Frustrating situation...

I'm home from school til Monday... Luckily, my Nismo Headers and Test Pipes came on a few days ago... Tomorrow (Sunday) is the only time me or my friends will have to work on it...

But, I have to go to the Nissan dealer on Monday to get this checked... There's a creaking noise coming from where the shifter is when i take hard corners... Will they care if they see Nismo headers and test pipes bolted up?

I have the feeling the test pipes would upset them more than the headers... Opnions? Should I just bolt up the headers tomorrow, and save the test pipes for a rainy day (when I don't have to get the car inspected by Nissan the next day)?

 

Well, first, your warranty cannot be denied for aftermarket parts so long as the aftermarket part does not cause the problem. Here is a link explaining that: http://www.enjoythedrive.com/content/?id=8123

Second, since you don't know exactly what is causing the creaking sound you mentioned, it may be the exhaust causing the sound on hard cornering........not likely........but possible. So I would leave the car as is until the creaking is located. This will eliminate them saying it is improperly installed test pipes.

Third, if you have an appointment on Monday and begin the work on Sunday, you may not have the car put back together in one day. There have been many cases where "at home" header installs have taken hours and hours to complete.

I think you should wait for your next opportunity for you and your friends to do the work. Just watch football tomorrow and take your car in on Monday with no worries.

 

I agree

 

My dealer regularly serviced my car with test pipes installed. I did give them heads up that the pipes were installed simply because a person can become ill if the car is running in an improperly ventilated area. Nissan usually looks the other way and just tackles the problem you report. I've never had to argue with a tech over aftermarket stuff.

Wedge does have a good point though. Header install is listed as a 10 hour job on Nissan's books. Whether that is true or not, a home install will take that much time or longer if you run into problems with some of the bolts. I would say that you should either put off the service appt. or put off the install.

I would just blow off the service appt. since it's not a big problem.

 

"Well, first, your warranty cannot be denied for aftermarket parts so long as the aftermarket part does not cause the problem."

While this is true, if you are denied coverage it is up to YOU to hire a lawyer and fight it.

 

You don't have to hire a lawyer, especially in California. There are mod friendly dealers all over the place. Legal action isn't always the only option.

 

Damn, I'm really itchin' to start turning some bolts though... I took the car for a nice long drive tonight to check for any problems... It's not "creaking" anymore, but you know how those wierd car noises are - never happens when you're listening for them.
I'm probably going to let my friend Justin take the car for a spin tomorrow and see if he knows what I'm talking about - he's pretty well oriented with cars and I'll trust his opinion over just about any Nissan tech - if he thinks its cool to still bolt everything up and not see the dealer on Monday, I'll go ahead and do it. Worse comes to worse, I just leave the stock cats on for a day (dealer's probably more likely to say something about test pipes rather than headers that their own company has a big hand in producing).

Thanks for the opinions. They all helped influence this decision.

 

Do not take the cats out and go to the dealer. Teh header is one thing but removing an emissions related item is something totally different, be careful with that.

 

I live in Northern CA and have yet to find a mod friendly dealer. I think they are all in Southern CA!!!!!!!!!!

 

You would know better than me. I'm only familiar with Southern CA. I guess I should have said that.

 

Freeman Nissan in Santa Rosa seems Ok with mods as long as they don't cause the problem. they also make it clear they do not service the aftermarket part(s) as part of the warranty.

 

In most places that's as good as you'll find. They are running a business, and if Nissan won't pay their techs to do the work, then the customer has to. No dealer should be required to pay for problems that a customer creates, nor should they have to warranty parts that they do not manufacture, install, or solicit to the customer.

Dealers just come out as the bad guy in some situations because some abuse the opportunity to blame a problem on a mod. You just have to have faith in the fact that not every dealer will swear that the power added by your CAI caused the tranny to fail due to excess strain caused by the neck snapping power gains.

 

Danny,
I agree. I purchased a new NISMO shifter from my dealer only because my factory one keeps rattling inside and they have already attempted to fix it. I went back, purchased a new **** and asked if they could just install the NISMO one in the factory ****'s place. They stated that they might be able to do this only if they kept the factory ****????? I realize this is warranty work, but it just doesn't make sense. Then the guy tellm me to just do it myself, but to be careful because they put some locktite on the **** last time it was replaced. Now I'm afraid of taking the damn thing off in fear of ruining of my tranny (not that it's starting to shift hard). But I run into one problem after another. Another issue is the window grease. I ahve my passenger windows tinted and the tint was actually scratched by this problem. The dealer refused to replace the tint, which was caused by a documented problem as indicated by TSB. They stated that they could only tell me how to get reimbursement. I think that this is a problem with Nissan, not the Z. I have similar issues with my Xterra and the windows and they complain to me every time. Anyway, I can't imagine how they will react to my tranny when I show up with NISMO headers, exhaust, and RT cats!!!!!! They'll flip and probably report me. Anyway, enough of my venting.....I just hate dealerships. Wish I could find one as enthusiastic about this vehicle as Performance. I am seriously thinking about making a trip down to Southern CA by appointment. I'll check into that pretty soon.