITSUBISHI AMERICA
NHTSA CAMPAIGN ID Number : 00V421001 Recall Date : DEC 15, 2000
Component: SUSPENSION:FRONT:CONTROL ARM:LOWER BALL JOINT
Potential Number Of Units Affected : 567432
Summary:
VEHICLE DESCRIPTION: PASSENGER VEHICLES. IF THE RUBBER BOOTS ON THE LOWER LATERAL ARM BALL JOINTS OF THE FRONT SUSPENSION WERE DAMAGED DURING ASSEMBLY, DIRT AND WATER CAN INTRUDE. ALSO, MMC HAS ADDED THE POTENTIAL OF LEAKING MOISTURE, WHICH CAN CAUSE THE BALL STUD TO CORRODE.
Consequence:
THIS CONDITION COULD CAUSE THE LOWER LATERAL ARM BALL JOINT TO SEPARATE, INCREASING THE RISK OF A VEHICLE CRASH. THIS CAMPAIGN SUPERCEDES MMC'S PREVIOUS SAFETY RECALL CAMPAIGN, SEE 99V-066.
Remedy:
DEALERS WILL INSPECT THE LOWER LATERAL ARM BALL JOINT FOR WEAR. BALL JOINTS THAT EXHIBIT WEAR BEYOND THE ESTABLISHED TOLERANCE WILL BE REPLACED WITH NEWLY DESIGNED LATERAL ARM BALL JOINTS. BALL JOINTS THAT ARE WITHIN THE ESTABLISHED TOLERANCE WILL BE CLEANED AND A SPECIAL SEALANT WILL BE APPLIED TO PREVENT INTRUSION OF MOISTURE.
Notes:
OWNER NOTIFICATION WILL BE CONDUCTED IN PHASES. THE FIRST PHASE BEGAN APRIL 2, 2001, AND THE FINAL PHASE WILL BE COMPLETED ON SEPTEMBER 3, 2001. OWNERS WHO TAKE THEIR VEHICLES TO AN AUTHORIZED DEALER ON AN AGREED UPON SERVICE DATE AND DO NOT RECEIVE THE FREE REMEDY WITHIN A REASONABLE TIME SHOULD CONTACT MITSUBISHI AMERICA AT 1-888-MITSU-2001 (1-888-648-7820). ALSO CONTACT THE NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION'S AUTO SAFETY HOTLINE AT 1-888-DASH-2-DOT (1-888-327-4236).

 

[BISHILVR]

^^^ Thats the old one, there is a new one: http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=54581&d=1123143884

 

[turbo90gsx]

I take it there was body damage as well? Most of the time when your lower ball joint gives out the entire strut assembly will ram into the rear of the fender/underskirt. I am a tech at a Chrysler dealer and will tell you that you are in for a fight. I have seen multiple cases of this. If the recall was already performed, you get no sympathy; Chrysler will not do a damn thing. They will only replace the control arms once, or when the vehicle came in for the recall and the ball joints were not loose, all they did was RTV the boot. However if the recall was NOT done to the vehicle you are golden and all you have to do is bring up the fact that the recall was never performed and they SHOULD help out with the repair cost. Most of the time you the customer will have to pay for any body damage. Have the dealer check the history on your car to see if the recall has been done already or not. That's about all I can tell you other than get ready to put up a good fight. DM's hate this shit.

 

[brassc2007]

The axle wouldnt snap unless it had a angled pressure on it and it would seem that the axle would not have snapped unless the control arm snapped first.

 

[pj91gsx]

I think the garage wants your money. and if its ok for a recall then the garage will probably have to give the car up to the dealorship. My brother got charged 1500 to replace his axles from the dealorship. I have worked with axles some many times it just comes natural to me now. good luck.