From the K&N letter posted above...........

Please keep in mind that a motor vehicle dealer is, generally, not the “warrantor” of your vehicle. Your dealer may be assisting you as much as possible in getting the manufacturer to cover repairs of your vehicle under warranty, but the factory may still refuse to cover the repairs. If this happens, then there may be nothing further that the dealership can do, and it should not be blamed for the actions of your vehicle’s warrantor. A dealership’s control over the approval of a warranty repair is usually limited to properly diagnosing and reporting the cause of the repair.

I think your best bet right now is to go see the service manager and ask how your parts caused the failure, and whether they checked the tensioner. To me it sounds like you had a tensioner failure, as several others have reported here on NAM. You need to get the dealership on your side...........

 

Hmmmm interesting....definitely keep us up to date with information as you get it.

Were you simply driving along and gas pedal stopped working, as you said? Were you driving hard at all? And was there any sort of noise associated with the failure?

 

i wasnt driving hard, maybe once or twice i hit 90...but i was driving around 70mph in 6th. As i was driving the motor just stopped running. there was absolutely no noise or any other giveaways of any malfuncton.

 

the thing is that all i wanted is a diagnosis. They started the warranty work but now are charging me for it. They shouldve told me whats wrong with it first before working on it.

 

Im starting to lose hope...I miss my Mini

 

So, what are you doing about it? Just waiting for the dealership to call you or something?

Go down there, ask to speak to the service manager and ask him what's going on with your car. Then ask for a complete explanation of how the parts you installed caused your engine to fail, and why he doesn't think it's a chain tensioner related failure. Ask him if they measured the old tensioner to see if it was in spec. Ask how or if your parts could have had any effect on the tensioner. If the tensioner didn't cause the failure, ask him what did?

Then once he's explained all that, ask him to put it in writing if they're going to charge you for the repairs, and tell him that you're going back on the mfr of your aftermarket parts with his information so that you can ge them to pay for your repairs since, as he says, they were the cause of your engine failure.

I'll bet warranty covers the whole job before you're thru...........but you have to be pro-active. You can't just let people walk all over you........

 

Maybe the aftermarket parts never caused the problem but they want to refuse it because they would not be dealing OEM parts, but aftermarket parts such as the alta tubes and the DP. (to change the engine)
I had the same problem with a simple MAF problem, they only fixed it AFTER I changed the TIH/Intake back to OEM.

 

i wish you all the luck in the world whit this . i was all set to get tsw springs &19 mm rear sway bar ,then i talked to my sa at dealership. they said it could be a problem with warranty , i did't want to chance it ! so i'll wait .

 

im going to the dealer tomorrow because of the labor day weekend. Ill let you know how it goes. Thanks for all the replies.

 

Good luck and be nice!! I broke the locking mechanism on my passenger door and got them to fix it even though they knew I broke it!! The service manager is bad *** (but the MAs suck) in San Antonio!!

 

I'm surprised no one asked about this. I noticed you said they started teh work... as in physically started replacing parts??

In most states, if they don't give you a written estimate or get your signature/approval, that will cause problems to the point that they may have to eat the bill.

I'm assuming you signed a repair order to give them permission to see what was wrong. If they decided to not cover the repairs under warranty and just start the repairs assuming customer pay, they're on their own... that will be their bill.

Like many others have suggested, a logical, civilized discussion with the service manager may get to much further than just raising cane.

Good luck, let us know what happens.

Mark

 

+1 to mark's comment

I've never known a shop to do ANYTHING (including diagnosis) without a signed form.... doing otherwise presents significant liability for them. I'm no lawyer, but even dealerships have to do this for warranty work. I'm sure a *real* lawyer could quote you the law.

 

I'm not a lawyer but I play one when I argue with my wife... is that close enough?

 

all i did is drop off the car at night to be diagnosed for the problem. Then later i get a call that i wont be covered under warranty because of the aftermarket parts and that i should pay the bill from the "warranty work" that they started, which was 2 hours.

