O/R h pipe+powertrain warranty=success?

[waggs]

a few days ago one of my spark plugs shot out of the head. i still have the powertrain warranty. i had it towed to the dealership cause people were telling me it might be covered by warrany.

an inspector came out to look at my car and gave the ok to order a new head. i think they started working on my car today.

i've been thinking about this all day. i punched the cats out of my factory hpipe just to see what an o/r h sounded like. i took it to the dealer with the "o/r h". if they take all the accessories off the engine to get to the head and then lift the car to get the midpipe off and see my "o/r h" could they stop what they are doing and tell me that they won't fix it cause the cats are gone? can they charge me for the time that it took to get the intake and all the other stuff off?

i was always under the impression that they will void it if they can prove that the mod was the cause of the failure. is this true? just wondering

 

[SRT Handz]

Just act stupid if this happens.....Act like the cats blew out and you know nothing about cars

 

[BennyBlown2v]

If they can't prove it was the mod that caused the problem, then no they can't void your warranty - however they can deny the work... if they do call Ford corporate and they will be audited by FoMoCo and they will be forced to either A) do the work, or B) get in trouble with Ford.

I went threw this crap with my SVT focus that had a K&N air filter lol... they wrote on the service order when my TPS went out "no further air/fuel warranty will be honored, modification to airbox" They also tried to deny me a new clutch/flywheel when it burned up at 1k miles and there was a TSB out about it haha (and later turned into a recall! lol).

 

[waggs]

Just act stupid if this happens.....Act like the cats blew out and you know nothing about cars

yeah i've been trying lol.

but yeah about the cats, i kinda took a dremel and cut a slit on the top to get the big chunks of cat out so they will notice that. and my mil simulaters aren't gonna help either.

i'm hoping that they don't mention anything about the pipe. i work full time at a another dealership and part time at a mercedes dealership. both dealerships are hella slow right now so i'm hoping that this dealership is desperate for warranty work too.

 

[BlownFiveLiter]

Do some searching about the "Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act." What it basically boils down to is, If a part's failure can't be attributed to the modification, they have to honor the warranty.

 

[Stark77]

how does a plug shoot out of the head? I've heard about this happening before. Is it common? How does it happen/how can it be avoided?

 

[98COBRA281]

how does a plug shoot out of the head? I've heard about this happening before. Is it common? How does it happen/how can it be avoided?

torque your spark plugs to 13ft lbs when the engine is cold, and put a little antiseize on them, i always check mine every month or so...

 

[geoffsgt]

If the inspector already OK'd the work, would they even care?

 

[waggs]

If the inspector already OK'd the work, would they even care?

i don't think they would. only thing is that it is highly illegal for a shop to put on an exhaust system with no cats. they could be fined big time if i was an enviormentalist(sp?) and ratted them out, but i'm not. if they say that they can't reinstall it i'll tell them to push it out to the parking lot and i'll install it myself

but they haven't called me about it yet. so, so far so good

 

[Dragstr05]

You said you work at a dealership but failed to mention exactly in what position. If you're a tech you should know how this goes.

In all seriousness, any tech with any real knowlege will know that an o/r midpipe is not going to cause a spark plug to blow out of the head. Period.

If a tech wants to be a dick about it, then in some cases a regional rep gets called out and a decision is made. I highly doubt he is going to be worried about any "material" in your cats. I'm a tech, and I know I wouldnt be. With warranty work, you hustle or you lose your @$$ most of the time. You're probably fine.

 

[waggs]

You said you work at a dealership but failed to mention exactly in what position. If you're a tech you should know how this goes.

In all seriousness, any tech with any real knowlege will know that an o/r midpipe is not going to cause a spark plug to blow out of the head. Period.

If a tech wants to be a dick about it, then in some cases a regional rep gets called out and a decision is made. I highly doubt he is going to be worried about any "material" in your cats. I'm a tech, and I know I wouldnt be. With warranty work, you hustle or you lose your @$$ most of the time. You're probably fine.

can you explain this part a little better?

i just started working at a lincoln dealership. in the quiklane(i know crappy but i'm 18 and we all gotta start somewhere right?) i have two days off a week and on those days i work in the loaner car department at mercedes.

i didn't wanna take my car to my lincoln dealership cause the service manager is kind of a dick about everything and i'm pretty sure that he would try everything in his power to not warranty it.

the ford dealership that has my car said it should be done by monday

do you know how many hours a tech can flag for replacing the head? and how long will it actually take?