What is covered under the GM warranty and what is not? What modifications are allowed to be done without voiding the warranty? What will, and will not void the warranty?
I want this topic to answer everyone’s questions to the/their warranties, and what they can and cannot do, along with what is, and isn’t covered by the warranty.

To start this topic off, I have a few questions.
What makes the supercharger whine do loud in some of your cars? Can I achieve this with just a "drop in filter" or do I need to install an entire cold air intake (CAI)?

I had my car go in for work about a month ago, and for them to look at a few things. When I picked up the car, the driver-side rear rim was scratched. I had them replace the rim. The leather cutout around the hand-grab on the passenger door is pulling out. They said that they would have to contact GM about that, and see what they can do. I have yet to hear from them. What is going on here?

Obviously tires are not covered under warranty.

 

Your clutch isnt covered either since its a wearable item just like tires.

 

Your clutch is too covered by GM warranty for 12mos/12,000miles!!!!

 

Hmm ok well cool then.

 

Passenger door leather is a common problem Mine took three weeks to get in my dealer had to order one it is covered under warranty just takes time for it to arrive due to back order My service adviser kept me updated the whole time big props to Scott @ Superstition Springs Chevy in Mesa

 

Must be a dealership thing, cause mine told me it wasnt covered

 

your shouldn't need a new clutch....you should learn how to drive it!

 

pretty much anything aftermarket will void your warranty. for example - air intake, suspesnion, higher waltage headlight.

 

I would imagine it's covered from any defects such as your lines kinking or something along those lines but I would imagine blowing it or wearing of the clutch pad is not. As for the door handle, it's definitely covered under warranty and is a known problem. I actually had them stretch out the existing material a little bit more and then re-apply stronger glue to hold it. So far so good it's holding like a champ .

As for voiding your warranty NO aftermarket part voids your warranty unless it can be proven it was a direct cause of the problem such as your MAF malfunctioning from being covered in oil due to an over-oiled cone filter.

Permafried-

 

Everything on the car is covered under warranty. There are two replacement categories worn out and faulty. A faulty clutch is covered, a burned to hell one isn't.

 

yeah.. i was in the dealership the other day talking to the main warranty inspector dude and he told me some interesting stuff. he wa ssaying that even though the dealership i bought my car at, might find something to be the result of abuse, they usually replace it anyway as long as it's under a few thousand dollars, even if the dealership pays the costs. reasoning for this is that they said the average lifetime customer brings over $700,000 worth of business to a dealer from word of mouth or from personal purchases.

makes sense to me, because if a dealer was to replace say a broken axle because of my own fault, i'll be more than happy to buy every new car from that place for the rest of my life because i know they'll take care of me.

 

quote from warranty book: "You're warranty will NOT be honored IF: (skip several down to about the middle of the page) The vehicle has been modified or altered IN ANY WAY, unless recommended by the manufacturer." (I didn't add the caps- it is actually written that way in the warranty book). So basically, anything other than GM parts installed at a GM dealership can void the warranty.

Hoping I'm wrong in the way I read that, but it really doesn't leave alot of room for interpretation. I'm waiting on the stage kits cause I need that warranty.

 

You should look up the "magnuson moss" warranty act....

That will answer most of your questions....

Also ANY way is very generic, so your going to tell me I put a racing seat in my car and my warranty is void, and if my engine blew because of the racing seat my warranty is not covered? Bull ****. Read that act...

The truth is your warranty is never fully voided. If you add an intake and suck water into your engine then yes your screwed, if you have an intake and you blow a head gasket, they better replace it because they have to prove the intake caused the headgasket to blow, and we all know as well as any lawyer/professional that that is not the case.

 

Only if they can prove that the aftermarket piece is the cause of the problem. For instance.....if I add a CAI and I break a rod, they can't say that it was because of the CAI and void my warranty. Now if I drop the suspension and I break something related to the suspension then they can void the warranty for the suspension. That is what my cousin told me and he is a mechanic for GM. You may run into mech. that will try to void your warranty just because they want the money. Also, I thing there is some "law/act" that states exactly what I explained earlier in this post. I will try to find it.

 

woops....didn't read this before I posted.

 

If i were to just throw a drop-in K&N airfilter in my car, would that make my supersharger whine loud? I hate the fact that you can hardly hear it at all.
And If so, will that effect any warrenty's or throw any codes?

I'm going to try and call the GM dealer i bought the car from tomarrow, and ask their warrenty tech guy about it and see what he says. Any guesses to what he will say in advance?

