Car died on the highway. Need help from Techs

[suby01]

yes thanks i know right? haha .

[ugaexploder]

this same thing happened to me last night...i'm pretty sure it's the same problem...heard a bunch of clunking noises and boom car died. engine oil pouring out of the car. all i have is intake and exhaust...will my warranty be void as well? wtf

[E-Ticket Ride]

I doubt they can attribute catastrophic engine failure to your intake. Unless of course something from the aftermarket intake fell down into/sucked into the manifold/engine causing damage. Even that's highly unlikely.

Exhaust, tell them don't even think about it

[ugaexploder]

i'm so nervous right now...the car went dead last night, got it towed to the dealership last night...dealership calls me up and asks what happened...i asked if i could get a loaner and they said okay...i go up to the dealership to get the loaner, and the first thing the guy says to me is, "the repairs might not be covered under the warranty because you have a bunch of aftermarket parts..."

so i'm thinking to myself, yeah but don't they have to prove that the intake and exhaust caused the motor to lock up? the motor is completely locked up as i think it was due to something happening with the camshaft, and maybe threw a rod...that's what it sounded like...what should i do if they try to make me pay for it?

i'm so nervous after reading this thread and seeing that suby had to pay 13k for repairs...i mean ****, that's almost how much i owe for the car!!! thanks for the reassurance e-ticket, i hope everything is covered...i got my house broken into twice last month, and now this...please say it aint so

[InTgr8r]

Damn.... WTF is going on here?
So sorry to hear about this....

Did you have any prior issues with it at all?

[ketchupfreak]

Did you have any tuning?

Originally Posted by ugaexploder

i'm so nervous right now...the car went dead last night, got it towed to the dealership last night...dealership calls me up and asks what happened...i asked if i could get a loaner and they said okay...i go up to the dealership to get the loaner, and the first thing the guy says to me is, "the repairs might not be covered under the warranty because you have a bunch of aftermarket parts..."

so i'm thinking to myself, yeah but don't they have to prove that the intake and exhaust caused the motor to lock up? the motor is completely locked up as i think it was due to something happening with the camshaft, and maybe threw a rod...that's what it sounded like...what should i do if they try to make me pay for it?

i'm so nervous after reading this thread and seeing that suby had to pay 13k for repairs...i mean ****, that's almost how much i owe for the car!!! thanks for the reassurance e-ticket, i hope everything is covered...i got my house broken into twice last month, and now this...please say it aint so

[Wes_888]

Reading all this is killing my mod bug.. :S

Suby... your a trooper. Uga.. best of luck.

[ugaexploder]

Originally Posted by InTgr8r

Damn.... WTF is going on here?
So sorry to hear about this....

Did you have any prior issues with it at all?

nah man, the car was running strong as ever...i'm really confused as to what has happened...they haven't called me yet to let me know...i'm guessing they're trying to search for something so they won't have to cover it under warranty...

Originally Posted by ketchupfreak

Did you have any tuning?

no tuning has been done to the car, just intake and exhaust with cats are the only "performance" mods...

Originally Posted by Wes_888

Reading all this is killing my mod bug.. :S

Suby... your a trooper. Uga.. best of luck.

thanks man, i hope this works out...i don't have 13k to pay for repairs...what do you guys recommend if i don't have the money to pay for the repairs if they don't cover it?

[suby01]

Originally Posted by ugaexploder

this same thing happened to me last night...i'm pretty sure it's the same problem...heard a bunch of clunking noises and boom car died. engine oil pouring out of the car. all i have is intake and exhaust...will my warranty be void as well? wtf

oh fuuq!
dude so sorry to hear that man.
what happened with me was nothing close to what you just said. all that happened i was cruising at 50mph and the instrument panel lights up and i pulled to side and it stalled. no noise, no fluids, not anything.

like i mentioned before if i knew about what happened to my car at that time, then i definitely would of towed it home took off all the performance aftermarket parts and then went to the dealer.
all my ecu read for codes was camshaft position sensor which i had replaced 5 times already under warranty so i thought thats what it was, and sure didnt expect a blown engine.

