Hello, folks — just trying to sound off all of you out there that may
have some
advice and/or opinion:
I am just about to order a chip for my car, having heard nothing but
positive
reviews from owners that already have a chip installed. Just out of
curiousity I
drove around visiting dealers in my area asking them if VW’s 100,000 mile
warranty would be cancelled if I put a chip in. Of the 4 dealers I talked
to,
2 of them categorically said I will lose my warranty if they discover a
chip,
1 said ‘it depends’ on the reported problem and 1 said the warranty will
not be
affected if (I quote) "Neuspeed products are installed". Called up APS
and they
said "not to tell the dealer that a chip is installed", called up VW and
they said
"talk to my dealer" (ironically, the dealer that threatened me most was
the one
I bought my car from – sometimes we just never win). What gives ?
Thanks in advance for your insights and opinions….
Does Phil Sell Cars Or What?!?!?
There are numorous articles in EC Mag that talk about this, you might
call or write and try to get a specific month.
They stress the importance of fighting for your rights and promote the
modification of our VW’s. Unfortunatly it’s not their headach!
EC has pointed out specific laws and sub paragraphs that protect us,
when we modify. When I modified I didn’t tell the dealer and I haven’t
had a problem yet. I don’t plan on letting them bully me around either.
Remember what’s important here, our freedom to modify!
kirk
There are laws, brought about by groups like SEMA, that protect you
against problems with dealerships who claim aftermarket parts are at fault
when they’re not. A chip isn’t going to affect whether your car spins a
crank bearing or something, though some dealers try to claim any engine
modification voids its warranty. Legally they can’t hold you to that.
On 8 Dec 1995, CESAR1217 wrote:
> drove around visiting dealers in my area asking them if VW’s 100,000 mile
> warranty would be cancelled if I put a chip in. Of the 4 dealers I talked
> to,
> 2 of them categorically said I will lose my warranty if they discover a
> chip,
…
> I bought my car from – sometimes we just never win). What gives ?
What gives is that you should never expect a manufacturer to honor a
warranty on a car whose engine has been modified. You increase the
horsepower, you increase the strain put on the engine, drive-line, and to
some extent, the chassis. I think you would lose in court if they killed
your warranty after discovering power mods in the car.
Phil
cesar1…@aol.com (CESAR1217) wrote:
>Hello, folks — just trying to sound off all of you out there that may
>have some
>advice and/or opinion:
>I am just about to order a chip for my car, having heard nothing but
>positive
>reviews from owners that already have a chip installed. Just out of
>curiousity I
>drove around visiting dealers in my area asking them if VW’s 100,000 mile
>warranty would be cancelled if I put a chip in.
First, all this chip does is optimize your engine to use
premium gas. The engine runs smoother and gets better gas
milage with
probably better efficiency. The VW’s in Europe had a switch on
the ECU to select 2 different Eproms (chips), 1 was for poor
quality gas and the other for premium depending on what country
or area you were driving in. Look in the Bosch Fuel Injection
manual to read about this.
I seriously doubt that the ‘chip’ will cause any engine damage
and affect a warranty. But if something does happen or the car
needs work or service. Swap the ‘chip’ back to the original
one before you go to the dealer.
I’m running the P-Chip in my ’94 Golf LE and have positively no
problems and I am very pleased with the crisp throttle response
and increased mileage.
Bob Petruska
In article <Pine.SGI.3.91r.951208141749.29859I-100000@freenet>,
Phil Ethier <eth…@freenet.msp.mn.us> wrote:
>On 8 Dec 1995, CESAR1217 wrote:
>> drove around visiting dealers in my area asking them if VW’s 100,000 mile
>> warranty would be cancelled if I put a chip in. Of the 4 dealers I talked
>> to,
>> 2 of them categorically said I will lose my warranty if they discover a
>> chip,
>…
I’ve been to a dealer, (RIP they’ve gone away) that actually took my
computer, took out my Neuspeed chip, replaced the computer, and put
the Neuspeed chip back in. All under warranty. They even then
went and changed my O2 sensor for free.. THis was when I had 45K on the
odometer.. Pretty great guys there..
–
Michael R. Kim
mr…@uci.edu | http://www.adcom.uci.edu/~mrkim/home.html
Senior Mechanical Engineering UC Irvine
(714) 824-8513