Turbo failure dealer won’t warranty due to exhaust?

[Scott Curry]

So it appears the turbo charger has failed due to a seal most likely blowing a bunch of bluish smoke and burning oil. The dealer has come back said they won’t warranty due to my aftermarket exhaust and that is what caused the turbo failure which is complete horseshit. Do I have recourse here or whatever or the dealer says is what goes even if they can’t explain exactly how the exhaust caused the turbo to fail.

 

[Scott Curry]

Anybody else had a turbo failure That has exhaust and dealer covered under warranty?

 

[MerlintheMad]

Like the local guy who was denied warranty for his engine failure, because he installed his own air intakes. There may be more to that story than I got, but he never got an answer as to what had actually failed, got into a second Stinger, than found out that his original Stinger was repaired (they said it wasn't repairable) and resold.

I hope that you can avoid a long confrontation. Try another dealer, contact Kia Corp., and may the force be with you.

 

[D.J.]

Shitty situation.

What's the cost to repair if customer pay?

 

[Ohiocruiser]

Shitty situation.

What's the cost to repair if customer pay?

My guess will be $7-8k. They'll want to pull the engine out.

 

[D.J.]

My guess will be $7-8k. They'll want to pull the engine out.

Well, if the OP does end up being financially responsible for this repair, it would hopefully be less than half that price at a non-Kia dealership.

Hoping it gets covered under warranty.

Useful --. Rebuild Services

 

[Ohiocruiser]

Well, if the OP does end up being financially responsible for this repair, it would hopefully be less than half that price at a non-Kia dealership.

Hoping it gets covered under warranty.

Useful --. Rebuild Services

I would fight my hardest to get it replaced under the warranty. There's a lot of money on the line. I doubt you can get it done under half of what a dealer would charge. Unless you wanna trust that kind of repair to your local street corner mechanic shop. I would not. Still blaming turbo falure on aftermarket exhaust sounds bs to me.

 

[D.J.]

I would fight my hardest to get it replaced under the warranty. There's a lot of money on the line. I doubt you can get it done under half of what a dealer would charge. Unless you wanna trust that kind of repair to your local street corner mechanic shop. I would not. Still blaming turbo falure on aftermarket exhaust sounds bs to me.

Well, it wasn't a turbo failure...

It was likely just 1 of the 2 seals that is now leaking.

I agree, the exhaust was likely not the cause, but it's not like they are blaming lowering springs or something completely unrelated. The exhaust is at least partially related.

Any warranty clerk is gonna fight on behalf of Kia. It's going to be a fight.

 

[Ohiocruiser]

Well, it wasn't a turbo failure...

It was likely just 1 of the 2 seals that is now leaking.

I agree, the exhaust was likely not the cause, but it's not like they are blaming lowering springs or something completely unrelated. The exhaust is at least partially related.

Any warranty clerk is gonna fight on behalf of Kia. It's going to be a fight.

Whatever it is, the turbo still needs to be removed. The manual calls for engine removal. So, unless, you know someone very well who is willing to do it with the engine in the car, it will be very expensive. I am wondering, what are the mileage, kind of oil and oil change intervals on that car.

 

[D.J.]

Whatever it is, the turbo still needs to be removed. The manual calls for engine removal. So, unless, you know someone very well who is willing to do it with the engine in the car, it will be very expensive. I am wondering, what are the mileage, kind of oil and oil change intervals on that car.

OP called it "the turbo charger"

Is this a 4cyl engine?

 

[Ohiocruiser]

OP called it "the turbo charger"

Is this a 4cyl engine?

O sh...t. didn't think about that. Good point. I am not familiar with 4 cylinder stingers, but if it is it definitely should be much easier and cheaper to deal with.

 

[D.J.]

There are so many unknowns here...

Is it burning 100ml of oil per oil change, or 1000ml of oil per oil change? Or more?

It's going to be a difficult fight with Kia. Hopefully the OP wins, but there is a chance Kia says no to the coverage.

 

[RM7]

send them a letter, ask them to put their denial on paper, state that you require them to explain how the aftermarket exhaust caused this failure, ask them to respond in 10 days. Send it certified return receipt mail. Address to the service manager or dealership management.

