heres what you do, first go to www.sema.com and read up on your rights, they have to provide in writing that the mods damaged the car. then take that to the bbb. my dealer tried to do the same to me but i went to sema and got help and ended up getting everything taken care of. dont let them do this to you, they cannot void your warranty for exhaust and gmaf, trust me on this. if you have any specific questions pm me. i went through the same ****. oh and call the dealer and ask for their regional rep and call them up and tell them you spoke with your lawyer and will be contacting them shortly if they do not work on your car under warranty... trust me, they cannot do what they just did to you. if you fight it you will win.

 

MAF can be easily taken off. ANY exhaust system is an aftermarket replacement part. Performance means NOTHING. You take stock off, replace with performance. ITS STILL REPLACEMENT PARTS. Check the laws if you don't believe me. Unless your exhaust does something like move cats to difference location, you should have NO problem...If it moves cats, your ****ed. That's illegal in all 50 states I believe and will void warrenty.

 

Go ask your dealer if they consider that exhaust a performance part or a replacement part. Go all the way up the chain if you like. To the dealer it is considered a voidable part IF it caused the issue, and no I am not arguing that they don't have to prove it.

The exhuast is there to increase performance and they consider any part meant to increase performance as voidable. If he went and purchased a standard size exhaust system and had it put on there he would probally have less of a fuss about that. The law or not it is in the contract of purchasing that vehical.

The only thing the law says is they must prove that the performance part caused the issue.

The point is the MAF can and probally did richen his A/F ratio and caused his cats to go bad by running rich. The EASIEST thing to do and has a better chance of working is to just take the MAF off and take it to another dealer. If that doesn't work then go to more extremem measures.

Adam J

 

The dealer can say anything they want to not do it. FEDERAL LAW says it's a replacement part. Performance part or not, its a replacement part. FEDERAL LAW. That stands above what any company has to say. As long as that company can't actually prove an exhaust system caused the cats to go bad, it stands. Considering the exhaust starts AFTER the cats, I doubt they can. Take MAF off and goto a different dealer.

 

Do you realize we are both saying its not the exhaust?

I'm not going to argue with you anymore. I got money that says that IF it actually was the exhaust and they prove it was they can void it if they want. The laws that you are pulling from are the SEMA laws which are in place for aftermarket parts. The only thing the law says is they must prove it was the cause.

The **contract** you signed when you bought that car basically says any part put on there for the purposes of increasing performance voids the warrenty. The SEMA laws say that they at least must prove it was that part. The dealer is going by that contract.

Im not agreeing with what the dealer is doing in this situation.

And for once will you actually read my entire replies. This whole time I have only been using the exhaust as an example. I have not :READ HAVE NOT: at anytime said it was the exhaust.

Adam J

 

It honestly doesn't matter what we say it is or not. It's the dealer that is going to say the exhaust caused it and both you and I know it. They will say anything to get out of a warrenty claim. What I am saying is that if they say that, he can fight it.

 

Works for me .

Adam J

 

My thoughts exactly

 

Funny this us up now. A buddy has had the same crap happen to him on his Tahoe. Aftermarket exhaust and the SES light came on. Took it in for service and they called him to get the truck because they would not work on it. "Warrenty voided" they wrote on the service order. Turns out to be the o2 sensors. There are three! Had to buy them all to the tune of $225.00. Now running real rich and the dealer is laughing at him. "Sure we'll fix it. $65.00 per hour plus parts".

 

You'll have to check SEMA's site to get the full law...
but to summarize:
The dealer has to prove that a part you added caused the problem you want fixed.
If they can prove it, you lose the warranty on that part... but retain the warranty on the rest of the vehicle.

I think they have a case against the MAF, I know they have no case against the exhaust.

Good luck
Dave

 

For the exhaust, they would really have to work hard to prove how a catback can ruin your cats.. I don't see any real way.. its after the cats....

You can call the GM service line and a GM rep would look into it.. suddenly people start talking.

 

Here's what you do. You call up GM asking if adding an exhaust system could actually harm anything on the car such as the cats. Act like you haven't done this yet and see what they say. Get the guys name. Then if he gives you the answer he should, you can go in and ask them to fix it. They start to bitch and say but this guy said the exhaust couldn't cause such a problem. Now you've put them in the ****, **** situation. Act like you don't know what your talking about and completely translucent to the fact that you've been in there before. Make sure to ask to talk to head mechanic or something similiar.

 

So if a loudmouth exhaust and a MAF (aftermarket) voids the GM warranty, then how the hell does SLP build the SS, and Firehawk, and sell it with GM giving it a factory warranty

 

well, unfortunatly having the loudmouth they can claim since it doesn't use a muffler (and the baffle in it actually is hollow with no baffling) it can cause it to overheat the converters when it's cold or cause it to pop and break apart the converter material. if you had gotten the version with a muffler or even a corsa which is now available through the dealer it'd be no problem, but since there is no muffler on the loudmouth that'd be their case. now at the dealership i work for it'd be covererd, but only because of me as my tech would reject it then i would have to look the case over and decide whether or not to override them, this happens often. your better off trying another dealer as they don't tell other dealers about it. they won't run a claim on customer pay work so your fine. just bring it somewhere else and put the other maf in it just in case with the stock exhaust if you have it, but either way try another dealer no matter what. just play dumb when you go in. as for the slp question, they didn't come with a loudmouth or optional maf from slp.

 

The difference is that GM can strictly control what SLP is doing. It's not as if when a Z-28 arrives at SLP, they say, "Well, what are we going to modify on this one?" They do the exact same modifications to EVERY Z-28 to turn it into an SS. That way, SLP and GM can work together to document, examine, and test every modification that they make. SLP has given assurances to GM that every Z-28 that rolls out of SLP as an SS has had the same work done to it, using the same parts and the same installation procedures, as any other SS. That sort of industrial control allows GM to be confident about providing a warranty.

Since the do-it-yourself tuner can provide NONE of these assurances to GM about quality control, they'd be stupid to offer warranties to people doing their own work and installing parts of their choice. How is GM to know whether or not the MAF or the !CAGS or the air lid you installed on your car last week was a quality part and was also installed properly?

Think of how quickly the automakers would be bankrupted if they were forced to honor warranty claims from all the morons who messed up their cars by improperly installing cheap "enhancements". Ever read about the guy who tried to use pantyhose as an air filter, and managed to ruin the engine? How long do you think Honda would last if they had to pay for the mistakes of every dumbass ricer out there?