Warranty is Gone

[jeremyc74]

Since my car was new, I've had an occasional Reduced Power and CEL that would come on. It wouldn't happen very often, but I finally figured out that it occured only on long trips when the car had been running more than an hour at highway speeds, and the fuel was down to about half a tank.

Now, before I figured that out, I went several months without making a long trip, so I had no Reduced Power warnings, and no CELs. During that time I installed catless DPs, and O2 simulator, and a SSTT. On my next road trip the issue came back, and over the course of the next couple of trips I figured out exactly what was triggering it. I took the SSTT off just to make sure it wasn't the cause, and the same thing still happened.

I've been extremely busy with work, and hadn't had a chance to take the car in. I hit the first oil service, and made an appointment along with a list of issue I had with the car.

A couple of days later I got a call from the Service Advisor saying BMW was voiding my warranty and wouldn't cover anything on the list. After a few heated conversations they backed off that, but still refused to investigate the major issue I was having.

The combination of the SSTT and catless DPs was enough to trigger the Anti-Tampering code on the newer ECUs, so I'm pretty much screwed.

Here's the exact write up:

Aftermarket control unit installed in the DME wiring harness Ran codes and found 29CE Comustion misfire cylinder 2 and 2D25 Manipulation Prevention, Max Mass Air. The last code I have not seen so I called my FSE and he advised me to remove the DME cover and look for any aftermarket devices installed in the DME box. Found a box wired into the DME harness and taped around connections. Called him back with findings and he told me this is no longer a warranty issue. Also found catalytic converters were removed. No repairs made at this time.


Now, I had seriously considered fighting this, but I'm afraid I'd be wasting my time, and the whole thing has started to prevent me from enjoying my car. I've decided to just stop worrying about the damn warranty, and do what I want to the car. After Christmas I'm just going to go ahead and go all out with a full tune, intercooler, and whatever else looks good to me. I've be reluctant to do any of that because of the warranty, but now that it's gone, I have no reason not to.

(This is my attempt to make lemonaid out of lemons )

If you're running an SSTT with catless pipes, consider yourself warned.

[MastaMind]

Wow, that sucks. They didn't even fix your paint issue?

[Bdh821]

now you have 0 reasons to mod this beast

[Citizen Z]

Originally Posted by Bdh821

now you have 0 reasons to mod this beast

Don't you mean zero reasons ~not~ to mod this beast?

[AchtungF80]

I still don't get how your A/C or paint issue is interrelated. I can see maybe them voiding your powertrain warranty, but thats it.

[jeremyc74]

Originally Posted by AchtungE30

I still don't get how your A/C or paint issue is interrelated. I can see maybe them voiding your powertrain warranty, but thats it.

As it always happens, the damn A/C recirculation function worked just like it was supposed to while I was at the dealer. I've got to go back for the paint issue, so that's still open. They also claim they can't see anything wrong with the driver's side mirror. It's got double images at night when headlights are on it. I'm not really sure how they thought they were going to see that in the daylight.

They did also refuse to do a software update to fix the minor bug in the cruise control. Sometimes it advances two MPH, sometimes ony one, and sometimes it doesn't advance at all. Another member reported a software update fixed this. The tech said that since I had installed the O2 sims on the ECU wiring that they weren't going to do any updates under warranty.

Honestly, I'm pretty dissapointed with the service. I feel as though they went in looking for a reason to void the warranty, and once they'd found something they didn't care what the actual issue were. I guess that's what I get for being honest (or stupid) enough to leave the DPs on the car on a service trip.

As I said though, I'm trying not to let this sour my experience with the car any more than it already has. I can afford to fight them, but I just don't have a lot of time, and I don't feel like letting it piss me off every time I have to deal with it. :iono:

[WeekendWarrior]

ive never had lemonaid before...must be a new drink.

[Haywood]

There are many who have purchased these mods -- especially Riss Racing's downpipes. I would like see someone from RR comment on this. I am considering dp's, but this makes you think twice.

[ZIPNBYE]

Does Riss Racing offer any type of warranty coverage, similar to what Dinan does (they pick up where BMW lets go, due to the mods, all seemless to the owner)?