Depends on what we are talking about when we say "exhaust", you mean a DP that allows the turbo to spool up faster and higher? You mean a fart-can axle-back that does nothing but change the noise? There's some in-between with cat eliminations and the such, but typically if you are retaining O2 sensors and that kind of stuff and not re-tuning, it's generally not putting any additional stress on the turbo.

The exhaust in my WRX, oh heck yea, I was running a large DP to larger exhaust which with the tune made the car spool the turbo up to a higher PSI than stock, for sure that put more stress on the parts. But then fart-can stuff that most refer to as "exhaust", that can't change the amount of wear and tear on the turbo.

You can't screw around with calling people or talking in person, they can deny that ever happened unless you get real aggressive subpoenaing ridiculous stuff like phone logs and surveillance cams, which is unlikely to happen. But getting this on paper, most businesses will "do the right thing" when you start serving them with paper, because they KNOW that is a record that can and will be used if the party takes them to court.

Plus, the amount of cost for this is probably such that you could take it to small claims court with no trouble at a minimal expense. This is where your written record is gold. Keep all records. Write summaries of each voice conversation you have had. Get the names of the people you have talked to. IF they are being evasive or won't supply the names, write that stuff down too.

 

[Aarvix]

Are we talking about a catback for noise, or primary downpipe(s) which have a known history of causing leaky seals.

 

[Dan00Hawk]

Glancing through the OPs prior posts which can be seen through his profile, he's had downpipes on the car which he sold at some point, had problems with JB4 misfires, gapping his sparkplugs, and his transmission had issues.

So while I won't say that the dealer is correct in blaming the exhaust for a turbo or seal failure, there have been some modifications and issues with the car prior to this that could have contributed to the current problem.

 

[BadTrainDriver]

Glancing through the OPs prior posts which can be seen through his profile, he's had downpipes on the car which he sold at some point, had problems with JB4 misfires, gapping his sparkplugs, and his transmission had issues.

So while I won't say that the dealer is correct in blaming the exhaust for a turbo or seal failure, there have been some modifications and issues with the car prior to this that could have contributed to the current problem.

Exactly.
Time to man up and "pay to play."

 

[Dan00Hawk]

Exactly.
Time to man up and "pay to play."

We all love to blame the dealers for screwing people over and call BS on them for denying warranties, but this may be a case where the car had been modified enough for the dealer to fairly say "no way". We've only got the tidbits of info supplied by the OP and his prior posts to form an opinion on the matter, though. I think there is more going on than what we've been told. Ideally, I'd want to hear some input from someone viewing the car independently to get a more unbiased and fair idea of what is actually going on.

The Magnusson Moss act typically protects the customer by stating that the company must prove an aftermarket part directly contributed to the failure of the warrantied part. But that wouldn't be hard if the vehicle was tuned, had factory emissions equipment like cats removed, etc...

Furthermore, if the customer failed to follow the scheduled maintenance program, the dealer could just deny the warranty based on that alone too.

 

[Ohiocruiser]

Glancing through the OPs prior posts which can be seen through his profile, he's had downpipes on the car which he sold at some point, had problems with JB4 misfires, gapping his sparkplugs, and his transmission had issues.

So while I won't say that the dealer is correct in blaming the exhaust for a turbo or seal failure, there have been some modifications and issues with the car prior to this that could have contributed to the current problem.

In this case, i will say, dealer is correct to deny the claim. They obviously dont know about all the other mods, that was removed.

 

[SIMONGUEY]

still, try getting it under warranty tho lol!! all the saved money could go into more car parts. could you remove the exhaust? my Kia dealer doesn't care about aftermarket parts. he just asks I remove them before showing up because they could deny it at that moment and would end up with me just having to make another appointment.

 

[Flynfishmedic]

I might take some heat for saying this but it should be said! In my opinion when you make a conscious decision to mod your car you make a conscious decision to foot the bill when something goes wrong! Adding performance parts, posting logs, bragging about times but angry that manufacturers don't honor the warranty when you break something is pure entitlement!!