Mods and Warranty
 

I got all excited to do the elbow mod, deck plate mod, and install a K&N filter. I had most of the bolts out when my wife came up and asked about voiding the warranty. A. It's my truck and I got hacked she even said anything. B. I got even more hacked when she was right. I called Toyota and asked some general, non-specific questions, and anything I do to the truck to "enhance" could void the warranty.

How do you guys get away with the mods and not void the warranty.

DC

It all depends what your'e trying to fix under warranty. If let's say you do a deck plate mod with K&N filter and after that say to the dealer that your engine is getting too much air or pinging, of course they won't warranty that. However, if you to the dealer have warranty issue with your AC, timing belt or speedometer, for example, that'll be covered under warranty no problem since deck plate mod is nowhere related to AC or timing belt.

My local Toyota dealer has never gave me any problems and they actually admired all the mods I've done to my 4Runner. :)

-- Andrey

When I had my vehicle at the dealership right after I did the deckplate mod/amsoil filter, I specifically asked if it affected the warranty and they said no. I think some dealerships don't want to commit to anything and try to cover their as* by taking a hardline.

They can void your warranty if the part in issue had a direct link to your modification. This means if your if you add an aftermarket stereo and your emmissions goes south, they can't claim that your aftermarket stereo did it.

Another thing to note though, dealers don't like to mess with customer's vehicles that has modifications because they're afraid it might mess something up. They'd much rather just say your mods caused the problem thus you're on your own. They make $$ from claiming it's a non-warranty repair so keep that in mind. Not all dealers are bad so just be careful where you go.

Good Luck

If I begin by doing the elbow mod and leaving the exposed portion of the elbox in place, what are the odds they would even notice that the remaining portion of the intake was gone? I mean, they would have to tear apart the entire quarter paner just to see it.