Starting issue

[Nightwolf]

^ tis true. I worked avionics for 4yrs in the navy and saw some really dumb stuff on circuit boards. technical changes came to us once a quarter and things like this where part of those changes at least once or twice a year. Part of the problem has to do with component aging and board aging. as boards and components age and accumulate corrosion their resistance values increase. this in turn changes the voltage drop across individual components. it usually isnt much but when using close tolerance components any change can cause problems. electrolytic capacitors are cheap and used extensively bc of their low price. this doesnt mean they are crap it just means they arent built to tolerate much variance in input.

[Steve '92ES]

Whoa!!! I really didn't mean to start an argument.
You hear so many people dumping on our cars. They're too slow. They're too heavy. They break all the time. Adding they f*cked up the electronics to the list just seems unfair. That's the part I was trying to defend, not pick a fight about electronics.

I do however disagree with you that this is solely Mitsu's fault, or that they "undersized the caps"
There was, back in the '90s, a rampant problem with defective caps. This is widely known in the industry. The link I put up is just one of many that discuss it.
This went beyond the usual aging problem inherent with all electrolytic caps, and I believe that is the major cause of our failing caps.
Could Mitsu have used higher heat ratings? Sure. However without heat measurements to prove it I don't think it's a fair statement to claim that's the cause. Besides, "undersized" and "under rated" are two different things.

[Nightwolf]

cant speak for gamerse but i wasnt trying arguing i was just explaining how electronic devices built with close tolerances leave little room for aging and corrosion. using slightly higher tolerance components generally yield longer lasting products.

end electronics theory class.

and i dont blame Mitsu i blame the cap manufactures. crap products used in another product leads people to hold the end product manufacturer responsible when they usually dont have knowledge of the problem at the time of manufacture.