Mods verified to have voided warranty..

[DieselLady]

oK JT..... Back to the original question... .

Changing a small hose clamp can and will get your warranty voided.

It happened to me on my 2003 (RIP) #@$%!

While looking under the right front fender, I noticed a small plastic hose clamp that had come loose and being plastic and all I thought to myself, "self, how cheap. I can fix it!"

So, I changed out the cheap plastic clamp for a nice, secure, stainless steel clamp. Problem solved

Now when I take my 03 back to the shop for what I thought was an injector noise, they see the new high performance clamp that I added and since it went to the bottom of the turbo and those dumb-***e$ couldnt find the reason for the noise, they do the next best DC thing. Void my warranty at 50000 miles. After having words :-{} I pulled my truck out and went home to fix it my own self... .

The noise? ends up being a loose or bad connection in a injector plug.

Problem solved

This is probably a good thing as who wants these idiots working on our trucks any how!!!!! :--)

 

[Tomeygun]

First, your idea is flawed because what is ok and what is not varies dealer to dealer...



steved

You can say that again! I almost think some dealers get off on voiding a warranty, Its ashame really



Yet in the same town, a transmission was warrantied twice for a burnt convertor...

 

[GWBourne]

i had mine revoked (then re-instated after a phone call to STAR) because of "extra wires going into the PCM" the extra wire was a pick up for the jacobs exhaust brake that was a dealer instal...

 

[blacksheep4x4]

The true fact is they have to show undeniable proof that your mods caused the failure. If they cannot do this they cannot legally void your warranty! And as far as paying for a lawyer goes, thats what your big 4x4 clubs and performance enthusiasts groups are for. They have the money to help you fight illegal warranty voiding issues. If you want the real truth contact SEMA.

 

[BillDriscoll]

Also have them (DC) provide the denial of warranty coverage in writing. Don't take no for an answer, Just flagging your vehicle in a computer is not the legal nor correct way to deny warranty coverage. They cant void your whole vehicle warranty for most issues. So, if you have a programmer, it shouldn't affect your power window warranty.



Not quite understanding how the arbritration issues, we signed when we purchased our truck, come into play, you may be able to sue the dealer or dc in small claims court for the lesser valued warranty denials. If nothing else maybe you can drag the service manager into court!! Some of those people are only a few steps away from being the lead person for the deep fat fryer at McDonalds anyway!!

 

[DieselLady]

The true fact is they have to show undeniable proof that your mods caused the failure. If they cannot do this they cannot legally void your warranty! And as far as paying for a lawyer goes, thats what your big 4x4 clubs and performance enthusiasts groups are for. They have the money to help you fight illegal warranty voiding issues. If you want the real truth contact SEMA.

And which clubs would that be? I can't imagine a big club having enough money to go after all the warranty denials that there are these days. Nice thought but then there is the real world.

I agree you should not give up. If nothing else maybe they will think twice if you ask for it in writing, but to think that a 4x4 club or performance club will pay for attorneys is a bit unrealistic. My 2 cents.

 

[Bob4x4]

Wow... ... ... this place is full of jail house lawyers :-laf :-laf



Bob

 

[MCrossley]

working for a dealer that is "reasonable" about waranty issues I will tell you that the dealer does have every right to void a waranty; come on guys as much as I am in the mix if pay to play if you guys had any idea of the things that come in and demand their vehicle fixed you would not be arguing this fact. Case and point I know of a Chrysler 300 that came in the guy was ****** that his Hemi blew up and demanded that it be repaired; only problme was he failed to mention the Super Charger and everything else that had been bolted in but yet it was the dealers fault that it blew up. My point being is yes some dealers are bigger jerks than others but if the dealer waranties something and it goes to chrysker then chrysler looks at the part and sees it had been modified guess what the dealer has to pay for that part, in some cases they go after the person in others they do not and eat the part. I do understand both sides of this argument but I tend to favor the dealer in some cases these days after first hand seeing what crooks of customers the world has to offer.

 

[blacksheep4x4]

And which clubs would that be? I can't imagine a big club having enough money to go after all the warranty denials that there are these days. Nice thought but then there is the real world.

I agree you should not give up. If nothing else maybe they will think twice if you ask for it in writing, but to think that a 4x4 club or performance club will pay for attorneys is a bit unrealistic. My 2 cents.

One of our local clubs the Yellowstone 4x4 association helped a member take his dispute all the way to court and DC backed down and covered his warranty. This case had to do with fuel system problems that the dealer said were cause by his programer. They could not prove it so he took them to court and the day of the case DC backed down and covered the warranty. The will try to bluff you out of your warranty coverage till they end up on the court house steps.

 

[blacksheep4x4]

working for a dealer that is "reasonable" about waranty issues I will tell you that the dealer does have every right to void a waranty; come on guys as much as I am in the mix if pay to play if you guys had any idea of the things that come in and demand their vehicle fixed you would not be arguing this fact. Case and point I know of a Chrysler 300 that came in the guy was ****** that his Hemi blew up and demanded that it be repaired; only problme was he failed to mention the Super Charger and everything else that had been bolted in but yet it was the dealers fault that it blew up. My point being is yes some dealers are bigger jerks than others but if the dealer waranties something and it goes to chrysker then chrysler looks at the part and sees it had been modified guess what the dealer has to pay for that part, in some cases they go after the person in others they do not and eat the part. I do understand both sides of this argument but I tend to favor the dealer in some cases these days after first hand seeing what crooks of customers the world has to offer.

If they can prove the supercharger caused the damage, then they have every right to void warranty on parts that it damaged. Otherwise they have no legal right to void coverage. There are many vehicles out there that operate just fine with power mods, but they were done right. When a dealer sees that you have a mod it doesn't give them the right to deny coverage. Especially if your vehicle is in for service of a part that is well known to go bad on stock vehicles.

