Thoughts on modding while in warranty period

[jeff]

Today, after 4 years 5 months of owning my Fiesta ST, I broke out of the mileage warranty period. Yes, the car is 5 years old and was "officially" out of the warranty period 2 years ago, but in general people drive 12-15k miles per year so the 36,001 mile mark might be the benchmark that applies to more of us here.

Many are scared to mod their car, especially the engine/tranny, until it's out of warranty, and in that case it's 5 years/60000 miles. There's good reason for this hesitation since modifications, especially higher ticket ones, really can compromise reliability and void the warranty. I've seen scores of posts where people express reluctance to mod until the car is out of warranty due to worry about (a) voiding the warranty or (b) something breaking. I greatly respect that perspective.

However in my case I'm comfortable with Ford quality and my own approach and ability in modding so I jumped in immediately after purchase with all the bolt-ons and a custom tune. At 18,000 miles I added the hybrid turbo and several thousand dollars more in mods.

And I'm happy to say that in 36,004 miles the extensive changes I've made to my car have caused nothing to break. Now I understand that these changes have likely stressed various components of the car more than if I'd kept it stock. But in terms of voiding the warranty or killing the car, neither has happened, due to a balanced and well-researched approach to modding.

The only thing that has failed on the car is (1) the A/C compressor and (2) the driver's blend door actuator, both at around 6,000 miles, both replaced under warranty.

So mod your car while in the warranty period at your own risk. In my case, at 36,004 the car runs like a top. Thanks Ford!!!!

 

[RubenZZZ]

I’m about to hit 69k and have run a OTS 91 tune from stratified for almost 20k with no issues.

I too was hesitant about voiding the factory warranty, but these cars seem pretty solid through the warranty period and afterwards as well. There’s a few 100k+ mile cars running about.


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[gtx3076]

I bought my car with over 100k miles on it, and will probably wait until I pay off another vehicle before I mod it further. I still believe a custom tune as the best, and safest bang for buck for modern cars, and easy enough to reverse.

 

[Probaholic1]

Same...unfortunately, I have not taken good car of my car AT ALL..Sometimes running up to like 10k miles in between oil changes. With that being said, I've gone all kinds of different mods FBO to half FBO to e85 to Cobb Stage 3 tune on completely stock car. But have been most running E85 with almost FBO for over 90k miles (started modding the car with like 500 miles).

Now at about 110k miles, I think I will start needing motor mounts and replacement shocks. Aside from the knock from the a/c actuator that started at like 1100 miles. I've never had any problems. Most reliable car I've ever owned actually, I think.

 

[rallytaff]

My car had quite a few mods done under the warranty and the dealer didn't have any problems with working on the car. Now done 95,600 and still running as good as the day it was bought. Still have 30,000 miles left on the extended warranty.

 

[EcoBoostN]

Those warranties are really a "piece of mind" kind of deal imo. Fords really seem to be bullet proof as most other car manufacturers.

 

[iammacey]

I've never had an issue with doing something in the warranty period. Within certain risk assessments. I'll throw a Cobb AP/tune but wouldn't do a larger turbo unless I was prepared to come out of pocket for engine repairs, as an example.

And warranty is mileage or years, whichever gets there first. A 10k mile car that's five years old is OOW. Just as a 50k mile car that's 2 years old is OOW.

I don't go crazy on mods though and very few of what I do would impact drivetrain beyond that specific component. Putting coilovers on and having one of them fail, I wouldn't expect to go to Ford for that anyway.

 

[Dpro]

I can echo Jeff. My car started getting mods around 1k in, bigger intercooler,radiator and bolt ons with a Tune. I added in a bigger Turbo at 13k I am coming up on my 3 year bumper to bumper and have had nothing of mechanical or electrical issue happen. Car has been reliable. That leaves me with two more years on the drivetrain. At the rate its going I do not expect anything catastrophic.

