2012 SE Not Starting, dealer want almost $8k for bad MCU inverter

[Matthewsre]

Just got sad news from the dealership that my 2012 I Miev SE has a bad Motor Control Unit Inverter. They informed me the warranty timed out in May even though it is still under 60k miles. The dealer said they were able to drive the vehicle around and had to reach out to their expert to find out why the car was giving the car with exclamation point icon (I had to have it towed into the dealership). The cost they called me with is almost $8k to be fixed, which seems to be much more then the car is worth these days. Any suggestion or alternative options?

[Vike]

$8k sounds hard to justify given the market value, maybe consider the alternatives for replacement - it seems resale on all electrics is pretty low, so maybe better to put that $8k toward a LEAF or Volt coming off lease? Any chance a more dedicated/ambitious i-MiEVer (I'm sure they're all here from time to time - chime in!) will pay a bit for a carcass to strip, or maybe even have a wreck with a good MCU inverter to sell? (given our low numbers, I realize this may depend on near-perfect timing, but worth a thought).

That's likely the way I'd go, anyway. Actually, due to other life circumstances, in this scenario I'd be mostly to get what I could for salvage and buy a new Prius Prime, but I wouldn't consider that general advice.

[JoeS]

...The dealer said they were able to drive the vehicle around and had to reach out to their expert to find out why the car was giving the car with exclamation point icon (I had to have it towed into the dealership)...

Does that mean it still runs? If so, a piece of tape over the exclamation point is a lower-cost solution.

Are you still up in the Seattle area?

Does anyone know what interchangeability issues there would be if Matthewsre were to install a used MCU, or one from a different year? Is the MCU VIN-locked?

Lots of hand-wringing: $8K for the MCU is ridiculous (as is >$4K for the OBC). Do we have any recourse? Questions to ask when buying our next new electric car...

[kiev]

Have you checked your VIN at the Mitsubishi website for recall notices? i have a 2012 SE in which the MCU was replaced free-of-charge under a recall.

Can you request the Diagnostic Trouble Codes which were stored due to the HV error light (car with !)? Chances are good that they found the culprit, but we could always do a sanity check here with the DTCs.

If the MCU is indeed failed, then the car will not go to READY, but there may be other factors that also prevent starting, such as an old, weak or worn out 12V Aux battery. Has yours been changed recently or are you running the original Aux?