The Internet Sales Mgr. at our dealership (I say "our" because we have gone there for both of our Acura purchases) did a quick check for us to determine whether or not the addition of a Comptech exhaust header would void the warranty.

he said if we were to bring it in once we received it and had the techs in the service department install it, it wouldn't void the warranty, since Honda/Acura has had a longstanding relationship with Comptech and regularly consults with them regularly when the latter develops aftermarket parts.

i don't doubt that this is true, and our dealership knows better than to pull a fast one on us, but i'm curious as to whether or not i really had to bring it into the dealer's service dept. to get it installed so that i can be assured that it doesn't void the warranty. a couple of our friends (one is a certified AEM Tech and the other built an entry for the East Coast Honda Challenge) could install it for the price of dinner and a couple of beers. there is also a Comptech dealer in the area (but I don't know how good their work is).

my inclination is to go with the dealer, assuming that we can get a good quote on labor.

anyone have any information, advice, other thoughts?

 

Theres a dealer i went to in NJ that had pics of comptech mods and also had a display case with them.
I believe in certain areas they offer to install comptech after market mods as it is a very lucrative business and dealers are always looking to make even more money.
As far as warrant is concerned i believe theres a law where unless the dealer can prove the aftermarket bolt on was at fault your warranty cannot be voided because you put in an aftermarket part.
wait for some more replies from some of the experts here but valid question and concern.
AKay

 

This is true, it's just that Honda/Acura will not question a Comptech part if they installed it. I've self-installed Comptech headers and icebox on an '01 'Teg GSR and now a Comptech rear sway on my TSX. When I traded in the 'Teg, the dealer saw the Comptech parts and smiled. They liked it and didn't ask to see receipts for installation or ask who did it. I guess it just depends on the dealer. I had another dealer look at the car and tell me they added nothing to the car. The dealer that smiled at the parts gave me over $1k more for the trade and I got the new CLS for $1k less for than the other dealer (so I know it wasn't a numbers game). So much is up to the dealer. It would be extremely hard for them to prove any damage was due to installation if it was done correctly.

 

Bear Trap, it seems that you are right in that a dealer would need to prove that the aftermarket additions were the cause of the injury/fault in order to void the warranty, as provided by the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act. This is actually federal law, so that's good news because it applies in every state.

Basically, it means that even if we were to do it ourselves, if something were to happen further down the line and we were required to either arbitrate the matter or go to court, the dealer bears the burden of proof and would have to introduce all of the evidence.

There are a lot of varied opinions on this. I think that in the Comptech scenario, because that particular company has a close relationship with Honda/Acura and regularly consults with them, if you were to exercise due care in installing the parts, the dealer would have to jump through a lot of hoops to prove that the aftermarket header was at fault. I am not sure about other aftermarket parts manufacturers.

With the Acura dealer install at the service department where you normally get your car serviced under warranty, you'd be assured that they would never void the warranty--in order to assert this, the dealer would have to assert that their own crappy installation was at fault for the damage.

 

while that is true..it really depends on teh dealer... even without breaking the law..they can make it really really diffcult for you... even for an intake, they can argue an intake leans you out , which brings it out of spec with factory and BSBSBS... and a lot of dealers have mods=abuse mentality....

 

I went and asked my dealer if having a CAI installed would void my warranty and was told that it would because it wasn't an acura part. This doesn't seem right/ true to me. Does anyone have any insight?

 

It is true. But it's up to the dealer to prove that your problem was caused by the non-Honda/Acura part.

For example: if you get this intake and take your car to the dealer for a problem with your engine and they find out that your intake somehow ingested a rock or something and it's rattling around inside one of your cylinders, then they won't fix your car under warranty b/c the stock system would never allow something like a rock to get past its filter. It's a silly example, I know. But that's how it works, basically.

 

but if u have the intake installed and the radio craps out on you...they cant deny warranty on that.

 

Exactly.

 

funny thing, i asked this same question in this thread (but more broadly to most aftermarket parts):
http://www.acura-tsx.com/forums/show...?threadid=3706

 

yeah, what happened to the FAQs section? this is a good candidate

 

Sticky sticky bo-bicky, banana fanna fo ficky, me my mo-micky.

