How do you even go about fighting them? I am having an issue, also.I was driving the car back from the track and a hose on the front of the engine busted and sprayed coolant all over the windshield. Within 30 seconds I get the low coolant level indicator. I was driving in the fast lane at the time and in that area there were concrete construction barriers on both sides of the interstate, so I could not stop immediately. By the time I was able to get to the right safely and pull the car over, it had been another two to three miles. Anyway, the car sputtered a little as I was bringing it to a stop. I turned it off and that was that. Waited for roadside assistance.

Here is my dilemma. I put a "racechip" on my car to see if it would work (I had it on the car for four days). I got 7whp out of it, but definitely not what was stated of 24% increase, but it was my intent to check it at the track. It didn't help. Anyway, in all of the chaos, I forgot to take it off before the wrecker took the car. Now the dealership is stating that I modified the car, and it may not be covered, even though the initial failure was the hose. They are now saying that the engine isn't making compression and they have to check with Jaguar to see if it will be a covered repair. I am worried I am going to have a fight on my hands with this for a very expensive repair.

You mentioned fighting manufacturers in the past. How do you go about it?

 

Manufacturer legal costs get baked in to the price we all pay. I understand your hose is not related to the chip and I hope you can get your service department to accept that the broken hose and subsequent overheating were your only problem and the warranty covers it.
But, I cannot understand why people think they can modify their engines and expect the manufacturer to willingly apply the powertrain warranty. I learned you need to be responsible for actions. Tune the car and void your warranty. Forums are full of posters talking about circumventing the fact that they modified the engine. It makes me see red.
It is possible to find tuners who warranty the engine, at least it was for Corvettes. Expensive, but honest.
And we wonder why the latest generation feels entitled....
Larry

 

The tricky part is that you used a plug in chip and blew something related to your engine.
When tuning a car it does change the temperatures and if the car gets too hot, boom goes the hose.
All you can do is cross your fingers they pick it up, but there is no telling.
If the local dealer denies it, ask for the number for jaguar so you can talk to them about it.

At the end of the day, yours is a 50/50 and you can't be mad either way.


Woa... tune the car and lose warranty?
Why? Me tuning my car in no way shape or form affected my rear pinion seal so I am not sure why I would lose the warranty.

The way I look at it is that when we buy a vehicle (any vehicle), we pay for the warranty up front. a 100K car might only be 90K MSRP plus a set amount for warranty work which may have to happen later on.
It's like insurance... everyone pays a premium, some people use it.
Now, if the dealer wanted to offer me a option to pay less up front since I will be modding and waive my warranty period, I would gladly take them up on that offer. Seeing how that is not an option and they make me pay for it anyway, might as well use it.

That's not being entitled, thats being smart.

 

Yeah, I cannot let you off the hook. If you get a tune, how is the dealer/manufacturer to know if your tuner tried to double the HP/TQ? I think there are lots of good reasons for the manufacturer to totally void the warranty if you mod the car. You know that up front and accept the risk, or try to get something that you are not entitled to, any longer. As you well know, you cannot decide to pay less for no warranty, even with Porsche's a la carte options.
Larry

 

No, that's feeling entitled.

Do you feel justified in crashing your car and billing the ins. co. just because you paid for insurance?

 

Blow it up sure, but the seal doesnt know if theres a 300hp v6 or 585hp sc v8 in front of it. Gear ration, rpm, road speed all the same. Now is it seepage or a real leak. Seapage keeps the seal lubricated. Also the factory is not in the shop the tech is the only one there. He is the only one that knows if its modded or not. Go to a different service advisor or different dealer. Location and people matter in these issues

 

Just ask wolfe suburu in vancouver about denying a warranty repair to a car they said was damaged on the track and trying to get the customer to pay for her repairs after they performed them under warranty. Modding your car does not void your warranty enmass. Magnusson moss act. This is to cover after market non oem parts. Saying you have to have all oem parts, performed at dealer, etc is a big no no. Look if you increase your boost and blow the trans youre on thin ice. But there arent alot of dealers that want to subject their customer to this kind of battle. Why your shooting yourself in the foot and i know lots of customers that have bought decades of jaguars from us becuase of the service they have recieved over the years. I had this same issue twice with nissan products i had modded and a gentle talk to the service manager and my continued service and sales got the issues resolved under waranty as they should have been. But they did try

 

You have insurance so they can pay for damages if you wreck... why else would you have it?