 

[Troll]

Not quite understanding how the arbritration issues, we signed when we purchased our truck, come into play, you may be able to sue the dealer or dc in small claims court for the lesser valued warranty denials.

I know for a fact that arbitration agreements are 100% legally binding. I have 2 close personal friends that are lawyers and both have told me that there is absolutely no legal recourse in the court system if you have signed an arbitration agreement. If you do have to go to arbitration do some research it can be "VERY" one-sided. I also had an arbitration class recently and the instructor was an arbitrator that works for DC... . man the stories he had. (I happen to go to Oakland University, which is about 1 mile from DC HQ. So many of the Profs have dealt with the big 3)

 

[hhranch]

Gauges and Warranty Problems

Does anyone have any experience with the installation of gauges causing a warranty to be voided?

I am particularly interested in the X-Monitor by BD as the transmission tempeture comes off the ECM I believe?

 

[Signal73]

It may make them look harder for modifications, but as far as straight out denial I cant see it, unless the pyro breaks off and wipes out your turbo, or bad wiring on your part burns something up, both unlikely IMHO

 

[RMalone]

Anytime the word lawyer is mentioned your costs just went higher than almost all fixes to your vehicle. D. C can and does void warranties without proving that a mod caused the problem. They may not be doing this within the law but until you get a lawyer and stick it to 'em (read: spend tons of money) they can still do it.



As for guages they will make the dealer look deeper for other mods (no problem if you don't have them). I am sure that tapping the exhaust manifold for an egt guage would void the warranty on the ex. manifold, if the turbo goes they will no doubt claim metal from tapping the egt caused the failure. I think if you change any part that part, at minimum, is definately not covered. It's all a pretty slippery slope with no "dyed in wool" answers.

 

[hhranch]

Gauges and Warranty

Thanks for the response. I have tried to get an answer from Chrysler customer service and they are no help. They just say there is no need for gauges. And take the position anything added not MOPAR may cause warranty issues. The representative obviously has never towed a trailer weighing 8-10000 pounds over Donner Summit. I am having the dealer install the MOPAR/Jake brake which I understand has a place to install a sending unit for a pyrometer, also I understand there is a bolt which can be removed on the engine for the gauge that measures boost. The X-Monitor as I said does not require tapping into a transmission line, but somehow wires into the ECM. I do not intend to do anything but keep the truck stock, except for the exhaust brake and maybe air springs ( I hope that is not another issue) having bought the new truck for the peace of mind a warranty adds and spending $2000 on the extended warranty. I just wonder if anyone has had an issue with the warranty over gauges.

I am aware of the Magnuson/Moss Act and please don't hold this against me but I am a lawyer. Actually an Assistant DA. But the last thing I want to do is get involved in the hassle of litigation.

As of now Chrysler does not offer gauges themselves. It is hard to believe they do not see the benefit of being able to monitor the engine/transmission function especially for a vehicle that is designed to tow...

 

[DGStrate]

Does anyone have any experience with the installation of gauges causing a warranty to be voided?

I am particularly interested in the X-Monitor by BD as the transmission tempeture comes off the ECM I believe?

My dealer actually installed my X-monitor for me including tapping the pyro, etc. (I paid them to) and they have done warranty work on my truck afterwards, no problem. They know that I use it to keep track of the parameters of the trans/turbo/temp when I tow things (which I do alot of!).



I can see where the regional rep may look a lot harder if the motor went south and the truck had gauges, but if you have nothing to hide (and as mentioned, it was not the pyro probe grenading the turbo or something... ) - let 'em look ...

And then they can pay to fix it!



Just my $0. 02 worth...

 

[GWBourne]

Thanks for the response. I have tried to get an answer from Chrysler customer service and they are no help. They just say there is no need for gauges.

simple soloution to that... . my operators handbook invites one to get an EGT gauge... look in yours, you would be surprised. it says to do so if you tow a lot

 

[blacksheep4x4]

The best thing you can do is find a mod friendly dealer, and have them install your mods. The other thing you can do is tell the dealer to keep the warranty when you buy your truck. Don't pay for one, and contact Four Wheel Parts. They sell or atleast they use to sell a an insurance that would cover your truck and the mods you put on it in case of mechanical failure. They offered this to ease peoples fears of modifying thier vehicles ,and getting thier warranty voided.

 

[JTeague]

Warranty

Hi guys. I have a couple of things I would like to say about warranty work since I am a tech at a Dodge dealership hear in Missouri. We are a very mod friendly dealership and do install mods all of the time, heck I'm even a TST dealer. The 2 closest dealerships to us, both about 30 miles away, look for just about anything to get out of doing warranty work. They are also standing around at 2 p. m. with nothing to do and ony pulling about 25 to 30 hrs a week. The main reason is the pay is *****. The thing you have to remember is that most techs work on commission. They would much rather do the same job for cash time/money rather than warranty time/money. Warranty time is usually about half the time as the same job would cash. It doesn't bother me to help someone out by doing something under warranty as long as it wasn't obvious that thet abused or mistreated a vehicle, like swimming it through a river and and trying to get a free engine when the original engine has all of the rods bent from being hydrostatically locked. If we do so happen to void the warranty it will usally be on a specific component or system, not the whole vehicle. No 2 dealerships are alike and everone has their own way of doing things.

 

[BRandolph]

I am also a DC tech in Missouri. Some honesty can help you out too. I am much more likely to fix a truck under warranty if the owner tells me upfront what they did instead of hiding it. It can be very difficult to fix something someone else has been messing with. One time I had a guy tell me his Edge box was for his trailer brakes. He did not get his injector warranted. I won't put mods on peoples vehicles at the dealer that can cause too much liability. I guess your dealership has a way around that.