What modifications void Subaru's engine warranty? What has been the story for the WRX?

 

It's not quite as simple as voiding or not voiding the entire warranty. The way the law works is that a dealer cannot deny you warranty service unless they can prove that the modification you did actually caused the problem you are requesting warranty work for.

For example, if you installed aftermarket suspension, the dealer cannot deny engine work unless they can prove that your suspension broke the engine. That's pretty unlikely.

However, keep in mind that every dealer is a bit different. Some dealers are more uptight about warranty service than others. Sometimes you'll get a dealer who doesn't really care and will help you out unless you did something blatantly silly, and other times you'll get a dealer who gives you a hard time for something as minor as putting new rims on the car.

If you encounter engine problems, a nice dealer will probably let you get away with having an exhaust, intake, etc. Those are typically pretty minor items that very rarely cause problems. But an uptight dealer will often try their hardest to blame your problems on your mod, even if it's only a minor mod, in order to prevent having to do warranty work.

However, if you come in with a blown turbo and you've got an aftermarket boost controller installed, I can almost guarantee you that no dealer will let you get away with that.

So there's no hard and fast rule about warranty claims. It all comes down to what mods you did, how closely they relate to the part that broke, and how nice your dealer is.

 

One good idea is...simply go to the Subaru dealership where you are considering having your Subaru (or potential Subaru) service and talk to the Service Manager. Just ask him real politely what types of simple modifications that you could perform to your Subie that would be "acceptable" in his eyes, such as an air filter, maybe a cat-back exhaust, etc. Both my Pontiac (WS-6) and Ford (Lightning) dealers were reasonably acceptable on these simple bolt-ons. Of course, I didn't even bother asking about whether I could put a chip or boost pulley on my Lightning (knew the answer would be "WTF? Hell no!"

 

My dealership b*tched about the Injen Intake...


They said it caused a CEL on the car. "Too much air into the engine..."


They fixed it NC, but grumbled...

 

I respectfully disagree.

While they may grumble about mods, dealers make a huge amount of money from their service departments (I am told that the service department is a dealer's largest profit center) and WANT to do any legitimate warranty work, as long as it will pass Subaru's sniff test.

 

I can definitely understand what you're saying, but my experience with Audi has been awful when it comes to mods. They are very polite and prompt to fix anything when no mods are involved, but they've always hassled me to no end when a problem was even remotely related to a mod.

Of course, it's entirely possible it was just my specific dealer. I do hear of other people having relatively good experiences despite their mods.

I would guess it also depends on the car company in question. I know Audi/VW has been doing a major crack-down on service departments who fix modded parts under warranty, and not paying back the service departments for those repairs when they find out. I'd heard that Subaru was doing something similar.

I suppose I might be misunderstanding how it all works, though. I was under the impression that the dealer did the warranty work, then charged the manufacturer for the costs, rather than charging the customer. Isn't that how it works? If that's the case, seems like that would cause many service departments to become extremely wary of doing warranty work on modded parts, as getting caught doing so could result in them not getting payment for the repair. In extreme cases I'd heard of some service departments actually getting fined or having their standing with the manufacturer downgraded. (!)

 

You understand how it works but are drifting a bit about the point here. No one expects dealers to fix MODDED parts; that would be nuts, especially if they tried to charge the manufacturer as a warrantable repair.

But if a mod did not cause a warrantable repair, the dealer should be cooperative (for the sake of the customer, and for their own pocketbook).

I suggest that sometimes the service managers grumble and frankly talk out their ****, even when they don't know what the hell they're talking about. Seems common among them. I had a service manager look me in the eye and tell me that I should never try to put my WRX in first when it was moving because it doesn't have syncros. He embellished by saying no cars have syncros in first.

So I would never overestimate the technical skills of your service manager.

Anyway, my point is that sometimes these guys aren't thinking, they are just talking. Let 'em blab, then when they're done, get down to it. If they cannot prove that a mod caused a problem, they are obliged to fix your car as per the warranty. It's the law.