06WRXTRacer

What do I need to know about lemon laws before I run my 06WRX TR back to gillmans?

Ok guys, I have a 2006 wrx tr I bought the car refurbished after it was stolen off the lot by a driver(s) who did not know how to run a stick, to give you a piece of background knowledge on my car. The car had 217 miles on it when I rolled it off on the test drive 220. When I left the lot after cleaning and such. The car was broken in under the 4k RPM guideline aside the first test drive (I did run her to redline a few times to feel her up but gillmans needs not know that). The brakes had been broken in soft and with assistance of downshifting however they are not of any problem to me. The mods performed to my care are green Neons under the seats ran by an empty slot on the Fuse box, Single DIN Jensen DVD player wired into factory hook up (no factory wires where snipped). Blitz catback exhaust system, and KN short ram air intake. All the parts have been installed just after the 3000K first oil change to insure proper brake in procedure and all problems with the car have occurred long before such events, however until now (the 4600 mile mark I am getting a bit uneasy about my car not being a cherry). I will list off every problem the car has had from the drive off the lot.

Light dim- the headlights off the lot where misaligned and still remain that way until I have them fix them, in any case if the car reaches less then 1000 RPM the headlights, dome light(s) and interior dash lighting will dim dramatically and then reset once 1000 RPM mark is regained. I drove a 2005 Ford focus ZX4 for a year and never noticed a problem with this when the car would drop below X amount of RPMs no matter what I was running in terms of accessories.

Trunk release latch-my brother owned a 1997 Legacy GT and now ownes a 2003 WRX with the same latch for the trunk, nither of these cars have had this problem… every so often I will try and pop the trunk and nothing will happen, I will use the key and presto no problem, close it up and nothing, I will need to toggle the switch in the back by had to get this to work, this is one hell of a pain if you do not have the keys on you and you need to get something from the trunk at 2:00 am in the snow.

Now for somewhat drastic problems

The second I got in the car to test drive I noticed that the reverse felt as if it had a lock out, after about six or seven tries of forcing or getting so fed up just going into first driving as close to the curb as possible and racking into reverse it pops and I can go, and will not do it again for about a week. The car when it does this will be at max run temp not on immediate start. My friend tells me the synchros maybe out of wack, not to knowledgeable about transmissions that this point in my tuning life I cannot say wtf it could be so I go on his word and research. It goes just enough into reverse that the lights come on, this is very embarrassing to do as it makes me look like a total noob in front of people. Being the only WRX or remotely stylish sports car in my town the last thing I want to show people is look at the dumb **** in the nice car…

First gear not allowing engage and 2-3rd grinding- this is similar to the last problem I had. Just the other day was the first time I had this happen to me but I would role up to a stop sign or light and try to run 1st gear… it would not pop with out extreme force so I stopped after the first time of engaging it has not occurred from that moment on but I still worry about what it could be, the part that worried me was that second was almost as stiff, but no way am I going to run the risk of damaging my clutch and run a 3rd gear start on a new car from dead stop. Now the problem with 2-3 gear… four times or so now the car has grinded when going into third gear with the clutch all the way in, not a grind to where I would need to go into neutral but just a GREART and pops in about half way through I don’t know what to make of this but I would like to know what you think I should do. (this problem only happens from time to time but when it does it is a doozy, with my luck it will not happen so I cannot show them this)

Turbo or first gear grinding- When I go up past 3k RPM in first gear and let off the gas the car will grind.. not like a grrrrrrrrrrrrr but more like… the sound of someone sharpening an knife really fast over and over, then stop and then do it again.. at first it is like this…. Griiiiiiiiiind gr stop gr stop grrrrr stop until I stop completely, it is louder then the stock exhaust and it only happens in first gear. The only other time it happens is if I shift from second into first and then RPMs wont matter it will make the grind… it has done this from the second it left the lot and I assumed it was maybe the turbo braking in or something but it is getting progressively worse every day and I’m getting a bit freaked out.

