After dealing with the stealership, and the warranty company....

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=525153





The dealer called me back with the news...


"Warranty company said that because you have a K&N air filter, your warranty claim is being completely denied, and unfortunately, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that strut tower brace and the K&N air filter together completely voided your warranty. The K&N was the big reason. You're looking at 3400-4000 dollars."



Right now, I'm $650 into it... from diagnostics, pulling the motor, and tearing it apart. I REALLY don't know what to do. Going back and forth with the warranty company, and the dealer, and the parental units have made this whole ordeal a hundred times more stressful than it needed to be.


Anyone got any ideas?

 

Wow, that sucks... It sounds like the warranty company is just trying to get out of the claim. The good news is that they need to prove that the K&N filter caused your engine to blow. So, fight them. Unless it says someplace in your warranty papers that K&N filters void the warranty. Speak to your local attorney general, better business bureau, or your lawyer. At the end, you'll win.

 

Read the bottom portion of the thread. BTW, it was stolen from the stickys.

http://forums.maxima.org/showpost.ph...5&postcount=13

 

Isn't there a Magnuson-Moss act of that nature?

 

http://forums.maxima.org/showpost.ph...56&postcount=3

 

FLIP!

 

I hate to say it, but I think they've got you on this one. K&N air filters are known for allowing excessive dirt into the engine. do a quick internet search and you'll find reams of oil analyses and anecdotal stories about high silicon in the engine oil and high bearing, cylinder, and ring wear as a result of K&N.

while this may not be the proximate cause of your failure, it is reason enough to void the warranty. you'll have to sue them, which will cost you more than the engine job (unless there's a small claims option). but the evidence will be on their side. it might be worth a phone call to K&N to see if they can help you in any way.

not sure if it's still possible, but if there's any way you can still get a clean oil sample from the engine (that has not been contaminated by dirt) you could have it analyzed. if it does *not* show high silicon you might have a case. but if that engine has been torn down I think you're SOL.

this is when an oil analysis history would come in very handy.

 

lol i love when people cant just take care of what they are suppose to take care of. cheap asses.

 

that is bull ****. your first step is to get a lawyer and go from there, dont waste your time. how the heck can a damn filter void a warranty? thats stupid, kn is well known. what they gonna say next time, MOBIL 1 oil voided the warranty? give me a break. sue !!!!!

 

This site should help.
http://www.knfilters.com/MAF/massairpledge.htm
http://www.knfilters.com/warrantyletter.htm

..."Under this federal statute, a manufacturer, who issues a warranty on your motor vehicle, is prohibited from requiring you to use a particular brand of air filter, oil filter, or other service or maintenance item, unless such item is provided, free of charge, under your warranty or unless the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) waives this prohibition against the manufacturer. K&N is unaware of any exemption or waiver granted by the FTC to any motor vehicle manufacturer, which pertains to air filters or oil filters."


I will say no worry, just keep going after them. It's just doesn't make any sense if it's only a drop in KN&N filter voided the warranty. Even nissan get a different company to manufacture their parts. Like exedy for their clutch.

 

contact K&N and see what they have to say about this.

 

Seriously, they are trying to pull a fast one on you. A strut bar? How does that void your warranty? Cars come with them from the factory, what does a strut bar have to do with your engine? And the K&N? How does having an air filter void your warranty? At worst, if you over oiled it, you would have fried your MAF. That still does not equal a blown engine. By law, if you do any mods to your car, it is the burden of the warranty company to PROVE that those mods caused your problem.

You need to get mad in a real big hurry, and stand up for yourself with the dealership and the warranty company. I would call around and find a lawyer familiar with the repair law like, yesterday, and take it to them. They are trying to do you dirty.

 

Go above their heads. Speak with the zone representative for that dealership. Before doing so, make SURE to do your research on what the laws are and go over your warranty statement with a fine toothed comb. Definitely cause a stink, but stay professional. If you start yelling and cussing you will dead end yourself in a hurry.

 

contacting K&N will be interesting, but useless, but u should still see what they say.

sky_jumper is unfortunately right here.

This is real life proof that that modding and warranty dont mix and just give companies excuses not to pay up

 

I saw this coming, I KNEW they were going to find some way to cheap out of it in that other thread, this sucks and I'm sorry man and I feel your pain.

You're first step should be to get your car the **** out of the dealership! Bring it to somebody from the .org, try the regionals section, I know there are quite a few hard-core guys from chicago that spend alot of time in the 3rd gen forums.

