short shifter voided my warranty?!?!?
 

so I took my car to dealership after a long drive from canada to virginia for
transmission issues.

some background on my car:
2005 Touring, around 56K miles
oils and fluids changed 1 week prior to road trip.
new clutch(Exedy Stage1 organic) and new flywheel ACT prolite.
AFE short shifter - in use for at least 1.5 years with no issues.
daily driven > 60 highway miles round trip to work.

Halfway during the trip, while in PA, i stopped for gas, and couldn't get the car into any gear. I pushed it off to the side of the gas station and called Mazda Roadside Assistance, and got it towed to Billco Mazda. It was nighttime, so the car sat in the dealer's lot overnight and spent a night in a hotel. In the morning, the dealership calls and tells me that the car is fine, and they had no problems getting into gear.
I go to pickup the car, and sure enough i had no problems getting into any gear.
There was a slight rattling noise when letting off the clutch pedal in 1st and reverse. I ignored it, because I wanted to get home.
So when i get home, i start hearing grinding when letting off the clutch in 3rd and 4th. Also when just holding down the clutch pedal, I could hear rattling in the transmission.
I take it straight to my dealer, and they give me a rental.
The next day they call me and say my warranty may be voided because of my shifter and they will bring in a "warranty inspector" the next day to check if the repair should be covered under the extended warranty that i purchased at the same dealership.
So..the following day, i get the call and they say the repair is not covered because the aftermarket shifter shifts the tranny too fast, and destroyed the synchros. I was quoted a repair bill of $3900. I asked what this bill includes and was told labor, parts, and a new clutch. I told him that my clutch was just replaced two weeks before my road trip. So he then says, $2900.
I told him to start the repairs, because I need this car to get work everyday...

So, is this right? did my short shifter really void my transmission warranty?
I plan on calling tomorrow, to get the contact info for the "warranty inspector" to ask for proof.
Oh, and also, he said that my motor mounts were shot, so they're going to go ahead and replace them "free of charge." I know there's a TSB regarding this but I didn't mention it to him because I didn't have all the facts on hand.

I need some guidance on the best way proceed, am i hosed here?

what the FCK! dumbsh*ts it doesnt void warranty...the guys at the dealership loved the way my SS felt and had no problems with it

Yeah, I'm calling BS on this too

wow, wtf? call MNAO

You could get a lightly used tranny for $900

Only way it can void your tranny warranty is if they PROVE that it fucked up your tranny.

Isn't that what their claiming? In order for it to void your warranty they have to be able to prove that the short shifter is what actually caused the damage to the tranny, I would look into it further and make sure their not just trying to BS you

that blows sorry man best of luck. hopefully you have it covered.

so based on what the service advisor said, could the short shifter shift the tranny too fast and destroy the synchros? I've never raced/tracked the car, and basically granny shift 90 percent of the time on my daily commute..

Based on what i've read on the moss-magnussen act, the responsibility lies on the dealer to prove the shifter broke my tranny, but what information can i present them to disprove this...if it really isn't true...
and what could they possibly show me to prove that it was the short shifter's fault?

You shift it...the shifter just moves the shift fork that puts it in gear

You would grind every time you shift if the shifter was "too fast" ;)

It's a crock.....

That is what Lawyers are for, Moss-Magnussen is just a bunch of words on a piece of paper. You might have to get the Mazda SS and have an expert say they are similar? I by the way have 60,000 miles on my AFE shifter and 134,000 on the trans.

rofl. short shifter causing it to shift too fast? LMAO

tell them that Mazda Japan sells short shifter and its about the same as the AFE. and if Mazda sells it in Japan with no problem. whats the deal here ?

They just want to bill Full labor on you , CASH baby.

Sorry but you got ripped. Buying a brand new transmission cost less than 3K. a Brand new 09+ Transmission you can get one for around 2K, and it bolts right on.

for the engine mount --- they will cover it only if you're still within the Bumper to Bumper warranty.

Pure BS. It's impossible to shift too quickly without grinding. All the short shifter does is make the length shorter and make the length of the stick lower. It can't litterally change the way the syncros work, all it does is make it move like any other transmissions. Fail.
Call MNAO, tell them the whole story and play dumb.

I agree, you should call MNAO

this would be like them telling your shoes are too heavy and that's why the clutch pedal snapped.

Seems to me I remember hearing something like that about our clutch brackets ;)

haha its like saying your drive the car to hard, you might burn up your rotary lol

total bs! mines an at but every other car ive owned has been a stick and its crazy that they make such bs claims

Mazda Dealer try to void my 100,000 miles engine core warranty because of K&N DROP-IN FILTER.... :wallbash:

Mazda Dealer is the worst thing I hate about my 8.
Worst than bad mpg and low torque.

I don't want to be Flamed here...Oh what the hell go ahead...;)

But here in Oz, A dealer can (if they want to) void your warranty on any particular part that is not approved by Mazda if it is found to or could cause an issue with the main components it is attached to or working with.

Don't get my wrong, I do not necessarily agree , but surely any car manufacturer would be within their rights to void the warranty on you.

Provided that particular aftermarket part was the cause of the malfunction or damage.

I guess if you guys were a manufacturer of something that you gave a warranty on, and the buyer changed parts of it and then it F@@ked up, as the maker how would you feel, what would you do?

All car makes have similar policies.

Yeah, that one is STUPID....all you did was change the filter to the same style made by a reputable filter maker, that is a bit like saying, I used a K&N Oil Filter and the Mazda Dealer voided your engine warranty.

As I said, similar things happen at Toyota, and Volkswagen , and Nissan, and Ford Dealers.

I think it is more like the particular dealer is trying to avoid do warranty work in the first place!

Shit, one time I told my dealership(Manhattan Mazda) that the rear view mirror is rattling like a bitch at times ... couple hours later he came back and told me that the rattling sound I am hearing came from my "Aftermarket" spoiler ... I was like wtf are you talking about ... then he said there is nothing he can do because its not Mazda's ... then I told him that spoiler actually came from Mazda ... then he just start changing subject ... what an ass ...

Later I just "semi-fix" it with some glue ... it still rattle sometimes ... I will take it apart one day for a permanent fix.

and no, my rear "aftermarket" spoiler never rattle before ... jesus ....

Yea, same thing is happening everywhere. my uncle had this Sienna years ago, maybe 2000 or something, it kept overheating for no reason, then when he bring it to dealership, they just said its not covered, wtf ? it has less than 10K miles not even 2 yrs ! then they want like a grand or 2 to "fix" it. too bad I didnt know shit about cars that time. or else I will go and slap the shit outa that service writer.

It's this very reason why I'll never buy a new car ever again. Buy cheaper used cars and fix them myself.

sad to hear ya,
i think you should do sth about it

bro that isnt right.. mine locked up on me too with the stock shifter. sure i had a lighter flywheel but they still honored the warranty work. go to anther dealership man. that is a rip off, The SS actually makes shifting much better and smoother.