This is something I have been wondering for a while now. I have a 94 so any mods i do to change and improve my vehicle doesn't matter but I also have a 99 Grand Am and my Mom just bought a 01 Explorer.
How do mods affect manufacturer and extended warranties?
I know those of you with new ex know about this.
Like if I do any suspension mods or engine/airbox mods will it completely void the warranty?
I want to help my Mom customize her ex to get the best performance and mabye some better off road abilities, what can and can't I do.
Thanks
Blake D

In a nut shell.

If the mod is the direct cause of the problem, the warranty won't cover it.

hmmm so you can mod BUT if the mod CAUSES a problem then it is not covered, and I assume anything connected to it as well right?
Like if you lift it like 2 inches can they say they won't replace the calpars and break stuff etc bc the lift messed up the breaking? (in other words using the lift as an out)
Or might they say that but they really have to SHOW that the mod Caused the problem?
Thanks again
B

That could happen, they won't tell you what you can and can't do just so they can charge you for it anyways. My cousin got a body lift on his Tacoma and everything was still warranted, but after his suspension lift the suspension, steering, and drivetrain were all taken off the warranty. Just think about that...

In my experience if you do any engine or performance mods it will typically void the warranty.

Mods such as stereo or eye candy mods probably won't but anything you put to the mechanical or electrical will probably void your warranty.

My wife has a new beetle, they offer a 10 year 100,000 mile powertrain warranty. They said any mods, like chip, turbo charger, anything mechanical or electrical to powertrain will void warranty.

But they did say putting bigger rims and tires would not affect the warranty. It seems to me this would make the engine work harder, but oh well I am not touching that engine other than maintanence until warranty expires.

Good luck.

Brian

You see this come up quite a bit.

A vehicle manufacturer cannot void a waranty on say your calipers becuase you installed a large stereo and did some electrical mods.

SEMA is the aftermarket association that should have the info you want to mods and waranties.

many times they will try to void the waranty, but if you are armed with the right info, they will have to fix it.. but normally the first thing you do when they say the waranty is void from mod X, is to call the manufacture that makes the mod. They usually have lots of good info and can normally help you out.

~Mark

You can find a wealth of information regarding this issue at www.sema.org. One quick quote from their web-site: "The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act may also be helpful. Under this federal law, you can sue on breach of express and implied warranties. The main point of interest here is that the Act says warranty coverage may not be conditioned upon the use of only the vehicle manufacturer's parts unless the parts are provided free of charge. In other words, use of a non-carmaker product should not void your warranty unless it caused the problem." The complete text can be read at http://www.enjoythedrive.com/content/?id=8124 Your dealer will try all sorts of scare tactics to try and prevent you from doing any modifications. Their scare tactics won't hold up in court unless they prove your modification caused the failure. Of course coming up with the money to fight Ford in court may be a deterant enough.

OK, her goes. Modding your X WILL NOT void trhe warranty. If you get a K&N, you still have a warranty. If you get taillights. No problem. Replace shocks. Fine.

However, any warranty claim can become a hassle. Like Robert said, some places will do anything to not fix stuff. If you look at my signature, you'll see I've done quite a bit. I've never had a problem with warranty repairs. The key is to make sure they realize they can't pull any $hit on you. Just don't be a jerk in letting them know this. I f they say no, don't threaten to get a lawyer, thalk to the service manager first. The consumer has the advantage with the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. The dealer has to prove within reasonable doubt that the mod caused the failure. If you replace the shocks and the radio goes out, they have to fix it. There is no way to realistically say that suspension mods made the radio fail.

You will want to read the extended warranty very carefully though. Mine actually said no supercharging or other forced induction is allowed, or the whole contract is void. That is allowed by law. The original car warranty is more flexible.

So the moral of the story is that it's perfectly legal to mod. If something breaks, and it has nothing to do with any mods, they must fix it. But if something breaks because of a mod (ie. shock mount breaks with lift kit) then you're on your own.

thanks for the help, I will definately look into theat sema site. I was always a little discouraged before bc it seemed like even if you owned the car free and clear you were still not clear until warrenty was up to do mods. Thanks for the help and advice, if anyone has any experiences of mods and warrenty problems or lack of them please post here so we can see what types of mods are most accepted and what types might get the most hassle and which ones really DO void the warrenty.
Thanks
Blake :D

As stated by the M-M Act unless the manufacturer provides free replacements, you cannot have the warranty voided by replacing yourself.