 

Contactig K&N can at least get him their test data and warranty support. They will not warranty his engine, of course, but they can help him (as their customer) to cut through the BS that the warranty companty will say in an effort to blame the engine failure on the K&N.

 

i think your warranty is already up. your car is a 1999 right iam not trying to be a jerk or anything but your warrenty has been up for quite a while. unless you bought your car from a used car lot and they gave you like 6,000 mile warranty and a 3 month thing.

 

He bought an extended warranty when he bought the car :

 

yea thats only good for another year or 2 if that.

 

It depends on when he bought the car. In either case, you were/are wrong.

I bought my car in 04 and bought a 5 year/100k warranty w/it.

 

I just read the original cause and tear down. Exactly how is a K&N filter going to cause the engine to fail like that? Unless something was phyically wrong with the filter? ie.. big hole in it?

Sounds like the engine ran out of oil or maybe the oil pump went to hell.

What was the dealer's actual report of WHY the pistons went south?

 

They said that the oil pump took a ****.


The warranty company's defense is that it's written in my contract:

"B: In addition, this Contract provides no benefits or coverage and We have no obligation under this Contract if:
...
6. Your Vehicle is modified from the Vehicle Manufacturer's original specifications."

 

Isn't changing your air filter a routine maintance? I don't see why brand should matter on voiding your warranty. If you changed it and put in any other air filter than OEM, would that change your warranty?

If they're going to call BS on an air filter, you minus well tell them that your oil filter isn't OEM as well.

PLUS it's a drop-in filter. It's not like you changed the midpipe or cut up the bottom half of the intake box.

 

exactly, even if u r using paper filters made by manufacturers OTHER than nissan would that void the warranty as well? it shouldn't

 

Exactly. What if your muffler rusted out? Do you have to buy a Nissan unit? No. As long as the filter meets oem specifications, it shouldn't void the warranty.

Plus what in the hell does the air filter have to do with the oil pump!?

 

They have still have to prove that the k&n caused the oil pump to fail, which, we all know is not feasable... try this website, i think they are trying to pull a fast one on you as well and you should be able to win this one.

www.semasan.com/main/main.aspx?id=60127

 

I agree with all that is poset here mate. The warranty peeps are trying to get out of paying what they know they should have to. If a mod didn't cause the engine to frag out, you should be good. It's like most insurance places ... they will pay someone twice as much to find a reason NOT to pay the customer, it makes them look bad if they have a lot of claims going out. You are being railed here man, and hard core ... stand your ground and hold them up to their end of the bargin. If you have ANY of your recipts from oil changes, get em together too ... the more ammo you have, the easier it is to shoot holes in their "theory". K+N filter caused an engine to frag ... BS!

~ Agreed to get the car out of the shop ASAP! They will start to charge you a daily storage fee (some shops here it's $25 - 50 / day) and that can add up quick. I bet someone on the ORG can help you in your area, maybe even help you slap that 3.5 in too

Best of luck, don't take the crap they are handing you, and remember this too shall pass.

 

DING..

 

"Consumer Lawsuits
The Act makes it easier for purchasers to sue for breach of warranty by making breach of warranty a violation of federal law, and by allowing consumers to recover court costs and reasonable attorneys' fees. This means that if you lose a lawsuit for breach of either a written or an implied warranty, you may have to pay the customer's costs for bringing the suit, including lawyer's fees." from ::: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/.../warranty.shtm

Not only should you recoop the cost of the engine, you should also get $$$ for missing work, for a rental car, and of course my favorite - pain and suffering! Don't forget your court costs and lier fees. Lawyer fees I mean.

If I were in your shoes, I think the next step I would take would be to contact the warranty company, talk to a mngr, and get him to put in writing that they will NOT cover the warranty. Next, go to a lawyer (if you have one already, even better) and they can get the ball rolling for you. They are liable like it or not ... you payed, now it's time for them to pay!

Ok .. I'll get off my now ... hehehe

 

Go after them, but do it professional. Don't get all pumped up for nothing, win the battles you can. I see you winning this war.

 

Changing the air filter is not a modification.

 

+1 on all the recommendations, like all suggestions made here, "search is your bestfriend". First I would talk to the attorney general in your state, I stress to document everything, from day 1 write downs names of csr's and service managers and whoeverelse youve spoken to along this course. Every letter has to be mailed certified from here on in(make copies for yourself), Complain to the att.gen., ftc, I can t remember; that insurance org.s name , even though they dont have any power but the BBB, search that warranters name on google see if there are add'l complaints against them for disqualifying claims such as yours, if there is then theres class action status behind you, 1 person yelling gets nothing done but 100 or 1000 you got progress baby.