As for the lights I’m sure gillmans is going to play “you installed aftermarket electronics on the car” so that is not that big a deal until my alternator goes then I will say look now azzholz! But as the grind, gates locking, and trunk latch… well I don’t think they can get out of that one. Any thing in terms of lemon laws, or anything else I will need to have up my sleeve as a countermeasure to avoid being played by them would be great. I would like to know how should it play out? When I had problems with my ford focus I had told them about the gears being stiff from time to time they said it was normal but not half as bad as the Subaru, they told me I had to pay like 80 bucks for an inspection but it was still under my 30k manufacturers warrantee.. That did not sound right and I am sure gillmans is going to play a similar card… is this right? Will I have to pay gillmans to look at my damaged car under Manufacturers warrantee?

Again problems have persisted from the moment I left the lot, first oil change was at 2984 miles, intake came the day I got home after the oilchange… just over 3000, the lights came at around 3500, the DVD unit came at 3800, and the exhaust came at 4100 miles.

Ok guys, just read on a post like mine about the STI 11000 MI. 4th gear grind.. i had my ford focus 5SP MT for a year with no grind, hard on the clutch, i had the car traided for this as this was/is my dream car , i had told myself i would never drive a car as hard as i did that one and i will not and never have to my subaru, so i know if i can kick the crap out of a 05 Ford focus and it will run up 30K with no clutch issues a car made by a company like subaru should not be screwing up at 4800 K with grandma driving. Just had to get that out hehe

VRT Gump

iTrader: (4)

google the lemon law in cali for all the info you need.

also, why would you buy a car that was stolen? I mean if I stole a subaru I would definitely do some spirited driving in it.

Mulder

You need to check on the specific lemon laws in your state, they are not universal. Also it may not apply since the car was not truly new.
I have to agree that it probably wasn't a good idea to buy the car as a recovered theft, even with the low miles and from a dealer.

forcefedfour

Cali has a pretty cut and dry lemon law... I should know... I lemoned a 2001 Acura CL-S.

30 non consecutive days in for service in the first 18 months or 18k miles.

2 failed repair attempts for serious items

4 failed repair attempts for everything else

You have to let them try and fix it. Once over the 30 days contact a lawyer. Don't try and do this yourself. They have a team of people making sure you dont win.

06WRXTRacer

Well first off the car never made it off the lot, it was the last one that was attempted to be stolen by the five people that broke in, as far as the car made it was backwards into an STI and that was end of story, the car was repaired to new specs and cost me $50 less a month with premium package so I cannot complain there. The car is also covered by a 100k 5 year B-B warrantee (which is far better then that of the other car, i could be doing 30k 3 year b-b $50.00 usd more, and no features free) so this should be a piece of cake, but I just am not sure...do I hit them full steam with every problem I feel I have encountered, Or do I play it cool, work it as it comes to avoid any legal action… not sure, hints where you guys come into play
thanks a lot so far guys,
Troy-

VRWRX

Yeah, you have to at least give them the opportunity to fix the problems. It's not a lemon unless the problems persist after failed attemts to fix the problem. It doesn't sound like you have given them the opportunity to make it better.

VRT Gump

iTrader: (4)

also, if the trunk was damaged before you purchased it, and they "fixed" it, it should not have any problems. If you are having the problems with opening it, take it in to get fixed. Dont be easy with the dealership because will play hardball back if they need to. Either way it goes, good luck.

Wingless Wonder

iTrader: (7)

QFT.

Also, the shifting/grinding problems sound like the clutch is not fully disengaging. Are you depressing the clutch pedal all the way to the floor before trying to engage a gear (including reverse)? If so, then there may be something amiss with the clutch. The dealer should be able to sort it out.

--
0==WW==0
"…axles of evil…" - george w. bush

06WRXTRacer

yea just to insure i dont slip up i am overly slow, and over open on it, i do push it all the way to the floor most of the time.
Thanks,
Troy.