Phat 32

My dealer (American Service Center, Va) says that the installation of the Renntech Pulley & ECU on my '03 SLK 32 will void any warranty on my engine and transmission in the case that there were problems. They claim that any problems related to the increase in horsepower with those mods will seriously jeopardize my 6yr/100K warranty. How do you guys get away with it? Are there any members close to the MD/VA areas that have a dealership who will honor the warranty with these mods? I'ver got to make more power with this thing because it's not as quick as I thought it would be...

SteveL

This is completely dealer dependent. Some dealerships offer Renntech and other tuner parts on sales of new cars and their shops service those cars without giving you a hard time.

Mach430

It is 100% illegal for the dealer to void your warranty simply because you have aftermarket parts on the car. Legally, they must show that the problems in question are a result of the aftermarket part being used on the car. For more information, please look up the Magnusson-Moss Act.

Likewise, if the modification in question is responsible for a certain problem, why should the dealer be responsible? We've found that the intercooler on the C32 would be much more efficient as a paperweight. It lacks the sufficient cooling capacity to efficiently cool the C32 motor after several back to back runs. Increasing the boost requires even more from the intercooler, which is why we have chosen to include a intercooler reservoir upgrade with our pulley kits. Our next intercooler upgrade will probably be swapping out the IC cores with Laminova cores.

Thanks,
Ben

bverotti

Vadim or Ben,

You talk about swapping the intercooler core to achieve more cooling. Can you explain a little what you want to achieve by doing this ? I thought the extra reservoir in the ODPS kit took care of this.
Thx.
BV

steve s

pulley kit raises boost, more boost means u stuff more air into the same volume, which increases temperature. intercoolers alleviate that, we can all go into the thermodynamics of it, but generally, u will see intercoolers on many superchargers and all turbochargers for cooling reasons. quite possibly, the stock c32 intercooler can't handle much more heat to operate efficiently, so need a better one...

Bavarias_Finest

You might want to try Mercedes Benz of Tysons Corner, I work there, and the we have alot of Renntech cars come through for service all the time, the thing is though I would call first to inquire because I am merely assuming their warranties are still intact ....

One of the owners of Renntech actually gets his car serviced at our dealership, so I would assume that you would have a good shot at maintaining your warranty based on the amount of mods .

# 703 - 442- 8200 - Mercedes Benz of Tysons Corner
Just ask the operator for the Mercedes Benz Service Manager (Dave Sullivan)

AMGod

Beware of waivers for Renntech "friendly" dealers. I got one story from sales and quite a different variation from the service manager.

CE750

Bottom line is it's against Federal US Code to void a warranty arbitrarily.. they MUST prove that the modification was the sole cause of the fault.. This usually requires $1000's in tests and tear-downs.. and most dealers and MB will rarely battle you on a failure unless they are certain it's caused by the mod. ECU mods are very common in the EU, and more and more common here.. and there has never been a Renntech related ECU mod that caused an engine failure that I've read about or heard of yet..

So do it, and don't worry..

AMGod

Many MB dealers now have you sign obligatory arbitration agreements at point of sale. Even without it, you sit there for how long without a vehicle paying lawyer fees for your day in court when all they do is provide a tech's deposition to bury you. Sounds like fun.

CE750

My dealer does no such thing, neither do the other two major dealers in the PHX area.. and I've know dozens of people who ECUed cars, and none have had a problem.. finally, IF you have a problem and it worries you so much, you simply have the ECU re-flashed to stock, THEN submit the claim for your failed item..

There are no cases that I'm aware of where lawyers got involved... I've scanned the internet from Audi - Z28 and never found a case of a guy claiming his ECU flash caused his warranty to not pay out..

Just do some research and you'll see what I'm saying is true.

vraa

Also on related parts, RENNtech will warranty the parts themselves.

http://www.renntechmercedes.com/New%...y%20Policy.pdf

AMGod

There is the way we wish the world worked and the way it does. Blow a motor or tranny with any aftermarket mods on it and see how far the MB dealer and the Magnason-Moss act takes you. :p

AMGod

In a five minute Search of Audiworld.

Here's just the 1st two.

yes, people have been denied warranty with chips. yes there is risk of blowing turbos if chipping.
User account number (aid): 23929
Posted by Steve Trac on 2005-03-25 08:23:41
In Reply to: Has anyone been denied/voided the warranty for blown Turbo's with or without a chip? posted by LexS4 on 2005-03-25 08:21:36

<<<< "don't play if you can't pay" >>>>



yes it does...by dealer has knowledge you mean? -
User account number (aid): 78036
Posted by gandolf the white on 2004-10-06 13:51:11
In Reply to: Re: Just purchased an 01' S4 approx. 2 months ago... posted by b melo on 2004-10-06 09:52:44

if they know its chipped you will ikely be denied warranty work for anything related to ecu...I bought a car with chip and my dealer didn't know and i got lucky as in CA against the law to sell chipped car b/c of smog related issues...I brought in car with blown turbos and my dealer did the right thing and replaced replaced ecu (with stock) and turbos however he made it very clear that under normal circumstances if i knowingly had or installed the chip i would have gotten nothing but a huge repair bill...be carfeul dealer has full control right now do yourself a favor and get stock ecu for those service appointments - blown turbos are $$$ and you have lots of warranty left.


Even Mitsubishi!


Research indeed.

AMGod

Found a good thread from this forum.

Void.