 

never ask them.... then they know something is up, and if they want money, they can get it by saying you did something.... as for the drop in, getting to the airbox is a complete pain in the ass, i really dont think they are going to take the time to check, worse comes to worse put the stock one back on..... also, to make it whine really loud, do not but the cover back on the airbox..... i actually sawed my whole airbox off, and there is just the 3 mounting brackets for the screws......i held my k and n conical filter in with some 3m double sided tape.... as it is a temp until i get my fujita, the k&n may throw a code, just take it to like advance auto or something and have them reflash it for you, oil sometimes gets on the MAF

 

The door panel is covered. I have had 3 replaced, and I'm going to wait a while to take this one in (it's pulling away again). From what I have heard GM is changing vendors for the material because of this problem. BTW DO NOT use super glue to try and make the material stay. My dealer tried to do that and it sriveled the material and looked terrible.

 

I just got my new passenger door panel installed today . Also they replaced the silver painted bezel that surronds the door locks and power windows on the driver side under warranty . It must be a common thing for the paint to scratch easy because when I went to tell the service advisor about it , he basically finished my sentence "scratches on the bezel right "

As far as mods go , it is TOTALLY dealer discretion and not all are created equal . Its just the way it is . Some dealers will let nothing past , and some will let you get away with anything . The particular chevy dealer I go to has a pretty cool group of service advisors . Their kinda more on my level and are actually curious as hell how this car is gonna perform once the modfest begins. Im mechanically inclined enuff to know if something I did to the car, broke the car , or caused a problem . In which case I personally wouldnt try to pass one off on the dealer and fix my screw up myself . But I know if I honestly had a mechanical problem with mine down the road , say for instance and bad fuel injector , failed coil paks ect. , that wasnt caused by a aftermarket part , the dealer I go to would go out of their way to fix it .

I dunno how many chevy dealers are in your area or surrounding area , but definately shop around . Finding a dealer with sane , pleasent people makes all the difference in the world .

 

dont put a drop in filter...

for what i heard, it stops the air flow massively... especially the k&n... if u do anything.. get a high flow catback 2.5" and a new muffler... that'll help the cars performance ALOT since inside the stock catback the pipin goes from 2.5" to 2.25" and i believe the pipin behind the stock catback is 2.25"... so both those add ons will help ur car sufficiently.

And to add.. i dont understand why Chevy would make a car with pipin and catback that are to small for the engine.. like ur resistin airflow... would it not make sence to lets say boost the price 1000$ and add a custom chevy highflow catback and proper pipin sizes instead of tryin to compare with the 230hp srt-4 with our ss s/c 205 to 208hp( not sure waitin on replys still for exact) and makin **** as exhaust systems... :S????????

 

dont put a drop in filter...

for what i heard, it stops the air flow massively... especially the k&n... if u do anything.. get a high flow catback 2.5" and a new muffler... that'll help the cars performance ALOT since inside the stock catback the pipin goes from 2.5" to 2.25" and i believe the pipin behind the stock catback is 2.25"... so both those add ons will help ur car sufficiently.

And to add.. i dont understand why Chevy would make a car with pipin and catback that are to small for the engine.. like ur resistin airflow... would it not make sence to lets say boost the price 1000$ and add a custom chevy highflow catback and proper pipin sizes instead of tryin to compare with the 230hp srt-4 with our ss s/c 205 to 208hp( not sure waitin on replys still for exact) and makin **** as exhaust systems... :S????????

 

I got a really awesome email from my dealership today. See below:



Hi Jeremy,

I apologize. I thought I had sent a response, maybe it didn't go through. A K&N air filter or cold air kit will not void the warranty. Yes we can install this product. Yes the service department will charge for the install, just like any other part.
Any more questions please e-mail or call.

Thanks Bryan

I guess I will be purchasing my Intake very very soon

 

Maybe I will buy the Magnaflow Cat Back and Intake at the same time I have over 1000 Miles on my car now first oil chance scheduled for Tuesday. After that its all good

 

Is this from your Service manager? I might just talk to mine to see if they would say the same thing... Can you install it yourself W/O voiding the warranty?

 

You can install it yourself without voiding warranty but I did that with my SE-R and they always called it out when I had problems. ALot of times its dependant on the dealer. Also if you have your dealer install it they know it was done professionally and by them. They are less likely to call the intake out when you have a problem. I am willing to spend the extra loot do not have that problem.