 

We're working on it. I think.....

 

Does adding an intake or exhause void your warranty?

 

You should ask your dealer for an official answer. But the word here has been that some dealers, if they did the installation would not void warranty upon installation of Comptech I/H/E.

 

some acura dealers are cert. to install and sell comptech stuff.

 

what about any drilling? like in the interior, i hear that voids warranty even on a bought car (as opposed to leased)

 

Drilling?? For what? Oil?

As stated before it has to be proven that the aftermarket part caused the failure. For instance say you put an intake on your car and 2 weeks later your MAP sensor fails. They will most likely not cover that under warranty. Now say you put the intake on and 2 weeks later your transmission fails. Now most likely that had nothing to do with the intake but most dealers will look at the intake and think "I bet he was abusing his car". I went though this whole fiasco with my truck. I had some things denied for repair...I called Chevy and they basicly told me to sit on my thumb and spin. I was so pissed off I sold my truck 2 days later. It comes down to this...some dealerships will be really cool about mods and some wont. If you want to play it safe...put comptech stuff on your car and let the dealer install it.

 

You can drill air holes in your car to make it go faster.

 

hmmmm...now where did that damn drill go...

 

im talking about like in/under the dash and stuff like that...

 

neg...that wont void your warranty

 

If its a certified place it should not matter.

 

Comptech parts will not void a warranty in any way. When it comes to used cars...if you go to get it certified for the 100,000 mile drivetrain warranty...acura/honda will certifiy the comptech parts.

 

Yesterday I had a little chat with my dealer's service manager. I asked him if I could, instead of constantly replacing the filter with an OEM filter, go with a permanent filter like a K&N, without voiding the warranty. He answered to me it wasn't a problem.

So I went on and asked him if I could use a cold air intake setup without voiding the warranty, and he answered that was ok as well, as long as it wasn't exposed to an area susceptible of sucking in water.

He confirmed with his parts manager, and the parts manager replied, "go ahead, in fact, we are even just about to offer an Injen kit, which we already have installed on a number of our RSX, and has been reported to increase hp by up to 17hp on the RSX."

This meaning that for those who deal with Acura Casavant in St-Hyacinthe have the go-ahead for an Injen CAI, covered by the warranty. Now If you want to buy it off them, you can share with them some $689 from your pockets, lol.

Note that they didn't require to do the install for the warranty to be valid.

 

I have been emailing a Comptech certified dealer (Goodson Acura) here in Dallas.

This is the quote for just the installation of the Comptech Exhaust:

Normal installation is about 2.5hrs labor or $198.00.

Fsck that price! I did not even ask for a quote on the exhaust kit itself.

 

dealers charge like mad, i had my old windshield on my subaru replaced at an aftermarket place for $100, the dealer quoted me $600 on the same windshield. That's how big of a difference between dealers and aftermarket places. thanks for the responses!

Kevin

 

I'm worried about the suspension parts personally. I'd love a set of comptech springs when i get my 19's because i wanna get rid of the gap but i dont want my car slammed. but i'm more scare dof fucking up my warranty than anything else.

 

I just installed my comptech exhaust and the Injen CAI. My mom started freaking out and said that I just voided my whole entire warranty. I was like whoa, wait up here. So tomorrow I will go down and speak with the finance manger of Acura here in Anchorage, AK in person to see what's up. I really don't see how replacing the stock exhaust with the exact same exhaust, just bigger, would void the warranty. It's directly bolt on, no modification at all. So I'm hoping I didn't mess up the warranty, I think after this, I wont be doing anymore mods for a while. Just rims/tires, and stereo system with tvs in the head rest.

l8ers
Wess

 

Wess if that were true then wheels and tires would void your warrantly as well. The Magnusson Moss act is there to protect you: http://www.portadiesel.com/docs/magnusson.html.

 

In the first place CAIs hardly ever void the relevant part of the warranty. All of our past 4 cars have had AEM CAIs, and there has never been any question as to whether any engine work, if needed, was covered by the warranty.