 

Only if she pays you 630$ an hour

 

So you didn't sign anything to give them permission to even so much as diagnose your problem? If so, lawyer or not, you don't owe them a dime if that's the case.



I assure you someone is getting paid...

 

If he dropped it off the night before, I'm pretty sure he filled out a form with his name and such on it and put his keys in it, signing that form is authorization enough to start looking into it, they'd assume a warranty repair till they decided otherwise. But I don't see how they can charge him time if they decided not to honor the warranty after seeing his aftermarket parts. All they had to do was open the hood to see he had aftermarket parts, and by their logic they should not have gone any further.

They can't have it both ways...........

 

yea i only signed that form for them to diagnose the problem and left the keys.

 

So as I'm typing this while about to leave the dealer. They won't do the work under warranty. Not only does it have aftermarket parts but it has a tune also. Manager said that when the factory rep will come to investigate the car that he will see that the maps were "tampered" with. As for the charges, 500$ for "diagnosis" and tow back home. What a great birthday gift. I asked them for an explanation to which part caused the failure and he can't really explain. Says that the tune caused excessive strain to the engine causing the timing chain to snap. Told them about the cold start issue and they said the tensioners were fine. Asked them to write an explanation so I can bring it back to the aftermarket manufacterers and they couldn't supply that because they don't know what exactly caused the failure.

What should I do now?

 

I would check with my car insurance and see if they can help. They probably cant but its worth the call.

 

I do not know about your state but in Massachusetts where I live if you signed a piece of paper authorizing them to "Diagnose" then there will be a charge to someone. If they find it is a warranty issue then the "Diagnosis" is part of the warranty if they decide that it is not warranty then the charge is to the customer. Then tech that worked on it and the shop must make their money for that time somehow. Diagnosis is NOT free.

 

yeah but diagnosis of his problem should have been....open the hood, wooooops aftermarket parts, close hood wash hands call owner. It sounds like they knew it was the timing chain and they tore into his motor without the intent to warranty it.

O BTW this sounds like my time when mini decided my cold start issue had to do with my turbo so they slapped a new turbo on and said its fixed.....how does a faulty turbo make a slow clacking sound like a diesel. o well the fact of the matter is mini just wanted warranty work

good luck and keep us posted, and you have to be proactive about this. talking to the service manager and killing him with kindness is the only way it will get done quickly, other than that you need to get a lawyer, i hope all works out for you. god forbid if mini ever makes me a SM i will help so many people that modify their minis because i feel your pain.

 

Yea, sounds like you're really in a bad position...

Just curious, did you tell them you had the car remapped or did they find out on their own?

I think you should be able to get them to pay for the diagnostic work that they did, if you push them hard enough and ruffle enough feathers. People say be nice as possible...but you're already past that point. If you call enough people in the company and call enough people at MINI USA, you will eventually get something out of it because they will get to the point where they simply want you to shut up and go away lol. They certainly won't be paying for a new motor though, that's for sure. And if you somehow manage to pull that off...you're my new hero!

 

It is OK to still seek a second opinion. But unfortunately you are still liable for the costs of the first diagnosis. Talk with them to see if there is a way of reducing those costs (goodwill). The managers have the latitude to writeoff quite a bit under customer goodwill if they choose to. Ask them what are your choices and if they could help you. If they say $500, then it is time to pack up and go to someone else.

Many many many years ago, Toyota put me in this same position (but just out of waranty with no mods). I had to pay for the diagnosis, have another dealer put it back together and sell the car at a huge loss. Never bought another one since. Hoping for a much better ending for you.

 

I was nice as possible with them. They said the work was knocked down to two hours so they can't knock off any more. I guess I'm stuck paying that bill. But what about the magnuson-moss act? They can't prove what caused the failure and they keep telling me it's too much strain from the software. They won't even write me a detailed explanation on what happened because they don't know how or what happened. Isn't that against the federal law? The explanation they are providing me is so vague.