I was changing my spark plugs today and went to change the last one (cylinder 6) and when i pulled out the coil and plug they were covered in oil. I did a little research and noticed that it is some what common. I believe my car is still under warranty. it's a 2004 coupe with 55,000 miles. My question is that when i bring it in to get the work done do i need to remove or hide mods such as nitrous? would they not cover the work if they found it? input would be nice. Thank's!

 

Hey, i have a 2004 with extended warranty original owner, etc....

my dealership said when i bring it in i need to remove all EXTRA mods any mods relating to engine will VOID warranty if related! This problem you are having is not related to any mod tho. It is a very common problem with the g's and z's. But even an after market AEM intake they told me would have voided my warranty when my MAF sensor took a ****... had nothing to do with it but anyway... TAKE EVERYTHING OFF!!!! Do not bring it in without TAKING IT ALL OFF or your warranty is ****ed and that job is about a 500$ job b/c they will replace both valve covers, etc... here is a copy of my friends reciept from his dealer....

 

If you have nitrous remove it

 

should i hide all the lines? or take everything out because that would be alot of work

 

You will need to remove everything! If they find any indication of aftermarket parts...especially nitrous the warranty will be voided since your direct actions may have caused the damage to the vehicle. There are some exceptions to this rule like an aftermarket air filter (probably not a complete intake). The rule is that the dealership has to prove that the aftermarket part caused the damage to the vehicle. Read the Magnuson-Moss act as it was designed to protect the automotive enthusiast to a certain degree. It would be very easy to diagnose that the nitrous caused the oil to appear on the plug by somehow damaging that cylinder. Good luck fooling the warranty system.

 

They can't just void your warranty. They have to PROVE that what you did caused damage. So find the source of the problem before you take it in. If your nitrous caused the problem, then yes they will not fix it. Don't let them scare you into thinking you're screwed. I have warranty work done on my car every once in a while, and they never have complained about my mods (see sig).

 

I agree with this^

But would they be putting the mods back in after they're done? Like if they removed the upper plenum to get to the valve covers, can I count on them putting it back in right, or are we just better off taking off the mods before we go in.

 

Taking the mods off the car before you take it in for warranty work only makes it less of a hassle on yourself when they find said mods. Hell The dealership I go to noted in my cars records that I had painted the brake calipers! I asked what the reasoning was and they stated that I could have damaged the parts during the painting process since I removed them to for painting. I promptly advised them to not assume how I work on my car as they were hand painted with a brush still installed and had them remove the notes. Like I stated before an Air intake and exhaust are minor items as far as modifying the car. Now an intake spacer and especially nitrous are more involved and give the dealership a better case to void your warranty. If I were a dealership and you brought me your car for warranty work for the oil on your plug with the n20 still installed and we saw it I would have plenty of reasons as to why your warranty should be voided. From the factory the engine was not designed for nitrous, I ,no matter what you say, have no idea how large of a shot you ran through your engine and will only assume the worst. Like stated by others, it all depends on what the vehicle was brought in for.....however they will note the parts that are installed on the car whenever you bring it in. So if you take it in for an oil change with the fancy crawford intake plenum and when something lets go in the engine (not saying it will) and you take the car back with the stock plenum...questions will be raised. I am not trying to be an a$$ here, just trying to help.

 

I would take any and everything you can off. Dealers tend to note mods for future reference. Say you take your car in for engine warranty work and have a huge stereo system, they will note it. Then if you bring the car in for a blown speaker, they can argue that your previous stereo install blew the speaker out.

They can argue nitrous caused the oil on the plug. We all know it's a common G35 problem, but they do have something to stand on if they wanted to pursue it.

Plus how do they know your skill level when installing these mods? Stuff gets damaged and some people really hack things up when they install.

It's why a lot of people wait til after the warranty is over before modding a car. I tend to go that was as well with my cars. When the warranty is up is when i start to mod stuff.