V6 Warranty claim

[salt36]

Yep you heard it right, finally something has gone wrong with a V6

The history.....
I wanted to buy a 4X4 and shopped around, i wanted LPG as it is so much cheaper to run.
Triton was about the only one the dealers said is compatible with the LPG
2009 ordered new Triton fitted with LPG.
July 2009 delivered with LPG fitted.

At the 60,000K service I complained that my fuel consumption was excessive and seemed to be getting worse.
The mechanic(Mitsubishi) said he did some tests and found I have 'valve recession', he said I would need to do something about it within around 30,000K. He said it was caused by running LPG and as an aftermarket item damage caused by LPG will not be covered by warranty.

Now at 88,000K The V6 has a huge loss of power and I cannot get better than 16L/100K on petrol or LPG.

So I have spent today ringing various people including, MMAL who state the engine is suitable for LPG, Office of fair trading(Consumer affairs in VIC) who advised the process I should follow, VACC (governing body for mechanics in VIC) who offered some insight as to the legality of the fitment, due to the timing of emissions laws The manufacturers of the LPG system, who offered more advice and some technical info and confirmation of the timing of emission laws A couple of local mechanics who roughly quoted the repair bill(without seeing the car and me describing the problem)
And the local dealer who sold me the car.

Well it seems there may be a solution, will have to wait and see but the service manager agrees that it sounds like a burnt valve and is trying to get MMAL to come good for a warranty fix, he also mentioned "We did sell this vehicle already fitted with gas"

The other point of interest is that it would be up to Mits to prove the LPG caused the problem, that is where my phone calls have been productive and have another angle to enhance my claim

At this stage it is not known if the hardened valve seats were carried on from the Magna range when they finished production, it is possible but I think not in my case. Perhaps the earlier 2007-08 petrols have them, Workshop manager is trying to find out.

[Edd]

Thats bad news Salt but as you know I have an 07 VR on gas. Use 95% on the time is LPG and put 100,000km on gas. Never had any probems with my fuel economy but it has never been that great anyway. Had the timing belt done not so long ago. Fuel economy went to crap but it seemed to bed itself in. I get about 12.9lt in the city and down to high tens in the country. So I may have those hardened values in it. Good luck with Mitsubishi

[Steane]

Good luck with it buddy. A cool head such as yours and taking the time to get the facts and speak to the right people should see it all come together for you with a warranty fix. I sure hope so

[Homer]

I was hoping you would end up with this happening Salt, rather than just going the new engine route yourself..
It was not good enough that you have dealer fitted LPG and then told wty not covered covered because of LPG

It at least requires something a little more substantial than that.

Big Brad had also done some big k's on his with no issues. May be worth a quick search to see his stats etc and a post or two on km's traveled....

[Mooons]

Good luck with it salt hope they come good for you

[Mattstruck]

Thats a bugger mate. Hope its still drivable to get you to work?

Sounds like the service manager might be on-side too which is a big help

Good luck

[salt36]

Thanks guys yep be a whole lot better than me forking out for repairs around the $3,000

[Mattstruck]

Hey Salt can we have an addition to your sig line?

Just under:

Listen to the best sounding Triton ever!

can you put:

Now listen to the sickest sounding V6 ever

nil illigitimo carborundum

[salt36]

Just wait until it is fixed and then I will need to update the Video

fairly appropriate now......

[Snooozy]

sorry to hear about your problems Salt,
hope it all works out for you

[mattz]

Good luck with it mate.

[NowForThe5th]

Although it's unfortunate that this has happened this is a textbook case of the right way to deal with a warranty claim. No aggro and even the dealer seems to be batting for you. Well done on your handling of this, Salt. Given that we've heard of no other occurrences of this, I'd hope it's just a "one off". Whatever happens, we're all watching with interest in the hope that you get the right result.

[salt36]

Yep I was calm and reasonable all the way...

Haven't heard anything as yet, will give them a call next week sometime, no hurry anyway as I have the work ute now but would be nice to have a reliable ute again before the Melb cup Grampians 11

[salt36]

Finally a call today from the dealer.

"bring it in so we can investigate"
"The valve seats are hardened and it could be the lack of valve clearance, holding a valve open"
"It could be a burnt valve"
"have you had the LPG serviced" Obviously yes I have........

And he mentioned a bunch of other stuff I don't really think was applicable as is related to the rattler variety.
I pointed out that mine is a petrol and doesn't have valve adjustment, the hydraulic 'lash adjusters' take care of the valve clearance, there is no other way of adjusting them.

Dealer says that there is some buckets or something that may need to be replaced to restore the valve clearance.
Well to my knowledge if the valves are being held open then there is either excessive recession or malfunctioning lash adjusters.

I think I will wait and gain advice before submitting my vehicle for a 5-minute 'fix'

I smell a rat, so to speak.
A couple of pm's will help, best get on to them.

[Mooons]

Good luck mate

[hvac guy]

Has a compression test been done hot and cold and dry and wet.
Hope it gets sorted soon for U.

[salt36]

Not yet Hvac, but I am tempted to get this done first to compare the results.

I am also tempted to take the heads off....

[hvac guy]

I probably wouldn't go pulling heads off yet a compression test will give you a good idea of what's going on in there. Even if its a dry hot one.

[salt36]

Well it seems that because I can't find the receipts for the LPG services there will be no warranty.....

Typical dealers getting out of paying.

So my next course of action is to rebuild the engine with LPG compatible heads and a little surprise......

Watch my build thread in the coming weeks

[hvac guy]

Where U got the LPG serviced will still have copys
as they have too by law.

[salt36]

The guy has gone out of business and since then I have heard of lots of dodgy stuff going on.....

I think he was forced to close......

[hvac guy]

Spewing have U don the compression test yet. If your down on two pots beside each other
Its probably just a head gasket on one bank.
fingers crossed

[mattz]

Sorry to hear that salty......but I am looking forward to the little surprise........can't wait to read all about it.

[salt36]

Spewing have U don the compression test yet. If your down on two pots beside each other
Its probably just a head gasket on one bank.
fingers crossed

Will take the heads off once the new engine is in.....

I will leave this thread for the warranty stuff now, will be posting info in my build thread when it starts to happen in a few weeks

[hvac guy]

cant wait to see what u do