In the second place, most Honda/Acura dealers recognize that Comptech has had a longstanding R & D relationship with Honda, so it's very, very rare for them to assert that the warranty is voided. Having the dealer's shop install the aftermarket part helps somewhat for the reasons described below, but it isn't necessary.


Thirdly, the so-called "burden of proof" with respect to warranties voided due to aftermarket modifications is on the dealer. If you go to the "Hondata" stickied thread there is a discussion about what this means. Basically, if you file a claim in a court of law to have the dealer perform the work on the car under warranty, then the dealer/service department must provide the facts/evidence and persuade the judge initially that the modifications damaged the parts in question.

 

you put custom header? I just got done racing with a, if you will "souped up" Honda Civic. We raced a few quarter miles and one 3-5 mile stretch topping out at about 120 lol, it was fun. He said that my 0-60 mile time was slow and that some headers would help, and also some fuel injector stuff to get more fuel running through the engine.

Headers, now would that be any where voiding the warranty? That with rims and tires is my next step. It seems like that part is dealing more with the engine that any other.

l8ers
Wess

P.S. thanks for the info guys. I talked with my dealer today and he laughed at me. He said so who told your mom lol. We laughed and he said no problem at all man. It's so rare and he sells both parts. He said only if you mess with catalatic converter and the ECU gauge or whatever goes out, then he wont warrant that. So it's all good

 

Not yet, and it's been stalled indefinitely due to house renovations and saving up for other things. Headers will free up your air flow to engine. The thing is, the k-series engine that's in the TSX is already so efficient (I don't know anyone else that has made a LEV-II 2.4 liter that can squeeze out the hp/torque that this car has), it's unknown how much you can really gain from a full I/H/E setup, or anything else besides forced induction. But then again, we were all really surprised with how well the Injen CAI seems to increase the hp, so who knows?

did you swap the engine out of the Civic? what mods were done to it?

 

He had an intake, headers, it was a manual, performance exhaust, body kit, rims and tires, and I know he had some other stuff because as he was shifting it had this crazy electric hissing sound, I swear it was a turbo, but he mentioned something about a high compression ratio. We were talking through the windows so I couldn't really hear him all that well. I'll catch him and a ton of other people in the summer and we'll see how my TSX performs. The intake is awesome, it adds some real horse power and the Comptech exhaust is so much fun, you just mash it to 6000 rpms and that thing roars with performance.

I can't wait until I get my rims and tires. I'm running Nokkian 225/45/R17 studded snow tires and the grip is OK, but it slips a lot when I punch it to 6000 RPMS.

l8ers
Wess

 

Many Acura dealers will cover warranty on any Comptech parts you allow them to install. This make sense in two ways - they get to charge you for the installation at their rates (they make a little profit on it) and they get to know their techs did the installation so if something goes wrong they are less likely to be suspect of the installation of the parts (as opposed to you doing the installation yourself and then expecting them to cover the parts).

Some dealers simply do NOT like people to touch their cars as far as mods go and will tell you that any mods will void the warranty. There's nothing at all wrong with this, and it's just how some dealers are. Go to another dealer if you just HAVE to mod your car and don't want to deal with a hassle when you have a problem later down the road.

There are several Acura dealerships in this area whose service depts will work with you regarding basic mods such as intake, exhaust, headers, suspension, etc. If you let them to the installation they will cover the parts to some degree with the warranty and certainly won't void the rest of your warranty. Comptech parts are one set of items they (the dealers who do this sort of thing) definitely will cover. Icebox, headers, exhaust, springs, etc.

Just ask around. Get to know someone in the service department or get introduced to the right people through others on Acura forums who know who to talk to.

 

These mods sound great. I am reluctant because my TSX is leased. I should have just bought this car.

 

years ago on my integra I called Acura warranty and asked if the exhaust or intake would void anything and they said as long as they don't directly cause the problem no they can't void it.

It was later I learned there is actually a law against voiding the warranty based on aftermarket parts that have nothing to do with the car's problem.
http://www.impalaclub.com/naisso/magmoss.htm