Intercooler relocation, warranty issues?

I sold my 2019, and now I have a 2020. After a cracked front diff on the 2019, that Ford declined to warranty because the truck had aftermarket suspension, I am now reluctant to certain modifications that may void certain expensive repairs.

In the case of my front diff, it clearly had a casting flaw. I found several other cases with the same exact issue, but since I had an SVC mid travel kit, they flat out declined it.

I’m wanting to do an aftermarket front bumper, with intercooler replacement and relocation. The dealer made it pretty clear that if I had an issue, for example, blew a turbo, that they would deny a warranty repair because of the intercooler.

I’m looking for some real world experience. Anyone that has experience with these rigs and the dealer, in regards to an intercooler swap.

Any speculation comments, no offense, but, won’t help. I can speculate all by myself lol.

 

for a dealer or manufacturer to void your warranty, the burden of proof that your upgrades are what caused the issue. its called the magnuson moss warranty act; which covers this. most folks arent aware of this and when a dealer tells them the consumer voided it; its actually on the dealer to provide sound physical and scientific evidence.

 

Have you litigated the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act? By the time that you figure out whether the questionable warranty claim should have been honored or not, you’ll be a year or two into the lawsuit.

 

Exactly, unless you're a lawyer yourself, this act won't do a whole lot for you. Realistically, what is your course of action if your warranty is voided even if it shouldn't be? Lawyering up costs money, often times more than the repair is worth. It's been a while since I've read the "act" itself, but I don't recall anywhere in there that it states the burden is on the dealer either.

 

No one will have a concrete answer for you. You have to pay to play, you should assume if you blow a turbo they will deny the warranty, even though the freer flowing intercooler would be better for the turbo. Every dealer is different, some will flat out deny warranty on the spot and some are super cool and will try to warranty everything. Here's the rub though - if you have a super mod friendly dealer who is going to warranty a blown turbo for example, Ford Corp may get involved and want to send an 'engineer' to look at the truck. They could void the blown turbo warranty even if the dealer was willing to honor it. Obviously if your seat heater goes tits up they can't blame that on an intercooler.

I know this isn't the answer you're looking for but you won't find a definitive answer I'm afraid.

 

it is but as stated, lawyering up costs money and takes time and Ford's pockets are deeper than all of ours combined.

 

I am familiar with the Magnuson warranty act, I’ve used that line a hundred times while modifying customers vehicles over the years.

my question was about Ford denying a warranty claim for a specific issue, not in general. I know they can’t void my warranty entirely.

I already had Ford corporate involved with my diff issue, and they flat out said NO. My only next step was with a lawyer. I have no desire to spend 10 times the amount of the repairs and a year fighting with attorneys.

as I stated in my OP, I was hoping to find someone with specific experience with the intercooler mod and the dealer. But, as it was already mentioned here by someone else, I probably won’t find the answer.

I guess I just have to decide if I want to take the chances. But, part of the reason I bought brand new was the warranty, or I could’ve saved money and bought used.

 

I want to add a winch to my truck and none of the options to do so are all that appealing. The best ones require relocation of the IC and I think you need to be comfortable with writing a blank check if something goes wrong and you end up on the wrong end of a warranty claim. Right now the Raptor is my only vehicle, so that advice goes double for me.

 

On every car forum the "magnuson moss warranty act" is mentioned. LOL!

Let me ask you a question .. if you own a company and someone bought your product and clearly modified it and then came back and said your product failed then would you deny warranty? Or would you spend your $$ trying to prove that the the customers mods did indeed caused your product to fail?

Be sensible man. To pursue the magnuson moss warranty act you have to have deep pockets and I bet Ford's legal team would bankrupt most customers going this route.

 

The problem w/ the Magnuson Act is that once a dealer puts it in the computer that some or all of your warranty is void, then all the dealers see it as void. The burden of proof then shifts to you to prove that the mod didn't cause the issue in order for the dealer to remove the void from the system. Unless you're an attorney w/ a lot of free time or wealthy, it's an uphill battle to say the least.