your situation sounds a lot worse, now for them to blame it on your mods with what happened i cant agree on that because the dealer itself after 13K later they did re install my cats intakes and exhaust and they did say to me that these mods should not have any effect of engine malfunction in the future and i do have my warranty back again. hope that helps.

but hey they can do what they want and can tell you what they want, i just hope it wont turn into a legal issue, with mine i tried but had nothing.

as far as what to do if it does come up to being 13k in repairs, i would take the car back and sell it or part it out dont know how much that would be worth. and then go out for another car. that was also my option, until they hit me with the 5K price just to release the car back to me.

damm man keep me informed to whats going on. good luck.

Originally Posted by Wes_888

Reading all this is killing my mod bug.. :S

Suby... your a trooper. Uga.. best of luck.

ya thanks for the feelings. right before writing this i was checking my credit card statement and all i can say is no comment about how i fqen feel right now. its over and moving on my friend.
for some reason im having doubts about this indestructible HR motor now.....

[AesonVirus]

OMFG... why did I come in here and read this?!?
Ignorance is bliss.

I have learned from this though. Anything happens to my car, it's being towed home. It will be 100% stock, right down to the wheels and tires before Infiniti comes and gets it.
I sure hope this is a fluke.

[Triton3.5]

Wow.... Yours does sound worse than Subey's,,, as far as what happened when car died.. but since all you had was exhaust, and intake, (too of the most harmless mods in all of motoring) I don't see how they can deny anything engine related,, especially since at Subey's dealership they put HIS parts BACK ON!! GL on this,,, please keep us uptodate on this matter.... regards....

[IvoryPearl07G]

i still have an intermittent flattening of exhaust note and loss of power a few times a week. its the exhaust valve timing sensor.....

could this be a precursor?

[ugaexploder]

i got a call from the dealer not too long ago...it doesn't sound good...they told me one of the bearing spun off and went through the oil pan...what they told me is that if they don't find water in the oil pan, then it's covered under warranty. they said since i have cold air intakes on my car, they need to check inside the oil pan and determine if it was a cause of hydrolocking the car. the only thing is...if i would've hydrolocked the car, i would have certainly came on this forum to report it. the only way that could have happened is that my car was sitting in the rain 2 weeks ago when it was pouring really hard...it wasn't under a giant puddle or anything, it was in my driveway with a water runoff area...

i'm kind of confused though because it was a freakin tsunami 2 weeks ago and the car was not running when it happened...doesn't the car have to be running in order for hydrolock to occur? i mean, it's not like the intake can just suck up water into the cylinders when its off...also, how could my car run for 2 weeks if something bad happened to it during the rain?

also, whenever the engine oil was pouring out of the car, it was very clean. very brown and good looking. i've been researching around the internet, and found that when water mixes in with engine oil it turns into a milky looking color...i told that to the service manager and he told me that doesn't matter...if the water went through the intakes, that's not a symptom...at least that's what he told me, and it sounds right.

at this point, i'm not sure what to do because it doesn't sound like they're willing to warranty the problem. from what i understand, if a bearing slips, or breaks...the rod will be bent. also, i guess the reason they think this happened is that when a rod slips, it's usually due to the compression being off in the cylinders, because you can't compress liquid in a cylinder...

should i start looking for a used vq35hr right now?

[InTgr8r]

Try not to worry.... you should be OK.
To hydro lock you would have had to draw water in,
there's no way with an Injen CAI.

You should be able to research the causal effect of hydro locking.
I seriously doubt a spun bearing is one of the characteristic symptoms

[kool_yaar]

i also doubt that you could have pulled in any water into the motor even with heavy rain as long as you were not driving in puddles of water, and as is the placement of the Injen CAi is in such that no good amount of water can get into that area with the front grill closed and the wheel wells nicely secured and bottom cover.

Unless some bizarre thing happened that you dont even remember...