2001AudiS4

Well my friend blew the engine on his TL. It is a 2000 I think, but not exactly sure. A while ago, he bought Comtech (or Comptech, I always forget) headers, cold air intake and exhaust from one of the local dealerships. He had that same dealership install all the parts. They said it would not void the warranty since it was installed and purchased from the dealer. He extended his warranty when it expired, paying I believe around $1500. This warranty was purchased through the dealership as well. Now several years later since they were installed, and maybe a year later since purchasing the extended warranty, he blew the bottom end of his engine. Today he was informed that the work, totaling over $6000, is not covered under warranty, due to the comptech parts. What course of action can he take at this point? I hate dealerships. Crooks is too light of a term to describe them


edit: Sorry mods, I realized I put this in the off-topic section. Force of habit I guess. You can move it to car-talk if you want, rather then me starting another thread. Sorry.

mr.motoring

Is there anything else we need to know? How and why did the engine go?

Our blocks aren't bulletproof, but they aren't exactly prone to failure like our transaxles either.

None of those Comptech parts would cause that kind of damage to the engine (other than hydrolock), so the dealer couldn't use that as an excuse for voiding the warranty.

However, if the dealer finds that the cause of the engine damage was attributed to owner misuse, then the warranty wouldn't be of any help anyway.

Crazy Bimmer

Might be a pain but put the car back to stock and take it to another dealer.

Also what warranty company is it?

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

Too many factors. What were the reasons his engine blew? What happend? On paper CT headers, intale & exhaust wouldn't make anything bad happen. Also if these parts were bought & installed be the same Acura dealer that is looking at the engine it should be covered 100%. The dealer can not void a warranty. It needs to go through Acura. A rep has to come out & look at the facts & then he decides on what the course of action would be.

SodaLuvr

You have to remember that many aftermarket, 3rd party warranties are not covered by the Magnuson-Moss act, so you may be SOL here. I could be wrong, however, from my understanding extended warranties (factory or 3rd party) are an entirely different mess...

If he can't get it resolved, he needs to hire an attorney.

oneilc

I don't think that would work. The dealerships most likely share a database designed to prevent such trickery.

phipark

This has nothing to do with Acura/Honda. The extended warrany company will not cover this. Tell your friend to pull out the fine print on his warranty contract. They will have a section detailing aftermarket parts.

Also, how the heck did he blow his engine?

2001AudiS4

For starters, I have no idea how he blew the engine. The warranty was sold through the dealership. I am not sure what warranty company (perhaps it is an acura/honda warranty, but I do not know). The dealership said at the time her purchased the warranty that the comptech parts did not effect warranty claims. Now with this incident, a Acura rep came and looked at the car. He denied the claim and gave one reason and one reason only: aftermarket parts. The only parts on the car are parts installed by the dealership, which they themselves said would not void the warranty.

pimpin-tl

Legally Acura can not deny the warranty. So get a lawyer.

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

If the warranty was sold throught the Acura dealer I would think it's an Acura warranty. Check into that. Does your friend have all the paperwork for the install of the mods? Does he have things in writing?
And yeah a lawer is needed for this. The law states the the dealer has to PROVE the parts caused the damage. They just can't say "oh you aftermarkets performance parts that's the reason" & void it. Doesn't work that way. Unfortantly for the consumer it's hard to work this out without legal help. Most people just drop it cause it's a PITA to go through all the litagation. It could take a year or more.

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

It doesn't matter if the parts were installed by the dealership. Comptech warranties its own parts from failure for a period of time (around 1 year, I think). The dealership, by doing the install, will warranty its installation.

However, I think the extended warranty from Acura works in the same way that a standard warranty works. This means that you're free to install all the aftermarket parts you want on the car and the dealership has to prove that the aftermarket part was the cause of the damage before denying a warranty claim.

This also means that in your friend's situation, he's SOL if the aftermarket parts are the cause of the engine blowing. If you can prove that a faulty installation was the cause, then the dealership is obligate to warranty the repairs because they performed the installation. If the part failed in some manner and resulted in the damage, then considering the warranty on the parts are probably exceeded, he's SOL also.

So your friend would only have a warranty claim if the blown engine was not a direct result of the aftermarket parts or owner misuse and abuse. But since you don't know how he blew the motor, we really can't do much to help you. You need to find out how he caused the bottom end to blow as that is a key element in this discussion.

NSXNEXT

iTrader: (2)

There's got to be more to the story. I've never heard of anyone breaking the bottom end of the J32 without a ton of mods (F/I) or doing something stupid like constantly revving the engine when it's cold.

If he thinks he has a case, contact a lawyer. It's not gonna be cheap though.

bigman

Unless his header sprung a massive leak at the head and caused a valve to bend and take out a piston, then there is nothing else that can go wrong with a comptech I/H/E setup. Call comptehc and see whats up. There is more to the story. How in the hell does a J32 with bolt ons blow the bottom end. Sounds eithe like a hydrolock or oil starvation. Or, it could be one of those rare instances.

Crazy Bimmer

Ib100shotOfNos

fsttyms1

I would say to get a lawyer, if it is infact a acura warranty. You also need to read the fine print. Alot of the extended warrantied will not cover damage to any thing if there is aftermarket parts on it. On that note there is no real way those parts would cause the bottom end to fall out

2001AudiS4

All the car has is the mods I mentioned. There is no forced induction or NOS or anything else like that. The parts were all on the car before the extended warranty was purchased and the people involved in selling it knew about the parts beforehand. I am not sure if he has tried to contact them, or what has been going on. I haven't gotten an update in a day or two. I just haven't had time to call him really, but I'll see what I can find out and update you guys the best I can. Thanks for the input so far.