Warrenty issues with aftermarket intake
 

Hey guys,

I was thinking about putting a Stillen Gen 3 Ultra long tube dual intake kit in my 2010 nismo.

The question is would this void my 36,000 miles bumper to bumper warranty??

And is there any other cold air intake that’s better? Just wanted your opinions.

inb4search

Gains wise, afaik the Gen3 is the best.

Warranty wise, it shouldn't void anything but your dealer may or may not give you a hard time about it.

The generic response: Talk to your dealer and see what they say. Specifically, talk to a mechanic and see what he says.

Whatever you damage while installing it, they won't cover.

Should you manage to blow the engine, they'd have to prove that it was the G3 intake that caused it...but that said, they can still deny the claim and tie it up in court to where it'd cost more for legal representation than to just replace the engine out of pocket.

That said, it also depends on your dealer and how well they'll go to bat for you...and some dealers will do that only if you pay to have them install it...which I think is shitty at best.

Yes, your after market intakes will void whatever the stock intakes cover (i.e O2 sensors, mass airflow sensors, etc..). No, it will not void your car's entire warranty. Yes, you can have the dealership do the install, but the manufacture can always claim the craftsmanship of the Stillen intakes are not up to their standards.

Personally, I am waiting for the warranty to expire before I do any performance upgrades to my baby.

Power wise, the stillen is the marginal best of all the intakes. I just bought a G37 in november and just had an intake installed a couple weeks ago. I chose INJEN for a few reasons.
A) @ $430, it was $120 cheaper than stillen.
B) stillen promises 18 crank hp, injen will add about 11rwhp. (Rwhp is my main concern, not crank)
C) no pulling off the bumper or drilling to install or other tedious problems like the intakes not sealing properly due to improper cutting and stuff. The INJEN sounds more muscular and is a better all round value though you may lose 2 or 3 HP at the crank. I bet @ the wheels its probably only a 1 hp loss from stillen.

Hope this helped? :)

P.S. have the dealer install it. Then if its done improperly. It falls on them. You have a 30day workmanship warranty. On top of that they will be forced to swallow any issues with install.

P.P.S. Why did AEM abandon the Z/G? I loved there products in my. 98 240sx and 06 G35 sport. I see nothing from them since 06.

If you're overly concerned about the warranty, talk to your Nissan dealer about purchasing it from them, and having it installed. We have had tons of STILLEN product installed at the dealer level, including Gen 3 Intakes.

We have a fantastic relationship with Nissan/Infiniti and dealerships, a lot of them upfit cars before they are sold.

Just to correct one piece of info in this thread - The Gen 3 Intakes are 18 RWHP.. not crank..

READ:

Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act of 1975

Magnuson-Moss Act

And there you have it.

I was looking at getting the Long tube intake but it sits too low inside the bumper. I drive my Z in the rain so I didn't want to take any chance on hydrolocking. So I just got the dual intake...still added some hp :) and sounds good

This is the key part that no one seems to recognize (except kannibul;)). The law says they need to prove it, but all they need to do is sit on it. The model of my previous car had HUGE warranty claims, so Audi cracked down hard. Regional inspectors were needed to "approve" repairs on modified cars. Weeks of down time.....
I had a cat-back exhaust. When I needed warranty work not related to my mods, the work was covered, but I had to pay for the removal and re-installation of my exhaust. Items will be overlooked until the warranty claims start to climb. Then Nissan will become less friendly.

If you "boost" the power, be prepared for any drivetrain warranty claim to be challenged. The car was engineered and warrantied for 332hp. If you add more power, parts wear faster. End of story. The bottom line is that you need to be prepared to Pay to Play.

Owned!

I have the Injens. They are fine, but they are second to Stillen. If I could do it again i'd go Stillen G3 100%.

thats why all my performance parts are going to be installed after the warranty is over. for now its going to be all cosmetic

It all depends on the dealer. My dealer in CT installs Stillen mods all the time. They will deliver new cars with added mods.

They even have a heavily modded Stillen 300ZX-TT in their showroom. No warranty issues at all if dealer-installed, as stated by the owner and the service manager. :tup:

To a certain extent.