[IN54NE]

It's the O2 sensor wires in the ECU that caused the warranty to be voided. You can see this coming a mile away...

[WeekendWarrior]

Originally Posted by ZIPNBYE

Does Riss Racing offer any type of warranty coverage, similar to what Dinan does (they pick up where BMW lets go, due to the mods, all seemless to the owner)?

lol?

[ML]

Originally Posted by ZIPNBYE

Does Riss Racing offer any type of warranty coverage, similar to what Dinan does (they pick up where BMW lets go, due to the mods, all seemless to the owner)?

Read the fine print on Dinan's warranty. Even they would deny a warranty claim on a car that had been modified with non-Dinan parts in addition to their tune.

[Citizen Z]

I don't think Riss Racing has ever even implied that their products don't void warranties.

[jeremyc74]

Originally Posted by Endless

It's the O2 sensor wires in the ECU that caused the warranty to be voided. You can see this coming a mile away...

Well, actually it's the code that was the biggest issue. The O2 sims just gave them physical evidence to back up the ECU.

[BlackjackMulligan]

Wow that sucks man. If there's a silver lining it's that it's now proven that they can see modifications in the software as people have suspected. We're officially warned!

[Terrance28]

I don't see how the sstt could trip the detection codes. I ran the jb2 which runs around the same boost sometimes even more, with 0 issues from the dealer. I think they saw your downpipes, went looking into your ecu found the sim. Probably don't even know what it is, probably thinks it a piggyback. And said it tripped the code. All they needed to find was something in the ecu to cofirm what they was thinking. Because alot of people are running the sstt and have been to the dealer with no problem. Even eurobaun claims its undetectable so I would contact them and let them know. The sstt doesn't boost the car higher than what the factory can handle, because if you are in higher altitude the car ecu turns up the boost to compensate for it.

[ML]

Originally Posted by Citizen Z

I don't think Riss Racing has ever even implied that their products don't void warranties.

Does this count? See the first response.
http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20268
Maybe it doesn't imply that their product won't but he has been very adamant that it has not happened before and also that Magnusson-Moss (sp?) prevents a warranty from being "voided."

[Citizen Z]

Originally Posted by ML

Does this count? See the first response.
http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20268
Maybe it doesn't imply that their product won't but he has been very adamant that it has not happened before and also that Magnusson-Moss (sp?) prevents a warranty from being "voided."

I suppose the OP should sue RR then.

[Haywood]

Originally Posted by Citizen Z

I don't think Riss Racing has ever even implied that their products don't void warranties.

I agree. But, I know they test their products on our cars and should educate us more on how these mods affect or don't affect the logs. I understand they are a business and they are trying to make money, but doesn't anybody think they have a moral obligation to tell people, "Hey, these mods could potentially throw X codes or could be seen by a BMW service agent?" I know it's buyer beware. I just think there needs to be more sharing of information.

[Chewyjr15]

your first mistake was leaving the caltless dp's and simulator on the car when you went in for service. remove all singes of modding take it in and put the stuff back on. Did you remove the sstt before you went in? Otherwise id have to say you didn't help your case by leaving the products on. I know locally in socal rr has a shop they used they quoted me 200 bucks to remove the dp's and 200 to put them back on after service, that combined with removing your sstt could have saved you from this.

[ARES45]

Sorry to here this, have fun going mod crazy.

[ssabripo]

Originally Posted by Chewyjr15

your first mistake was leaving the caltless dp's and simulator on the car when you went in for service. remove all singes of modding take it in and put the stuff back on. Did you remove the sstt before you went in? Otherwise id have to say you didn't help your case by leaving the products on. I know locally in socal rr has a shop they used they quoted me 200 bucks to remove the dp's and 200 to put them back on after service, that combined with removing your sstt could have saved you from this.

i hear you, but that's just plain retarded! why on earth would one buy a set of $600 DP's, just to pay $400 to put them on/off everytime you want to go in for service or for some issue you may have with the car?

If you buy DP's, exhaust, suspension, and any other mods that require hours of installation or a shop to do it, you need to just decide whether you can live with it or live without the warranty on those parts if an issue arrives.

a tune, an intake, and other smaller and quick mods are obviously the ones that can be put on and off.