Not sure if this is the right spot, but her goes. My girl has a 2008 mini cooper s and she bought it second hand from dealer. Anyways car still had warranty, and the timing chain went out and blew the motor. So mini dealer put in a new motor free of charge under warranty. Later on that timing chain went the hey did the work free of charge under warranty. Now from then until about 3 months ago the car was fine, I also suprised my girl buy installing a set of lowering springs. Well up until last week the fuel pump took a **** and she took her car in to get it fixed since its a recall fix. While there they noticed the lowering springs. Well before the lowering springs the axle boot was leaking axle grease, and they also said the lca bushing was shot, and the ac compressor was shot. "by the way the ac works just fine". So me installing the springs, ive always dealt with warrantys that any part you modify and or related parts , like in my case all suspension parts will be or can be voided from the lowering springs. To me this was fine, because i can fix the problems easy and cheaply. Heres the dilemma, according to mini they can drop the whole warranty on the whole car if you alter any part on it. So by me installing lowering springs, mini dropped the warranty and now the car has absolutely no warranty. I was very shocked and felt bad at what i had done, and i called the warranty line to see if i could resolve the situation, only to be greeted with a douche bag rep that told me he was being nice by telling me that they can drop the warranty any time they want, and that is all he can tell me cause i am not the owner of the car. I am just wondering is this true? Can they really do this? Or is this there way of getting out of future repairs! Also with the new motor they added an additional 3 years to the warranty. So now i am in search of answers, because ive read tons of threads of highly modified minis and going in for warranty work with out a second look or care of modifications, but no once i put some lowering springs they go and cancel the whole cars warranty. Also fyi we never wanted them to fix the lca, the axle, or the so called "broken ac compressor" which is not even broke! we just wanted the pump fixed, instead the fixed the pump free of charge and canceled the warranty.

 

Under the Magnesson-Moss act, a warranty can only be voided on that part or related parts (in this case the suspension and axles) if the shop doing the work can prove that the modification caused the damage. There is no legal ground to claim that installing lowering springs (which MINI sells their own version of lowering springs in the JCW suspension kit) voids the entire warranty of the car, including the 3 year warranty on the new engine. If they claim that they'll void the warranty covering suspension, that's a gray-area statement to make at best because technically the springs haven't caused anything to fail yet. However, the rest of it is absolutely based in non-sense and I would be speaking to the head of the service department or the general manager and inform them that you will be getting a lawyer involved under the guidance of the Magnesson-Moss act.

 

Well if you lower the car too much, you can rub the AC line and cause it to lose refrigerant and the compressor could burn up. You could put the axles in a position where they clunk and fail or do damage to the tranny. Loads of stuff can happen that are not just springs. You could rub a brake line or smash a wire, etc.

Now if you power window motor dies then I don't think they have a leg to stand on.

 

I doubt there's a lowering spring made that could get that low. He'd need coilovers to get low enough for most of that to happen unless he was going over bumps at 100 mph.

 

Understood but there is still more to this story that we don't know. An '08 with warranty still? Sounds like extended warranty (factory or not) or CPO/MINI NEXT. And the motor having a 3 year warranty doesn't not match up with warranty work done by MINI, its 2 yrs unlimited miles.

 

Coilovers not necessary. There's an entire thread on this issue: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-lowering.html

 

add me to the "dates don't add up" list

4 year warranty is all gone

I never got 3 year warranty on a repair but I never had a new engine either ... but when exactly did this occur? Have anything in writing? My repair invoices stated the warranty period on the repair and parts.