Are tou you telling me that if you lost control of your brand new 100k car and totaled it, you would just fork over another 100k and not have insurance pick up the bill?

Never knew i was entitled, but apparently I am.

 

No, if it's a true accident you're entitled to take advantage. If you raise the risk of having an accident by (say) racing the car, you're not entitled to claim.

Modifying your car and trying to claim warranty damage caused by the mod is the same as making an insurance claim due to a racing accident.

 

Mikey, F-type isn't a family sedan like an S-type. Racing F-type is a normal and expected use. Why else would you buy a race car?

This is like saying that if you haul stuff with your pickup truck you are not entitled to warranty.

 

+1 I couldn't agree more and echoes what I said earlier in this thread.

You alter the car with a third party designed modification designed to increase power, something in the drivetrain breaks and expect the manufacturer to repair it. That's not right in my book.

Ok if say the door locking mechanism or wiper motor fails then yes I see the argument. But not when talking about parts that could fail as a resort of altered performance. Such as a diff, transmission, cooling etc

Jaguar sells a car with a specific power output. Car then gets altered without their approval with parts they did not design to go on the car and additional power is added - why should they be on the hook for fixing it when it breaks?

 

You didn't get the analogy at all did you? Try smashing your F-type on a race course and claiming on your insurance.

 

Try smashing your F-type anywhere - you won't get warranty. However, I think you are confusing destruction derby with racing.

During racing you are driving your car really fast on a dedicated road, called race track, and that road doesn't normally have any potholes or stoplights.

Hypothetical example. Someone is hot lapping properly maintained F-type on a racetrack and engine blows up, spun bearing. The car is 100% stock. They have never over-revved the engine. On what grounds would you deny warranty?

 

If the warranty specifically excludes racing then it should be denied, if not cover it. A responsible person will read the fine print in these things and act accordingly. It is not like the manufacturer doesn't spell out the exclusions.

Larry

 

So if your on a 1/4 mile track and you want to see what the car can do and blow something, you should expect the warranty not to be honored. I think if you build and sell a race car you should expect it to be run like it.

 

So according to this position, if I recklessly drive on the street (or drive on the autobahn in Germany) I am covered, but the moment I take a step on the track I void my warranty?

Yeah, that won't fly. JLR will be paying attorney's fees on this if it ever gets to court.

They could put anything they want into fine print, but it is likely unenforceable as there are laws taking precedence.

 

Hmmm, what makes anyone think this is a race car? I watch a lot on TV and I do not see factory stock F-types racing in anything that I have watched. Hell the Mazda MX is a race car, lots of those around racing. Just because you take a car to the track does not make it a race car. Moreover, I doubt that if the manufacturer's warranty excludes racing that there is any law precluding them from enforcing that exclusion. I am just amazed that anyone thinks that you can buy a street car from a dealer, race it, and expect the manufacturer warranty to cover you.
Larry

 

Jaguar has countless ads and claims about what their car can do on the track, so of course they would expect you to take it on the track. Normal track use is not "racing" the car, such as an organized endurance series. This is expected usage. To my knowledge jaguar is perfectly okay with covering warranty repairs as a result of track usage on a stock car.

Now when it comes to warranty work on a modified car, every situation is different and must be treated individually... you can't just label everyone as entitled because they want to repair something that may not have been their fault. Innocent until proven guilty applies here.

Sure re if you're blowing driveshafts on your car tuned 100+ hp over stock, the warranty shouldn't cover that; but in the issue above regarding a cooling line, the warranty should cover it. Engine modifications don't affect the pressure in the line, nor the temperature unless the car begins to overheat from extreme use, which it did not. In no way could his mods increase the stress on that hose based on the discription given.

Taking this a step further: On a trip this past weekend I got stuck in traffic for an hour and my engine started overheating. No permanent damage was done, but I noticed the radiator fan wasn't running at all. Some electrical fault has caused it to fail. Now, I'm tuned with a crank pulley; wouldn't you expect the warranty to cover that? Even if the engine blew?

 

Nissan tried to void GTR owners warranties for a while if the ECU history showed they used launch control, because the fine print said it would which, of course, no one ever reads... they were sued and lost. I feel "you can't tell me not to use something you sold on the car as a feature" is extremely similar to "you can't tell me where or how hard to drive my car".

 

The analogy was taking your car on a race track, crashing it and expecting the insurance to cover the repair costs.

Nothing to do with warranty on aftermarket modifications. I regret mentioning anything.