Air intake. Ford never gave me a filter for free. Spark plugs, same. Exhaust, ditto. All of these are very easy to do and are really not prone to making other parts go bad. Usually most parts of the intake and exhaust tracts are OK. The only problem is if they interfere with emissions equipment. Otherwise repalce everything from the intake to the exhaust. Also, chips are OK. My Superchip came with a little card that has the M-M Act summarized on it and says in concise language for the dealer that they cannot refuse waranty work if chip is installed. The chip doesn't interfere with emissions, so it is perfectly legal.

Like I said before, with all the mods I havem I never had a single problem with Ford and the warranty. Your dealer may feel like giving you a hard time, but if you let them know that you are educated on the matter then you sholdn't have any real problems.

Good luck and have fun fixing her up!

What I meant was mods that have direct influence on the cause of the problem are not warranteed, ever.

I installed a body lift on my truck last year. After checking everything I thought all was well. A few months later the belt tensioner cut a hole in my a/c line.

That is not covered under warranty because the body lift caused the failure. That is what I meant.

If you install a suspension lift and keep the same size tires, your calipers would still be under warranty. BUT, brakes are considered wear and tear items which are not covered to begin with. If you installed a suspension lift and your u-joints failed, they would not be covered. If you installed a suspension lift, oversized tires and you have a rear main seal go bad, chances are, not covered. Suspension lift and your power window fails, that would be cover because there is no relation. See what I am getting at?

If you had a suspension lift and 33's on there and you blew a hub within the warranty period, the hub would not be covered because of the oversized tires. When I was stillin the warranty period I always put my stock tires on when it went in for service. They never saw it with oversized tires. When my rear main seal blew, I removed my shackles and lowered the torsion bars to specs. There are ways to avoid confrontation at the dealer you just need common sense.

quick question on this... I recently put on shackles and tighten the torsion bars. While we were underneath of the X I saw that the front diff. was leaking slightly. A friend of mine who is a Ford tech said to go ahead put them on the dealer wouldn't say anything about it. My question is do you think I should take them off before taking it in? Yeah the diff was leaking before we put the lift on but I can't prove that. And yeah a tech told me they wouldn't say anything but I can't really use that when I go in there. I really don't want to take it off but I don't want to have to pay for everything if I don't. I know the simple anwser is just to take them off and not risk is but has anyone gone in with them on for something like this and had a prob?

Ford would have to prove that the TT and shackles caused the problem. They could go so far as to say that you must have been off-roading, but htat argumant would not stand up in a court if it needed to. That's the same as a cop giving you a speeding ticket just becasue you own a Porsche, because at some point you must speed in a car like that. Just because you have a lift doesn't mean you've taken it off-road. It shouldn't be an issue. Only if you jacked it up using the differential, they may be able to use that.

You have the benefit becasue they have to prove the mod caused the roblem. In this case, it would be next to impossile to prove, as you made no modicication to the differential. Just be determined if they make an issue of it. Don't immediately threaten legal action, but make sure they know you are aware of the law and that they can't just push you around.

well see on the off-roading thing.... hahaha it has been off-roading. I've gotten 95% of the mud off the bottom and cleaned everywhere else to the point where you'd never know, except for a few scratches I haven't gotten around to buffing out yet. I dunno I guess I'm just gonna leave it on and see what happens. worse comes to worse I'll have my dad talk to them for me. He's been a mechanic, shop foreman, Service manager, and most recently the GM at the dealership I bought the X from. Great deal on the warrenty lemmie tell ya. Unfortunally he's not there anymore, if he was I wouldn't worry about anything what are they gonna do void the GM's sons warrenty?? HA. But anyway I'm taking it to a differnt dealership, one that's closer. Guess I'll see what happens

well I finally got a chance to get the X into the shop. Left the shackles on and the torsion bars tightened, they didn't say a word about it. Kinda doubt they even noticed. Also made sure that when I was dropping it off I made sure to drop the fact that my dad used to be the GM at a Ford dealership, well actually it was Lincoln Mercury Mazda. But same difference anyway.