If anything should go wrong with the parts they reinstalled on my car after replacing my head gasket. They had to reinstall alot of my aftermarket parts and many oem parts. I wonder if I have a problem with one of my aftermarket parts due to maybe a bad install is it my butt or theirs? I know the dealers says they cover their work and such but does this cover aftermarket parts?

I was just thinking about this and thought I would post.

More info on my blown gasket here.

 

I'm surprised that the dealer even touched it with aftermarket parts, that being said, it looks to me that it is on them considering that they did the work, and they knew the parts were there. Unless there is something saying that they wouldn't cover the parts, that is. Of course getting them to follow through could be a different matter.

 

Hmmm... Very shaky ground. The dealer isn't responsible for aftermarket parts. Not to say a dealer won't help out a customer and do it anyways, but I don't believe they could be held liable, unless you could prove without a doubt that there were 'negligent' in reassembling the car. Hooking up your OCC wrong, or your IC upside down would suck... But they could claim 'oh. Didn't know it went like that', and be done with it, leaving you with the potential damage and further damages.

You could try and get litigious if something went wrong, but that would definitely make your dealership less likely to help you in the future.

 

I agree in saying I am surprised they even touched it.
However, since they did touch it, and somthing did happen, if you pursue pushing them into fixing their mistake, they probably will never touch a modified car again!
I would take care of the problem myself and let them know down the road after you have it fixed what happenned.
I had a heavily modified car get recalled for a few things. They wouldnt even touch my car. Not even for 2 safety recalls that was issued for my Vin#. I found another dealer 45 minutes away that fixed the recalls for me. I guess the other dealership had a bad experience such as this one.
What was the part that went bad or malfunctioned? They are traind on OEM equipment not aftermarket.

 

The dealer ignored the mods because they couldn't prove they caused the fault. So I was ok but I wondered in case of future crap . I suppose I need to get better associated with how things work and how to fix things myself

 

Did this happen before or after you had the SC & Crank Pulleys installed? Couldn't tell from pictures.
Are you using 91/93 octane fuel?

 

if something goes wrong they will try to duck under "faulty part" BUT would assume if you can PROVE otherwise they would stand behind their work. Of course YOU have to PROVE and most likely paid in full to get your car back.

have a beer, hope for the best and enjoy the car.

 

The short answer is yours. They are not OEM parts, not their problem. That is not to say they might not make a good faith effort to put everything back the right way but to be realistic, aftermarker parts come out all the time so if your cutting edge and buy the latest widget and they dont know how it works ... to bad.

The price you pay ....

 

I'm confused by all the posts that say they're surprised a dealer even touched a modded car. C'mon folks, what do you typically find under the hood of a modded "S" - reduction pulley, CAI, or strut brace come immediately to mind. All of those are parts you can buy as JCW upgrades, so it's not like these are exotic components the guys in the service department have never seen.

Granted if you had a twin turbo, with front-mounted intercooler with an alcohol sprayer, then yeah, the MINI dealer might mess something up or not want to touch the car.

Maybe we're just lucky in the DC area to have dealers who aren't afraid of mods. Heck, MINI of Towson sells their own set of performance packages using MINI Mania parts. I don't see them or Sterling turning tail at the sight of a MINI that's not 100% stock. Given all that, if they messed something up working on your car (dropped and damaged your aftermarket intercooler for example) I would expect the dealer to take responsibility for that damage to your personal property.

So, where are all the lawyers on this site to weigh in on the dealers obligation?

 

I seriously doubt thats true. To often we on this forum just "assume" everyone else is just like us adding all the cool performance parts when I would bet its a very small minority. Say 400 - 600 MINIs show up at the Dragon ... well where are the other 140,000 MINIs ... a very small group compared to the public masses.

As to Towson, walk in with a Helix pulley and see what they say. Yes, they are tolerant but there is a point they won't go beyond. Sterling, on the other hand, is pretty cool

My point is that the population of "enthusiast" is probably no where near the mass public ownership that keeps everything stock.

 

You seriously doubt what's true? While I agree modded cars are in the minority, I don't think that the typical mods done by we "enthusiasts" would scare most service departments. They're pretty much the same types of parts you'd find in a JCW upgrade - just not JCW's components.

By the way, I drove in to Towson with my own pulley and belt and they installed it without question (granted it was a 15% reduction and not 19% and I did happen to buy from Mania - full disclosure ). They would have gladly installed my RSpeed rear sway bar too, but I didn't have the time to wait for it to go on the car the day I was there.

 

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Lemme rephrase:

You wrote: C'mon folks, what do you typically find under the hood of a modded "S" - reduction pulley, CAI, or strut brace come immediately to mind.

OK, I missed the "modded" Sorry for that. My point was that I believe most MCS are NOT modded in any way in terms of performance issue. I missed the "modded" part of your sentence Therefore my comment didnt make sense

I've had long talks with Wayne, while he was there, about all there efforts since they were pushing the MiniMania catalog. I had heard they were having billing problems with them and stopped for awhile. I found their parts department wanting in that they would not order anything not MINIMania. Wayne did say he didn't want to see Helix or other aftermarket pulley in there (for what thats worth). When they were having problems with minimania, Wayne told me to just buy the parts elsewhere and he would install it ... all good.

Sterling, on the other hand, is another ballgame. Herb in parts is great and will order most anything within reason and they will install it.

 

Clarification.

Surprised a dealer touched a moderately modified car. We're talking more than just a pulley or CAI.