Wow I've never actually heard such bad things about Berk. I guess I'll stay away just to be safe. Guess Fast Intentions is the best on the market right now. Blowing the engine is scary.

Surprised nissan is covering it!

Yep. I've heard this before. Either stay OEM or test pipes.

Woot, test pipes.

bingo!

^^^this. I owned an '02 and there was much drama about the precats being sucked back into the engine.

OP, at least the dealer is covering this under warranty.

wow, consider yourself lucky they aren't giving you **** and saying they aren't going to cover it

:iagree:, heard of this happening to a 350z, hfc manufacturer wasn't mentioned though. Makes me appreciate my mod selection even more, and i purchased from a mod friendly dealership. OEM for me for cats!

Another thing on Berk HFC I've heard a lot is the Service Engine Soon light comes on always. No big deal tho. But Fast Intentions has this "L" shaped non fouler makes the SES light off all the time.

Test pipe is good. But the only thing is you might have trouble to pass the inspection coz literally they are street illegal.

Does anyone else find it strange that Nissan apparently found that the aftermarket cats where the reason a several thousand dollar engine went boom and they are still gonna eat all that money?????????????? Something does not add up here, seems like the OP's mod according to Nissan directly resulted in the warranty issue.

I'm glad they're covering the damages. I spoke to berk about the cats, and they said that a cat failing is usually directly due to problems with the engine. I have no idea if this is true.

B.S. ! There is no possible way parts from the exhaust can be sucked into the engine thru the exhaust ports.

The engine is a simple pump and the exhaust can only pump pressure out, it can't work as a vacuum and suck particles back into it.

Dirt or foreign objects can only enter thru the intake or other sources, oil, broken internal parts, broken head gasket etc.

Back pressure is only a term used to describe the amount of restriction to exhaust flow caused by a internal muffler, baffle or cat etc. Back pressure does not mean a reverse flow of exhaust gases.

This guys example is a good reason to show why is better to keep the car stock, dealers and manufactures are always looking for reasons to deny a waranty claim if possible.

Just be glad they covered your repair under waranty.

Most likely the ring damage was caused by the rings never really seating properly or a excessivly lean air fuel mixture and even engine timing could do it or bad engine mapping

Exactly what i was thinking. Ive found with most brands, its better to just modify the catback if youre going to touch the exhaust and leave it alone there after. Its the one and only mod Ive done on my Z and it will remain that way until the warranty runs out. I dont have extra cash to replace the engine nor the legal help it would take to fight a warranty denial.

You know the exhaust ports stay open during the intake stroke, right? This is not a terribly uncommon occurrence (when cats go bad, that is)

Dealer can expense it back to Nissan, Nissan knows OC is an issue and doesn't ask questions.

Dealer wins loyalty at nissan's expense. A single engine cost is trivial to Nissan. Pretty straightforward.