[saturn]

Not sure if this is the right place to put this, but I guess the mods can move it if they want.

I'm new to the Evo world and I'm curious as to what sorts of mods you can get away with without voiding the warranty. I'm guessing retunes are difficult to detect, but what else? Thanks for the info.

 

[UnctrldRage]

Not sure if this is the right place to put this, but I guess the mods can move it if they want.

I'm new to the Evo world and I'm curious as to what sorts of mods you can get away with without voiding the warranty. I'm guessing retunes are difficult to detect, but what else? Thanks for the info.

Retunes would not be difficult to detect. As they plug and see all the numbers have been changed...

Light Suspensions parts are pretty easy to get away with you'll be hard pressed to catch a dealer trying to void a warranty for an engine malfunction over a strut tower bar.

When you get to the engine its stretching...I mean you might be able to get away with an exhaust and Air filter change but after that pretty much kiss you warranty good bye

 

[on2it]

Im avoiding this temporarily by buying whatever I can from the official mmc catalogue and getting it installed by the dealer.. probably costing me more.. but I get to keep the warrentee. Next stage up, I will go to Ralli-art and look at what else I can get from them under warrentee.

 

[dmx88227]

So if you buy Ralliart parts they wont void the warranty

 

[UnctrldRage]

Not usually especially if dealer installed...Because these...are in house performance parts...Ralliart is Mitsubishis International Motorsports brand.

 

[nasty n8]

not drive it off the lot

 

[Rudye18]

Anything you do to the car wont void the warranty, just hear me out i know it sounds crazy. The only way it voids your warranty is if something breaks and they have reasonable doubt that it was the mod you did to the car that caused it. So if you mod your car like putting a lightweight crankshaft pulley on and it messes up your crankshaft then the warranty is voided, What most people are doing for regular lancers is putting in stuff and keeping the stock parts that way if their car ever does break you just pull off the aftermarket and put on the stock and take it to the dealership, their is no way then that they can turn down your car or its warranty because they have no proof you did it, only the cars fault.

 

[dmx88227]

dam but i have a shop i would buy the parts and install them.... all my mechaincs are ASE certified i just dont get the point of paying $100/hr labor at the dealership when they probably got some kidd striaght out of lincoln tech doing the job when i could get done at $0/hr at my shop with my mechanics that all have over 10yrs of experience....... (not to say that lincoln tech is a bad school but u also need experience)

 

[PDXEvo]

Anything you do to the car wont void the warranty, just hear me out i know it sounds crazy. The only way it voids your warranty is if something breaks and they have reasonable doubt that it was the mod you did to the car that caused it. So if you mod your car like putting a lightweight crankshaft pulley on and it messes up your crankshaft then the warranty is voided, What most people are doing for regular lancers is putting in stuff and keeping the stock parts that way if their car ever does break you just pull off the aftermarket and put on the stock and take it to the dealership, their is no way then that they can turn down your car or its warranty because they have no proof you did it, only the cars fault.

Technically you are correct. Mitsubishi would have to prove, without a doubt, that the item you added caused the damage to the vehicle. However, who has the money to fight this in court? It all falls under whats called the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. Wiki it, but its not very clear. The reality is you can always get away with intakes and exhaust systems without any issue. However, cracking the motor open and putting in cams will for sure void your warranty for the motor. So would changing the cam gears. But only if Mitsu can for sure prove that those components caused the failure. Or, in our case, we have to prove it didnt.

Its a legal nightmare man, and not worth most peoples dime to fight when you are declined.

 

[nasty n8]

Technically you are correct. Mitsubishi would have to prove, without a doubt, that the item you added caused the damage to the vehicle. However, who has the money to fight this in court? It all falls under whats called the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. Wiki it, but its not very clear.

You are quite right about this....However, exhaust and intake will not be tolerated by MOST Mitsubishi dealerships. With most cars, simple intake and exhaust will not cause any problems with getting warranty work done at the dealership.

Now, you are entering the world of the Lancer Evolution and all previous warranty experiences need to be thrown out the window. This car is notorious for having warranty claims denied for simple mods such as intake and exhaust (which is why my IX is completely stock). The dealership figures you're not going to want to pay to take them to court and therefore get away with it 99% of the time.
By modifying your car, Mitsubishi will assume you are racing your vehicle (which voids the warranty) and will find ANY and ALL ways to deny your claim...unless of course you're going in for a faulty seatbelt or some nonsense like that.

On a side note, there are still a reasonable amount of dealerships that are somewhat "mod friendly" (southcoast) and will most likely not give you trouble with warranty claims. But the majority of dealerships are not quite so friendly.

Feel free to search for more info on this topic at evolutionm.net and you'll see what i'm talking about.

As they say over on that other board "if you wanna play, you gotta pay"

 

[saturn]

Thanks for the info guys. I guess I'm surprised that an intake/exhaust would cause issues at most places. I guess I could always ask my local service shop what their policy is.

 

[DirectorSe7en]

^Good point.......Just call and ask.

 

[Evolution10GSR]

My front suspension, I believe has gone bad. No modification has ever been done to the suspension (front/rear). I have other mods suchas intake, intercooler pipes, turboback exhaust, ect. Will Mitsu deny warranty work on the suspension if I bring this in with all the mods I have on? I have been reading up on the Magnuson Moss Act, but I still think they'll BS me around, but my question to you guys is that they can't deny service for suspension if I have modified the engine,,,right?

 

[on2it]

It really depends on your dealer and how long they are going to make you jump through the hoops.. I dont see how they can blame your faulty suspension on your power upgrades.. unless ofcourse they can say youve put undue stress on it with the extra power and racing on the track etc...

I really think this one would be dependent on the dealer. I know that my dealer would be fine because theyve always looked after me. What I would do is play it down, put whatever I can back to stock and take it in..

 

[raptor1028]

When I bought my Evo, the guy doing my paperwork said that they were actually pretty lenient when it came to modding the car... Things that were acceptable were cat-back exhausts (nothing touched before the cat, even downpipe), intakes, intercoolers and pipes, and he said that even a "chip" (as in computer chip) were ok. I don't know if re-flashes are counted as "chips" though. He summarized by saying: as long as you don't modify the internals of the engine, engine sensors, turbo, or forward of the catalytic convertor, you're ok. Also, something going wrong in one part of the car, won't be blamed on mods done in another. So, if your stock wastegate quits opening, they won't blame your intake, exhaust, etc...

 

[boostin20]

You probably have a seat of the pants warranty. Once your pants touches the seat, you have no warranty.

 

[Evolution10GSR]

Thanks for the replies so far.

 

[Evolution10GSR]

You probably have a seat of the pants warranty. Once your pants touches the seat, you have no warranty.

Haha, I guess I still have that warranty. I don't drive with pants. J/K, I do. Guess that warranty voided when I was in the showroom. :wallbash:

 

[Anubis]

You probably have a seat of the pants warranty. Once your pants touches the seat, you have no warranty.

lmao nice.

Different dealerships will fight more than others. I have had some cars will every bolt on possible and it was cool, and others with just an intake and the dealership was bitching.

It is best to develop some kind of relationship with your local deal IMO. If not move to the next one.

 

[boostin20]

lmao nice.

Different dealerships will fight more than others. I have had some cars will every bolt on possible and it was cool, and others with just an intake and the dealership was bitching.

It is best to develop some kind of relationship with your local deal IMO. If not move to the next one.

Good info. A working relationship or friendship with the service manager will go really far with warranties, as he has a big hand in claims.