Timing Chain and HP fuel pump have been special cases which have limited extensions to the warranty, but not to extend the 'full warranty'

Is this just semantics issue ... has the dealer told you (her) the warranty is 'all gone' because it has been "all used up"? You have had both cases of the 'special extensions' completed. I don't think you get to double dip on those since they are now "fixed"

 

It would be impossible to lower the car that far to rub an ac line. If you read my post it clearly states we never asked them to replace the axle, or bushing, or ac compressor. I knew the lowering springs is a debate able reason or cause for the axle boot to have a small hole in it and the bushings to go out which the springs had neither to do with. It's only a 1.5" drop. It's not my first time working on a car or modifying the suspension from simple springs to full body coils and stuff. I knew that mini could argue with that and that's why I didn't even ask them to replace said parts. All the car went in for is a new fuel pump which is a problem for minis. Anyways the car still has warranty cause it still had the 50.xxx miles warranty and the car only had around 34k before the motor blew. Now that the mini has a brand new motor my gf told me they added an additional 3 years or what not. That's not the issue , the issue is they have canceled the whole entire car warranty . So now if anything happens wether it be a blown motor to a messed up tranny we would have to pay and it won't be covered. All because lowering springs. As stated earlier I I could care less about the suspension related parts all I car about is the rest of the car. Do not worry wether the car has warranty or not if it didn't I wouldent be here asking for questions. Just know it had warranty and they dropped it.

 

Not arguing your warranty concern. I just want to make clear that it is completely possible to rub an AC line. If you read the link that RKW posted it would show you its possible, albiet not on every MINI it seems.

I'll post the link again

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-lowering.html

 

If MINI extended the warranty for 3 years when the new engine was put in, it likely would have only been for the engine. The factory warranty is only for 4 years/50K miles, which ever comes first. Being a 2008, the warranty would have run out in 2012 regardless of mileage. Unless their is an extended warranty outside of the warranty granted on the engine, then what they're saying is the factory warranty has expired.

Either way, the fuel pump is good for 10 years/120K miles and I would be requesting documented proof from whatever dealer installed the engine relating to the warranty they stated. That way all parties involved know what the terms are.

 

the issue is: have they have canceled the "whole entire"car warranty .

it is a 2008 by your statement ......

the factory warranty is 4 years

it is now 2014 ....

sorry I WAS a math major and I sleep with a CPA

 

MINI can do what ever they want, they can deny warranty claim for whatever reasons. Is it legal, maybe not, will it hold up in court, maybe not. We all know a little bit about the M&M Act. You really need to seek the advice of a lawyer that specializes in this kind of work.

The timeline does seem kind of weird to me also. Warranties are typically mileage OR time whichever comes first. We get need more information.

 

"according to mini they can drop the whole warranty on the whole car if you alter any part on it"

Who in the BMW/MINI corporation told you this?

 

I'm still thinking there is more going on here than we or even the OP knows. Maybe the GF needs to get an account and explain it to us a bit more.

 

Very good info and true.

 

The problem with Magnuson-Moss is that they can simply deny your warranty and they don't have to prove anything until your lawsuit goes to trial. A big corporation can easily wear you down until you give up. There was a long thread here (which has disappeared for some reason) where an owner related his experience suing MINI under Magnuson-Moss. He was a successful business owner with money and means (lawyers under retainer) to go up against MINI and he gave up in the end.

 

b4 anyone thinks about involving lawyers (and I'm not suggesting it applies in this case) they should read CAREFULLY their SERVICE & WARRANTY INFORMATION book, delivered with the car. If you do not follow the procedures for 'complaints', for lack of a better word (customer assistance information is the section label in my book), you give MINI an easy out .... and some states have special procedures as well.....

 

There are 6 year\100,000 mile warranties that were offered on 2008 cars. My 2008 extended warranty ran out last August but my maintenance warranty is still in effect to near the end of the year (as I recall).

It has been my understanding that any part the dealer replaces carries a 2 year warranty. If an engine is 3, I don't know, but that would only cover the engine and no ancillary part to it (other than those in 2 yr or HPFP). I got a replacement hood scoop for my son's '07 because it was all warped and bubbled. Less than 6 months later, I showed it to the parts manager that it was warping our again and he put a new one on without flinching. True - not a big ticket item.