FTO AUSTRALIA

First a little background history.

The car was only imported into the country late last year (late November), and had its compliance and safety certificate check done in NSW in December. Whilst in NSW, I had the car inspected by a mechanic as well to make sure I wasn't getting something dodgy seeing as I was buying the car without ever seeing it in real life.

Now that I have the car back in Queensland, I have to change the registration over which involves getting a new safety certificate (annoying but nothing I can do about it). I took the car into a reputable mechanic in town today to have the safety inspection done, and it failed. They say the Tappet cover gasket has an oil leak, and the bushes on my front and rear sway bars need to be replaced as there is a bit of movement.

The mechanic gave me an estimate on labour to resolve the issues ($165 for the gasket and $80-$100 for the sway bar bushes).

My first thought was to contact the mechanic who had done the inspection in NSW and get up him for doing a poor job, but I have since formulated a new plan. When I bought the car, it came with a 3 year warranty on the engine, suspension etc. Since getting the car, it has done about 1000kms (mostly from a drive from Brisbane to Rockhampton) and I've only had the car just over two weeks. Since none of the previous inspections detected these faults, wouldn't this be a perfect case of parts failing suddenly and therefore being covered under warranty?

This would mean that I could get the work done and covered under my warranty with no cost to me.

Also whilst I'm at it, does anyone have or know where to get these parts from (rocker cover gaskets and sway bar bushes for front and back of a GPX)?

I'd say the warranty from the dealer you bought the car from will be of little use to you, I've never trusted these guys and never bought from them for that reason, from what I've heard and seen ( I was a panel beater when I was younger) they'll generally go for the cheapest fix they can, not really caring about the long term.
from what I've seen on this forum there are a few bushes that can be very expensive on the sway bars......80-100 dollars sounds like a strange price to me to be honest.
I'd take the car elsewhere and get a second opinion.

I wouldnt be paying a cent, contact the person you brought the car from.

I8A4RE wrote:I wouldnt be paying a cent, contact the person you brought the car from.

+1

I looked into the warranty further when I got home, and it appears that it doesn't cover bushes and gaskets. So turns out that's a no go then. Also, because the car is twelve years old, it has no statutory warranty except that it must be roadworthy. Since it has passed a roadworthy in NSW, I won't have anything to argue on.

The prices that I listed were for the labour only, not parts. I'll have a further chat with the mechanic about it today.

Shame your not in Sydney. I'd swap all those parts out in 2 hours for a case of beer.

So where is the best place to buy these parts from?

I know that I won't be able to waltz into Autobarn or Supercheap to pickup the gaskets, but I don't know who actually stocks them.

Are the Bushes a generic kind of part, or are they something I also need to specially order in, and if so, where from?

Thanks in advance for the assistance guys and/or gals.

Best bet would be to call your local Mitsubishi dealer. If they dont do parts, they'll tell you who has the local franchise for the parts. Gasket part number is: MD309002

The bushes you could either get from Mitsubishi as well, or go to your local Auto One / Supercheap / Autobarn and get some aftermarket poly units. They can order them in. You'll probably find, the poly units will be cheaper (as they are made locally) than the OEM rubber units.

OEM part numbers:
MR197005 - Front Sway bar
MR197003 - Rear Sway Bar

Superpro Polyurethane bushes:
SPF1700/16 - Front Sway bar
SPF2004/18 - Rear Sway Bar

*Note - this is assuming you have stock GPX suspension. Ie 16mm front swaybar & 18mm rear.

Thanks heaps for those codes Bennoz, they've made things a lot easier. I called up the one and only Mitsubishi Dealer in the area and got prices for parts:
Gasket: $74.95 per gasket (I need two)
Bushes: $7.78 per bush (Front)/$12.77 per bush (Rear)
Those are prices for OEM parts.

Two questions though, how many bushes would I need to replace (So that I can order them)?
And secondly, the guide for adjusting tappets seems to be down on CompleteFTO. I was wanting to look at it to see how difficult it would be to replace the gaskets myself. Does anyone have an alternate link for this guide?

Jesus, thats a criminal price for those gaskets Ah well, its either that, or wait 3 weeks for dstocks to bring you in a set from Japan at a reasonable price. You could try Kempys thou... www.kempys.co.nz. They can ship over here from NZ in 2-3 days if they've got them.

For the bushes, there are 2 per sway bar.

For the guide, try this one

http://www.ftoaustralia.com/modules.php ... pic&t=7582