Branded Warranty (Voided)
 

Hey there guys, I just went and spoke to the service manager over at my local mazda dealership and found out that my warranty had been branded (voided). The exact words on my information are branded - no warr.

I was going to replace my aftermarket parts to stock with the help of my dealership to determine if they were the cause of the CEL, and he told me that they voided my warranty. It sounds to me like my entire warranty had been voided, which I dont understand either. I am going to call customer service tomorrow and find out this information. If anything they should have just voided my power train, but at this time I dont know specifics.

All in all though I dont agree with any of this and am thinking about getting a lawyer. The reason why they voided my warranty is because of one of the two reasons. One, I have aftermarket parts installed on my car (SR Motorsports pulley, Cat (50 state legal), Borla Exhaust, Flywheel and clutch kit). Two, I was travelling at 86 mph so that is considered racing in the eyes of Mazda and thus my entire warranty has been voided.

If thats true, then what the dealership is basically saying is that if you speed they can void your warranty or if you replace any part on the car they can also void your warranty. This is complete bull shit.

Does anyone have any advice for me? Any numbers I can call to explain my case to.. I remember someone posting a number you could call to get advice about this topic but I dont remember what it is... Also, I was going to go back to Phildox's website but it's under construction right now and get his article about the right to modify your car...

Any info you guys have to share would be welcomed.

Details about my CEL are here:

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...9&page=6&pp=15

Sounds like BS. Have you tried taking it to another dealership to see what they say? Could your problems be caused by the mods? I thought your warranty didn't cover issues caused by non-stock parts/upgrades.

i always thought that it was common knowledge that aftermarket parts can void your warranty.

The Magnussen-Moss warranty act really protects US consumers. Your warranty cannot be "voided" across the board because you use aftermarket parts. If your aftermarket parts fail, or cause a failure, of course the warranty will not cover that.

As far as travelling at 86mph, that is not exceptionally fast - only about 10mph over the speed limit most places out West. It would be ridiculous for them to void your warranty over going barely over half the top speed of the car.

^^^ agree making the dealership talking bs. take it elsewhere.

They only void your warranty if they are found to be the direct cause of the problem. I dont know.. Maybe my modifications are the problem... In which case they can..

I am going to replace my pulley system back to stock and see if that clears up my CEL. At this point though I really dont want to change any parts back because I am already screwed anyway so why put it back to stock...

Thankx for the advice all.. I guess i'll have to explain my case to a lawyer who understands the law regarding modifications to your car...

They cant void my entire warranty though right? Shouldnt it just be my power train if anything?

only if they can be proven to be the cause of whatever problem you are having- read this link and the links to other info it has.

dave i meant to post this some time ago but the pulleys do have a history of causing a cel read here-

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...ght=pulley+cel

i hope that is not the case. besides it should not stop them from helping you return your car to stock to see if that eliminates the problem- you were going to have to pay for that work anyway as that kind of labor isnt covered by the warrenty. i dont se why they wont still do it since you are paying.

They are just trying to getout of it, don't let them do it.

They can VOID your warranty the only items that you can install on your car and not void the whole warranty on the car is replacing the air cleaner and exhaust those upgrades only void that particular part of your warranty. The clutch and any wearable parts should be able to be replaced due to this fact and not harm your warranty in anyway. The main thing that probably voided your warranty was the flywheel since that is internal, unless it was a mazdaspeed flywheel and installed by a Mazda dealer. You can call around and check with attorney's however I don't believe you are going to get the response you are looking for but I wish you the best of luck.

you are wrong read the links i provided

If car manufacturers voided warranties for speeding, every single person on the planet would be guilty and would essentially have new cars with no warranty. I don't believe the speeding argument for one second.

Can't wait to see what they say about mine.....It will say it was at 186MPH :D

nothing like 6th gear dyno pulls.............

PS: no speed limiter on our cars :D

:D

Shameless video plug time:

http://www.d-mphotos.com/images/rx8/.../rx8184mph.wmv

Question, how did they know you were going 86?

The FFD will store every drive cycle..about 50 lines of data stores when the CEL pops.

:(

It does no such thing, carmakers laugh at the Magnussen_Moss act. They know people won't contest it because the cost of any repair would be dwarfed by your Lawyers costs, it would also take years to settle any dispute, and their lawyers are far better than any you could come up with.

Also, I think it's silly that you have aftermarket parts (some known to cause CELs) and expect a dealership to do warranty work on a CEL. If you mod your car you should be prepared to pay the consequences. You probably have a leg to stand on with non electrical and powertrain stuff when it comes to warranty, but other than that I think you're screwed.

Since i've been here, i have never seen you say anything positive.

I like cake!

Doesn't a "Check Engine" light indicate that the problem is related to "powertrain stuff"?

How do they know your were going 86... Did you tell them , or is their away for them to check?

Amen to that.

Ike is right. People do not take responsibility for thier actions anymore.

That is pretty much true.

I think they could make a case that under-driving the electrical system would void that warranty, ditto for the water pump under-drive and non-OEM flywheel to void the engine warranty. If you didn't use Mazda certified techs to do the work, then
no telling" from their point of view what someone else could have messed up.

If I put a bunch of mods on a car, then got a CEL I think I would get a code reader of my own and read the code. Then do more research and talk to the mod maker(s) and see about the code - LONG before I would take the car to the dealer. Heck, AutoZone and Advanced here will read the codes for free - if you are too cheap to buy your own code reader ($60-80 most places). The last place I would take a modded car would be the dealer until I understood exactly what the problem is.

Heck, even on a stock car I would want to read the code out right away and see what it is. Some dealers will charge you if the problem is really a loose gas cap - happen to a friend of mine.

Finally, if you are going to mod the power train of the car the first thing to buy is a performance meter. No more of this "Seat of the pants" dyno crap - folks spend a bunch of time and trouble installing stuff sure it is going to FEEL like it is faster. A performance meter will tell you the truth.

I have the Race Technology AP22 - just for playing around and it works well.

http://www.race-technology.com/WebPa...eterIntro.html

The Escort GT2 and the new GTechPro RR and maybe the SS should work fine as well. I had the original GtechPro "meter" and it was more of a toy.

I think if you dyno'd the car before and after - even with just a performance meter - you would find a lot of the mods just don't produce as much extra accelleration as you would think - given the price. Besides, unless you are racing at the drag strip and getting beat by a 1/1000 of a second - why would you car about 5-10hp anyway?

Dennis

That's why I will wait after the warranty expires before touching anything on my car to alter it.

Absolutely, and I think in this case Mazda is justified in not doing warranty work on his car. But if they're trying to void his whole warranty across the board, which they really can't do, then he certainly has a gripe. I'm not sure if he's upset because they won't work on his CEL or if he understands why they won't and is mad because they're telling him his whole warranty is "branded".