Vehicle check engine light came on and locked into third gear. Noticed smell of coolant inside drivers compartment and hazing of the windshield. Brought vehicle to dealer to have problem improperly diagnosed and had to have it re-tested two weeks later. Heater core leakage has caused damage to the ECU and now both have to be replaced. Total cost of repair for both was $3,357.62. Coolant fumes are very toxic and cause a significant health risk and ECU failure could easily result in a very serious accident on the highway or elsewhere. The "fogging" of the windshield is a visibility hazard as well caused by the hot coolant in the defrost vents.

- Wichita, KS, USA

We have a five-year-old Mitsubishi Diamante. For the last week, my husband, scott has smelled a sweet smell in his car and had a problem with the windows fogging. Tuesday morning he started losing forward power when driving to work on I480. He noticed that his dashboard transmission lights were acting funny so he called our Mitsubishi dealer. The service people asked if he had noticed that the windows were fogging or if he smelled any anti-freeze coming from the heater. Scott was astonished that the sweet smell was antifreeze. The service advisor said that most likely it's because that Diamante has experienced heater cores leaking into the passenger compartment and dripping onto the transmission computer. This is why he was losing power while driving on I480. One of my concerns is what health problems can come from driving in an enclosed environment while the heating system is mixing antifreeze fluid in the air that my husband is breathing while commuting to work. Later on that same Tuesday, the service advisor called him and said that their service manager spoke directly with the regional Mitsubishi service representative and he said that the heater core was too far out of warranty to be covered based on 36,000 mile warranty. The transmission computer, while covered up to 84,000 miles, would also not be covered because the failure was due to antifreeze dripping on the computer causing it to fail.

- Aurora, OH, USA