We can do the warranty work and not mention the intakes are on the car. But if the warranty work sets off a red flag to Nissan," like a blown engine", and they want to come see the car in person(which happens) then you may have a battle on your hands.

It will be your efforts and money to prove that the part did not cause the issue.

Hope that helps. We have been installing mods on cars for years, and I haven't run into one issue yet. *Knock on wood*

yeah but the dealers around here are all full of crap and they have the worse customer service that you can imagine. Every time i go there i felt like killing someone there lol.... They all give you the same answer so i rather wait on the performance mods even though it kills me inside.

Just bumping this topic to let everyone know (if they dont already) Aftermarket parts do not cause you to lose you warrenty as long as they dont cause the issue you are going in to get looked at. On my 07 Cobalt SS Supercharged i had the following mods:

TVS Supercharger Swap
60lb fuel injectors
meth injection
heat exchanger
lowering springs
gen 1 halo lights with HID's
stereo system
and a few other parts....warrenty was still a go.

Now incase some of you are thinking "well that was a GM not a Nissan" well this past weekend I brought my Z in to get looked at. I'm having issues with my climate control and speakers. I have Stillen G3 Intakes, tinted tail lights, black out headlights with 8000K bulbs in them and chromed amber bulbs in tail lights and of course lets not forgot the one thing that most dealerships hate seeing....nitrous. Had the bottle in sight and everything. Brought the car in, left for alittle while, came back. Fixed and my bill was $0.00...warrenty coverd it. I been told by managers from different nissan and gm dealerships...the aftermarket part has to cause the issue for the warrenty to be voided. For example (happend to me)

Had a few mods on my Cobalt and reverse lights wouldnt turn on. (switch box was broken) they tried to bs me saying i have aftermarket parts so warrenty is voided...i told them there is no way in hell that a CAI and lowering springs caused that....once they figured out i knew what they were doing they used the warrenty.

Another occasion with my cobalt....i had 1 step colder spark plugs. I didnt torque the #4 plug to the specs and it came loose. It blew 2 plugs and the chamber apart causing $500 worth of damage. Damage was caused by aftermarket part so warrenty was no good.

Moral of this long post. Dont let dealerships bs you!..lol

a question to all, IF you do aftermarket mods such as intake, can't you just take them off and put back the stock before you do any warranty claims? I mean are there any halogram stickers to proved that you VOIDED the warranty? (besides the opening of those airholes for the Stillen G3 and the replacement of the washer tank for the Injen.

I got the G3 because I wanted a CAI - not one that sucks hot air from inside the engine bay. I'm curious as to what the size of the filter on the INJENs are as well - the don't look to be much bigger than the tubing from the one's I saw.... regardless the do perform quite well I just thought the G3 was the better of the two...

Like some others have pointed out, they would have to prove that the intake caused the problem in which you are trying to make a claim on in order to deny a warranty claim.

Another important point is that if the dealer you are going to tries to make it sound like your intake voids everything and not just the clearly and closely related items to your modification(s), its important to stand strong and correct them. The more people they are able to turn down warranty claims on without appropriately following the policy / warranty laws will just establish a history of warranty denials which they will likely continue to use on others later on. Think about it this way, if they voided your warranty incorrectly, theres a good chance they will try to use the same logic again on someone else with a similar claim until they are pressured to do otherwise.

That's what I'm thinking, just put the stock stuff back on before going in. And attempt to fool the stealership.

exactly, engine blows? put stock boxes back on, and voila, no mods.. warranty intact.

But in the case of the G3 intake, you have to cut the radiator core support, so if they are worth a damn, they'll see that and could make it more difficult.

one could sand the holes down smooth, wouldnt be too noticeable to the untrained eye.

I was just thinking, the radiator core support probably doesn't even cost that much if you were to blow an engine, might as well order it from courtesy part and replace the core support and put the stock box back on and bring it back to dealership lol

I will always take off intake before a service wen i get my injens because whats 30 minutes to return to stock if it saves you your maintenance plan and warrenty