Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
Originally posted by: Pacfanweb
Well, in all honesty....how they hell long are they supposed to warranty the parts for? 80k, or 83k? How about 85? Can we get a 90k? When do they draw the line?
Seriously....if your car had 90k on it, would you still feel the same way? Either way, what's the difference? The manufacturers don't want to warranty the parts that long...the government makes them do it. So you can bet that none of them will be willing to help at all over 80k, and personally, I don't blame them.
Now, I understand your position....you're just over the warranty and they failed. But this is a long-term warranty...it has to end somewhere.
Regarding your problem....I'd let the dealer diagnose it. What the hell is an "emissions specialist", anyway? You can't be one...it's impossible. All the emissions system is, is the EFI system. Nobody can be an "expert" in all brands.
Your dealer will be far more qualified to diagnose this than any independent shop. As mentioned before, this could just be one of the sensors. Or, your guy could be right, in which case I would demand that someone install some aftermarket cats on my car. "Tolerances and sensitivity" my butt. If they go on there and work, and the check engine light isn't on, your car will pass.
Maybe, I need to provide some more info. We're talking Infiniti here. They've taken care of me for I don't know how long and that's one of the reason's why I've bought vehicles from them. For the service and support, driving down to my house to drop off a loaner vehicle and pick-up my vehicle for routine maintenance, bringing it back nicely washed and vacuumed. I paid a premium price for the vehicle to get premium service and support.
A year ago, the Engine Service Light went off and I got my O2 sensors replaced. When I got the vehicle inspected this year, I received OBD II ECU P0420 and P0430 error codes though my Engine Service Light hadn't gone on. I called several places about the problem. The Dealership and two other places said the codes indicated that the Cats needed to be replaced. One place said that it could be a number of things and not just the cats providing those error codes. This place is a Massachusetts Registered Emissions Repair Shop (my dealership isn't) and has a five star rating by AAA members. Work done at a registered MA emissions shop can also qualify you for a waiver if your emissions fail later down the road.
So, I took my vehicle there and after cleaning the airmass sensor, reprogramming the ECM computer to specs provided by an Infiniti TSB and other diagnostics, he also concluded that the cats were defective. He then informed me about the Federal Emissions Long-Term Warranty and to contact the dealer to see if they'd still cover it under warranty since I was only 3k over the warranty and the Engine Service Light didn't go off though it should have. I spoke to him and another registered place about aftermarket cats but neither recommended them since I'm trying to pass the MA emissions test and Infiniti/Nissan and Volkswagen vehicles have very low/tight emission thresholds. Checking on some Infiniti/Nissan forums, the only talk about aftermarket cats were one's that could be specially purchased that met CA emissions and those aren't much cheaper than the factory ones.
If I had been close to or over 90k, I wouldn't be upset about it. Being 3k makes me upset.
jagec - You don't know about CA and MA emission standards.