I bought a used 2008 Mini S Couple from a private owner in November of 2009. It had 9,000 miles on it and was in excellent condition. The owner had installed a turbo back Alta exhaust, CAI, and JCW suspension.

I took the car to the dealer who sold it new today for the first time for routine warranty work and the service advisor told me my car was flagged in the system and they would not warranty my engine due to the exhaust. He didn't know how MINI knew but it was in the system.

The rest of the car is in warranty, I ran a Carfax before buying, which was clean.

Anyone ever hear of this? Does it sound right? Fortunately, it runs great and I love the car but I'm not feeling very good about MINI right now.

Thanks

 

Sounds like BS to me, a cat back exhaust would have no impact on emissions or your engine. Maybe give MINI USA a call.

 

a huge ECU tweak I could see, but the exhaust and CAI is nit-picking. call corporate, be nice, but firm.

this seems to be the trend anymore.

 

I'm running stock ECU, the other owner may have run something else.

I asked the service advisor for more information and he said "if there is a problem, and, it can be traced back to the exhaust they could refuse to cover it."

In order to get a copy of my car's records I have to MINI NA.

 

Your SA is right... If the problem can be traced back to the cat-back then the warranty can be denied. However, they can't arbitrarily void the warranty for the engine simply because you have exhaust. This sounds like a "tell him he has to pay for it, and hope he just agrees."

 

Sounds like a pretty common warranty exclusion. Just like if you had a huge stereo in the car and the alternator dies, the warranty on the alternator could be denied. I am really not sure what problems could be attributed to the exhaust though....Maybe things melting under the car, or if the exhaust manifold heat shield wasn't put on it could fry your fan wiring?

 

He did say he has a turbo-back... So likely he's throwing a CEL.

ALTA_Jarid: They said his engine warranty was void, nothing else... So I don't see how an exhaust can cause your engine to fail

 

Me either.. IF he is throwing a code is is more than likely the P0420 code which has ZERO effect on the car OR its performance/longevity.

 

Interesting comment on the codes. I have a Scan Gauge II and I mentioned I get P2065 codes from time to time, no CEL, just the code on the gauge, The SA said they don't do "P" codes, they are random.

I own and have owned many motorcycles and all the exhausts were changed from new. Unless you didn't re-jet as needed there was no warranty problems.

Why can't I get a copy of my own service history without going to MINI NA? Listen, nobody "needs" a MINI, you want one. If this is their idea of customer service, well, maybe they'll go the way of Hummer. I love my car and it's TONS of fun. But then again so is a Z4, Lotus, and Cayman.

MINI should try harder to keep happy customers happy!

 

The turbo back is marketed with red-colored charts highlighting big torque and hp gains. Your dealer and BMW can pull up these same charts and say your Alta exhaust creates more stress on your drive line and save warranty work costs! If your clutch wears out normally or even abnormally, as an example, I could see the dealer argue that they would not pay for the replacement. Many people on this board have posted about having trouble getting a dealer to pay for what should be warranty work on completely stock cars. If your car is modified, your life in your Mini can become complicated, particularly at the dealer, even if the given reasons for a warranty claim denial are unfair.

Of course Alta will take your side here and maybe even invoke Judge Judy in order to protect their sales but the company will not call BMW on our behalf if BMW denies a claim.

I would half-seriously suggest you bring donuts when you bring your car in for service as cheap insurance. Or popcorn. It cannot hurt.

 

Not sure the donuts will work on this bunch. They said I could have a loaner car this time but policy is you only get one if you bought it new from them. The guy I got it from bought it there new but that didn't count.

I'll be glad to get my car back, have to be there by 8am to return the loaner or else....god, maybe they'll make me keep the dirty, poor running loaner!

They need a recall to improve their attitude like Toyoda!

 

Can't you bolt all that JCW stuff on a stock S? The warranty is still good if you do that, right? Since it doesn't break things guess it doesn't work like that Alta stuff. Seriously, are motors blowing on JCW stock S's? Clutches? If a car breaks because you replace the exhaust it must be a pretty crapy car.