I found this brief report regarding a "auto warranty fraud" search under google:

Administrator Rip-Offs
While most of the fraud attempts the Magoo's inspectors see is coming from either the consumers or the repair facilities, Powers also noted that there are still a few unscrupulous VSC administrators out there that basically deny every claim and then wait to see which consumers complain the loudest. They operate under the "squeaky wheel" theory, where those who complain the best and the most are the ones whose claims are actually paid. But Powers also noted that in the age of the Internet, bad news travels fast. "These days, you can just drop the name of the contract administrator into Google, and you don't want it to pop up at

http://www.ripoffreport.com he said.

Sometimes even legitimate administrators turn down claims, and in those situations it's important to have a written record that explains why. One way to do this, of course, is to use an independent inspection service like Magoo's. But Powers said that the best companies have done as much as they can to take the personality out of the equation, so that a claim denied by one adjuster and one inspector would reach the same conclusion if handled by another adjuster or inspector.

"It isn't always that way," he said. "Some guys have more experience than others, and the ability to determine what is and isn't a covered claim. But for the most part it's pretty transparent and pretty independent of the adjuster."

http://www.warrantyweek.com/archive/ww20050412.html

Basically this guy, http://www.magoos.net/ from that website said what I think you should do. I would check out his website there could be more helpful info there.

Something like that happened to me with my Tahoe so I feel your pain (gas related), but I didnt have the money to fight GM or BP.

Good Luck!!

 

You need to stop and just let the adults talk here. I bought my car used and have a 60k mile, 5 year extended warranty on it. I am covered until 100k miles or 2010.

 

I have a question for you. This warranty that you have. Is this a NISSAN manufaturers warranty, or is this an aftermarket company that sells extended warranties on used vehicles. All that I have read so far is only for Factory warranties. In Which case, an after the fact company selling an extended warranty has the ability to deny covereage. I know on the one we bought my ex wife for her car, the contract stated that NO aftermarket or performance parts could be installed or it would void it

 

Whitemax. That can't make sense. If you need a muffler, do you have to use a factory unit?

 

If it was a CONE filter I could see a problem. But with a drop in filter in a stock box they are hoping to stick you with it.

I wonder if you could get a stance from Nissan North America?

 

I know it sounds stupid, but when aftermarket was stated, I t was meant as a performance enhancing part. The K&N is being viewed to them as a performance enhancing filter, as thats the way it's marketed. If it was a "performance " muffler, they could try and deny it then as well. I agree that its BS, but those companies are shady at best and will deny every claim possible.

 

like I said in the original thread. 3rd party warranty companies are flat out crooks. period. they are in the business of taking your money and not paying when your car breaks. that's what they do, and they know you won't sue.

I had a 3rd party warranty on my '95 RX7. in the first month the AC freon leaked out and the cooling system sprung a leak. the warranty covered "all major systems" including cooling & AC, but they denied both my claims. said they didn't cover AC leaks, only faulty components. and didn't cover the "coolant air separator tank" on the RX7, only the radiator and heater core. the louder I complained the quicker they hung up the phone on me. and the mazda dealer that sold the warranty kicked me out of their office for raising a fuss over it. I then cancelled the warranty to get a refund on the balance of the contract -- it took 11 months to get the $700 check out of the cheap bastards.

I filed a complaint with the NHTSA (which had issued a safety recall for the RX7 cooling system) and was able to get reimbursed by Mazda NA for the coolant work, but not the AC.

 

My warranty is through Wynn's Extended Care Warranty Service. It was required by the company I financed my car through. It's a 3rd party warranty company. My coverage is 45 months/45,000 miles.


What really chaps my a$$ is that they don't even want to listen to what I have to say. Last time I talked to the manager's manager, she said, and I quote, "You're wasting your time talking to me. We're not going to approve your claim. Your warranty is now null and void. It's up to you, your financing company, and the dealer whom sold you the vehicle to figure out what your options are, as far as paying for the repairs. We're not approving any of this work."



So, I talked to HER boss, the regional supervisor. That proved better, as she said very calmly, "let me see if I can talk to the other regional, and see if he'll want to work with you on this... I can't guarantee anything, except I'll talk to him."

 

Fight them to the death. (legally)