Warranty and Mods

[takemorepills]

In the VR, the downpipes are split into an upper and lower. Each has it's own catalytic converter. So I guess the total of cats on the car would be 4. The O2 sensors I believe located after the first upper cat right off the turbos

You can buy just the lower downpipes, leaving the OEM uppers in place on the turbos and use the OEM O2 sensor in the new lower downpipe. Or you can replace the entire unit with one complete downpipe right off the turbo, with or without an aftermarket cat. Technically, you are eliminating two of the 4 cats by ditching the lower downpipes, however the lowers are after the O2.

To do option #2, entire unit, is that engine-out? As I've said before, I've seen plenty of VR30 Infiniti Qs with the engine-out for turbo warranty work. Not sure what's up with the new Z.....

 

[StrikeS30]

To do option #2, entire unit, is that engine-out? As I've said before, I've seen plenty of VR30 Infiniti Qs with the engine-out for turbo warranty work. Not sure what's up with the new Z.....

It can be done on a hoist. It's just a royal pain in the ass to reach up all the way there and get the Vband off, and then reclocked in a good orientation. Requires a lot of cuss words and patience, and little hands, haha. As far as the turbo issue, I think that was due to the wastegate actuator, I guess the action of it was wallowing out the hole causing the actual flapper to cause a lot of noise. I believe they remedied that in later Q's, there's been a lot of revised part number turbos. I'm sure those issues have been remedied. But, yeah turbo work is most certainly engine out, as the manfold is integrated into the head

 

[MCN1SMO]

Not trying to be a jerk and prove you wrong, but I want the op to get multiple takes on this before deciding what to do.....

totally understand and no that act is only leverage on the consumer side if it came to litigation. the end result of the claim is way more complicated. but it is present for the US and Since the OP is indeed from Canada im wondering if they have have something similar?

from personal experience Ive seen it from both sides as I always tried to have good relationships with service department. I had them install a plenum mod on my 350 intakes ect. then with the GTRs I would hang out in the shop while they worked on the car I leanred all that I could ect. would use their consult III to change transmission settings ect.....but man I also saw some horror stories. we had guys on the owners club who were getting warranty denied on a $18K trans breaking from launch controls and dealer would say oh its because the catback or a tune or whatever. we had to reach out to nissan multiple times in some certain instances to try to help these guys out.

this brings up a point we havent discussed yet the warranty is from Nissan not the dealer to deny or accept in the end. sure not everything is taken up the ladder but if you have a turbo failure on the Z and the dealer said it was from say an intake... that would certainly lead to nissan getting involved.


ive never been really mod crazy most of everything ive owned in Nissan world has been stock or very close to. for the Z I probably wont do more than K&N drops ins for the intake side and maybe a NISMO exhaust and thats it. I do value a warranty while its available

 

[takemorepills]

I blew a DSG transmission on my tuned 2016 GTI, and the dealership didn't hesitate to replace the DSG, didn't even ask if the car was modded.

However, that was during "Dieselgate" and VW was being very generous with everyone back then.

Since the pandemic shifted the customer relations dynamics, I highly doubt they'd be so quick to replace my transmission these days.

My point is, everyone has learned that since the pandemic, it's easier than ever to deliver terrible customer service.

 

[bboypuertoroc]

Not trying to be a jerk and prove you wrong, but I want the op to get multiple takes on this before deciding what to do.....

I have not read the Magnusson act, especially in regards to the burden of proof being on the dealership, but I absolutely guarantee that won't stop a dealership from making a denial. At that point it's up to the customer to now advocate for themselves, try another dealership, try corporate and lastly, a lawyer. The act may state it's their burden of proof, but the actual burden of getting your vehicle fixed is immediately yours, until possibly worst case, a court date. I don't believe there's an intermediary who can step in between a dealership and a customer to enforce burden of proof onto the dealership or manufacturer....

I mean, if we're discussing the credibility of dealerships here, I think we all know by now what to expect from most dealerships in the 21st century.

I fought a denied claim for my Evo. The moment I mentioned Magnuson-Moss they changed their tune.

 

[Donalex]

So, you're telling us you believe what your dealer is telling you?

 

[Go2ZZZ]

Just wanted to ad, I think Go2zzz is in Canada....

I would presume Canadian dealership are not so different than US dealership.

If they are telling you "no", you better believe it. That's the best information you can get.

On an aside, do you really need to modify the car so soon, especially for power? The new Z in 9AT is pretty fast on the roll, and horrible off the line. I mean, the off the line performance will only get worse with more power.

Just trying to talk you out of it, I saw many VR30 at my Infiniti dealership getting the engine -out treatment because something was wrong with the turbos. Engine. Out.
Remember, you will pay for engine-out if you need turbo work post-warranty.

I mean, I don’t have to. I want to as I want to up some ponies for my spirited and track days to do quarter miles one day.

Yes, the VR turbos had problems up to 2018. They seem to fixed them as I was in the Q50 forums and community.

 

[takemorepills]

I fought a denied claim for my Evo. The moment I mentioned Magnuson-Moss they changed their tune.

That must've been a few years ago.

The pandemic has taught many dealers "go ahead and bend people over"

The local Toyota dealership reached out to me to offer a $59 oil change on the Toyota we bought 1 month before the pandemic hit. That dealership was so cool in Dec 2019, they sold the car to us at invoice and I spent less than 30 minutes from walking in the door to driving away in a brand new, 2 miles on the odo, Toyota.
Fast forward to the $59 oil change.... I bring it in to the dealership for the appointment, and they present me with a consent to perform work, I damn near signed it, but I noticed that the price was now $500.
Dude, WTF!? The service rep was like "yeah, but we thought you'd prefer to get the full service maintenance package" I explained to him that I was cold-called by a nice lady from the dealership who offered a $59 oil change and made an appointment, and furthermore, our 2020 Toyota (which, BTW the warranty just expired) had only 5k miles on it, Toyotas don't need $500 services every 5k....the service rep just looked at me and was like "so.....oh, ok, you don't want the extended service? I really think you should get it"

See, my point is, even the service departments are becoming jerks, because they can. I have the same issues now with my Infiniti and my Titan, the service departments have no shame in trying to pull a fast one on me.

Guarantee you, if I tried to invoke the Magnusson act over a modded new car, they'd be unimpressed and probably tell me to pound sand.

 

[bboypuertoroc]

Was definitely a few years ago lol. 2008 to be exact. We'll see what happens with my next car since I'll be modding the shit out of it as well.

 

[Go2ZZZ]

Talked to a foreman. They said if they see any mods to the car it will be noted on file on their computer. So, any dealer would see it. So, guess if you mod, do your services elsewhere (oil changes, etc)

 

[Loco38SUP]

Its always best to remove mods for any major warranty work.

When I bought my Supra I told the Sales manager to save his extended warranty speech. I was planning to mod the shit out my car.

What’s a warranty?

-RJM