 

[ronmcdon]

been pretty lucky with ford so far. My old ‘12 mustang boss 302 had a bit of reliability issues but nothing related to drivetrain.

my fiesta st is 19 model with 7400 mi now. Pretty much started modding the lsd, cooling parts and suspension 4 months after getting the car.

no way im waiting until the warrantee ends. Its also not my daily driver and only car. Would have just stuck with suspension mods if that were the case

 

[Mikey456]

I was one of those that waited for my warranty to expire. I’m glad I did, partly for the warranty sake but also because I could not decide which tune to go with. The warranty tune was out of the question and I have not added any hardware (intercooler/plugs) so I went with the Cobb OTS stg 1. It is meeting my expectations so far after researching forever [emoji23]

 

[rallytaff]

Started the mods on mine within the first year. Had no problems when the car was serviced. Only problem I had not covered by warranty was the top of the door handle on the driver's door came adrift. Fixed with extra strong glue with no problems since.

 

[M-Sport fan]

I only have about 5 months left on the power train warranty, so that's when the IC ( a brand new CP-E sitting in the cellar), radiator (a Mountune, which I have not bought yet), the Mountune charge hoses/j pipe, and some tune will go into the car.

It needs brakes, but I cannot justify spending well over a $1500.00 total on fixed caliper deals/rear SVTs, since I have no plans to open track it at all, even though I DO love/want 'the look'.

So probably factory replacement rotors (or Centric/Stop Tech cryo-treated slotted, or EBC USR slotted), and an 'upgrade' (for me, since I have the 'all season' pads from the factory now) to the factory summer pads, or the autocross level G-Locs.

Then, I must FINALLY decide which suspension to put under this thing. LOL

After that, I will install a Wavetrac before any snail/big power upgrades.

 

[ronmcdon]

does aftermarket fmic impact warantee? I know with aftermarket radiators (and coolant hoses) I have never gotten issues with that at dealership warrantee repairs with cars owned in the past.

 

[Dpro]

does aftermarket fmic impact warantee? I know with aftermarket radiators (and coolant hoses) I have never gotten issues with that at dealership warrantee repairs with cars owned in the past.

I do not think it does I have had my car into the dealer a few times for factory service and no one has said anything. Though I do use Galpin for Service if needed because they are a Ford Performance dealer so they do not bat eyes at mods. Hell they even mod new cars they sell.

 

[Mikey456]

does aftermarket fmic impact warantee? I know with aftermarket radiators (and coolant hoses) I have never gotten issues with that at dealership warrantee repairs with cars owned in the past.

I had to have my purge valve replaced under warranty and I think they had to do a diagnostic scan to find the issue. If I had an accessport and tune installed(not uninstalled) they could have flagged me. If the intercooler is not obvious they probably won’t say anything. It depends on the dealer.

 

[ronmcdon]

I would definitely revert back to stock tune. maybe remove a pillar mount too just to be safe.

something like ST200 airbox, crossover pipe, intake pipe (going to scratch out Whoosh logo) would hope ifs safer.

serious question however is if I destroy the transmission and they find afternarket clutch and lsd is that grounds to refuse warrantee work. the tranny is only thing that scares me.

 

[gtx3076]

I would definitely revert back to stock tune. maybe remove a pillar mount too just to be safe.

something like ST200 airbox, crossover pipe, intake pipe (going to scratch out Whoosh logo) would hope ifs safer.

serious question however is if I destroy the transmission and they find afternarket clutch and lsd is that grounds to refuse warrantee work. the tranny is only thing that scares me.

If you can already afford LSD and clutch work, I don't understand the anxiety over the cost of maintenance.

If you can't afford the maintenance after modding you should seriously reconsider doing the mods.

 

[iammacey]

If you can already afford LSD and clutch work, I don't understand the anxiety over the cost of maintenance.

If you can't afford the maintenance after modding you should seriously reconsider doing the mods.

That's my take on the LSD. If I'm doing that, I'm mentally taking ownership of any transmission problems that may manifest.

 

[Dpro]

That's my take on the LSD. If I'm doing that, I'm mentally taking ownership of any transmission problems that may manifest.

an LSD will not manifest transmission problems. A High HP engine could . So ya if your running around with 350WHP+ and shoving it through a tran with or without limited slip you can break things. People have broken drive axles in our cars.

 

[ronmcdon]

dont really care about the cost of maintenance and never brought that up in the first place. what I can or cannot afford not really your business.

blowing up trannys and having one replaced cost a bit more. have had bad luck with transmission before. went through 3 of them on my 240sx before getting a new z32 & conversion.