okay, so i noticed my steering rack was making a knocking sound, searched here and there for info about it.. i ended up going to the dealers because as me and brent check it we figured it was obviously something wrong with the steering rack assembly itself, not bushshings loose or bad bushings etc....

at the same time i had my clutch checked because my clutch pedal squeeks and creeks.

Mechanic's notes:

-Confirmed customer concern:
Will need to align after replacing Rack and Pinion

-Confirmed costomer concern:
Clutch and brake pedal Assembly Bushings are Worn

Now the good part....

i was told by Mars Frehsly (runs the service department at Pflueger Subaru, Waipahu) that my warranty will not cover the parts and labor because of the following:

-because my car is lowered, the suspension absorbs less force from the road, which ended up in having other parts of the car absorbing the forces that normally ths stock suspension would absorb. he didnt state anything directly related to the rack and pinion aborbing these forces.

-because i have an aftermarket exhaust and downpipe, it gave me more horsepower which also gave more stress to the tranny wearing out the bushings that need replacement.

Parts and labor costs:

Steering rack assembly: around $1,130
estimated labor time: 3HRS @ around $500

Bushings around: $24
estimated labor time: 2HRS @ around $242

total ............................................. $1896

Getting screwed by the dealership.... Priceless... (haha, sorry i couldnt resist!! )

well i had to raise the BS flag for both of the reasons i got for the voided warranty. its like they tried their best to use my mods as the reason to my problems, i mean those are my only mods.... drop and exhaust. if i had a BOV in there they might have said something about that too because they asked if i had a bov or aftermarket, Biggger intake???? so i left after having to pay their Diagnostic Fee at 60 bux, which was normally 100 bux an hour. they were pretty nice there, i just dont like their reasons for my parts failing. i didnt want to argue with them, i figured that it may not be their call wether to honor the warranty or not. i asked and they said its not their descision...

so what should have i done? argue with them and try to get them to fix it? should i try another dealership? should i try to remove all my parts and then visit another dealership? OR should i just bite the dust and pay the 2gs in parts and labor??

thanks!

 

i hate to say this but YOUR WARRANTY HAS JUST BEEN VOIDED!!!! tho by law if the parts that u have put on has nothing to do with what broke they have to fix it if u take it to court "depending on whats wrong and if you can prove that your parts did not create the prroblem you will win." i don't trust any dealership here b/c the only good one has closed down. now the rest are shady. i give you this hint. if they ever hold a track day and you go and race. your screwd.

 

damn, which one is harder, coming up with the money or proving that the parts didnt contibute tho the problem ive been cool all morning about this, but now im getting pissed off. and yea i kinda got the voided part, i just dont know what is better to do now..

 

Don't give in and pay... Make them prove that your mods are the direct cause to the problems. Tell them you want to see proof that without a doubt that your mods are the cause. If they want to persist just let them know that you will be contacting the BBB and a lawyer and if you have to talk to a lawyer it will be cheaper to pay the lawyer to call them if needed then to pay almost $1900 to have your car fixed. But hey do what ever I wouldn't pay them...

 

hmm thanks, ill try that. there are a bunch of other people with drop and exhuast, pushing more hp, running their cars harder than i am, are their steering racks getting busted? lol i havent even been at an auto x

 

How can the exhaust add hp? The ECU controls boost, which is the real bottom line for power. Changing the exhaust won't add hp in our cars; you need to tune to make use of whats available. Especially in an STi.

Just a thought, and perhaps a tack to take with the dealership...

 

Well that's not true. I used to drag my wrx, with intake and BOV I ran consistient 14.8's Then Wes, Mitch, and I installed my turbo-back and up-pipe. Next time at the track....first run 13.9 No boost controller or ECU mods ever, best run 13.49

 

yeah you might wanna do ome research because one of the biggest bolt on horse power gains on both WRX and STi is EXHAUST. Remember there are Catylitic converters strung all threw our exhaust so that slows down exhaust flow.

 

i agree, my first mod was TBE and i felt it big time. second mod was manual boost control and that too was a huge power gain, while engine management is a really good mod, there are still others that give you increase in power. downfall with the manual boost control was boost cut.

 

i heard that we got 3 Catylitic converters? where are they located? i can see 2 on this picture

 

its on your up pipe, which is before the turbo, which is not in the picture

 

sorry if this sounds mean, but its not meant to be. just some facts.

techs gotta make a living too....and you know cash tickets make more time than warranty.
they probably reported to subaru and had subaru make the call wether to honor your warranty or not.

if you have warranty dont mess with it. its why you pay the $$$$ for your car. otherwise you have to pay to play. unless you have someone on the inside, because its what the tech writes which makes the difference.

as techs, our trade is probably the lowest paid trade with the most tools. you say sure....but you charge me blah blah blah per hour....and about 10% of that goes to our pay and probably spend around 5-6K on tools each and every year.

 

dam that suks dude hope it works out for you

 

^^ thanks


yea i understand, i hear that profession is not the best with money, yet others say its expanding and pay is good i have had another student put me down saying mechanics dont make money, you gotta get into this, or this yada, yada, blah, blah.... i dont care, its what i want to do... my point being nobody told the tech to be a mechanic to make alot of money, but rather to do what you love to do for a living... they probably knew what they were getting into like anyone else should in picking their carreer .

anyway, in my situation, id rather spend the money for my tools for this coming semester of school which is about a nice 2200 bucks. at the moment im planning on replacing the parts myself if i cant get them to do it under warranty, which i know is already gone... Ill just buy the parts from them after i recover from buying those tools for school. Im also not the kind that will fight but im gonna try to do what i can. For now, im gonna drive with a broken steering rack

 

^^^screw that, why would you buy the parts from them ? Unless they are gonna give you a good deal, I would purchase the parts elsewhere just on principal.

BTW: sorry to hear about your car