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MG MGF Technical - Modifications and warranty

Just heard back from the dealers regarding fitting of K&N filter and non standard exhaust. They said "As long as the parts fitted don't effect other parts then the warranty is okay" WHAT????
In effect they're saying that if anything goes wrong within the warranty period and its a direct result of after market parts fitted then the warranty is void. Sounds like a bloody good get out clause. Has anyone else had this sort of problem from their dealer? I'll have to put things back when it goes in for a service, which is due next month. Bit of a pain.

John. March 99 VVC on extended warranty which was haggled for.
John

my dealer makes no problem of that, since it does not alter actual engine mechanics (in fact it improves engine health!)

so any dealer with some brains will say the same.
Dirk Vael

>>In effect they're saying that if anything goes wrong within the warranty period and its a direct result of after market parts fitted then the warranty is void<<

Why is that unreasonable? I can't see any motor manufacturer doing anything different from that.

Mike
Mike Bees

"I just bought this Sony HiFi system from you last week, and as the power wasn't quite up to what I thought it should be I put a bigger pre-amp on it."

"Now just this week the speakers started crackling a bit, and some of the other bits are starting to smell like they are burning. Oh, and the amplifier has packed up."

"Sony sold me a duff stereo system!! I want it repaired under warranty!"

"What do you mean that it's not your problem? Your equipment should have been able to take the bigger pre-amp I added! No I didn't follow your instructions that said 'only use Sony authorised add ons' - the other one was cheaper and the manufacturer told me it was better, and that their product couldn't do any damage to the Sony stereo."

"So what if you had a clause in your warranty that said 'not following the manufacturers instructions may void your warranty' - I'm going to keep on whinging about how bad Sony products are until you fix my stereo!"

Sound familiar?

Casey
Casey

Casey could be correct with things like performance chips, because these make the car run well outside recommended limits. I think in the case of air filter and Exhaust it is more like.....

"I got my Sony stereo and have fitted an after market set of headphones from another manufacturer, Since I fitted them the stereo has exploded".

Sony then say, "oh the warranty is void because you did not use the recommended Sony headphones".

I really don't understand why Casey is always trying to have a go at people who complain about a problem, maybe if something goes wrong we should just put up with it and shut up and not bother anyone with the problem, if your car fails, put it down to experience and buy another car.

Casey, please tell me why you seem to have this crusade to slag off anyone who complains about their MGF, what are you, some kind of Rover employee or something. If this is true, Rover could employ someone who at least can give a reasonable argument :-)

Each to their own, but I would really like to know what the motivation is for you. Maybe you just like being unpopular. I have said that I find you very self opinionated, but apart from that I did not find you (as a person) too bad at all. I think you would come over a lot better if you kept some of your opinions to your self and stopped slagging everyone off. This could be the nicest thing anyone has ever said to you on this BBS :-)
Tony Smith

>Casey, please tell me why you seem to have this
>crusade to slag off anyone who complains about their
>MGF.....

Because on this thread someone asked (indignantly) why the manufacturer could void their warranty.

Who are you, they or anyone else on here, to say that an exhaust or a filter is completely non-harmful to the F? The most experienced technicians in the world on the K series engine and the F in general work for Rover. If you don't like their judgements, don't buy their car - but they say that modifying your F can void your warranty, which by implication means that that they think all those harmless little things you want to do to your engine aren't harmless.

And if Sony say that attaching other manufacturer's headphones could void your warranty, don't attach other people's headphones - and if you don't like that, don't buy Sony.

>Each to their own, but I would really like to know
>what the motivation is for you.

Boredom with seeing a great car slagged off by people who have damaged their own cars but don't have the guts to admit that they might have done something wrong.

If you choose to modify your car, that is up to you. Just live with the consequences and don't expect mummy Rover to wipe away your tears when your toy is broken.

Casey
Casey

More to the point, stop having a go!

Casey, Dirk and everybody have a right to say what they like on this BBS, (as long as it's not obscene or libelous I guess), and sometimes it hurts to hear another point of view but that doesn't make that POV any less valid.

Especially on the subjects that Casey comments on - there's lots of circumstantial evidence and rumour which become "factual" the more often it's repeated (Third law of engineering thermodynamics - fiction solidifies into fact under heat or pressure, or when it achieves critical mass).

I'm not defending Casey, but paraphrasing a great man - I'll defend his right to question.

N837 OGF

PS and if I have a HGF and forget any of the above, please point it out to me!

Hugh

Perhaps we should go back to the 'Good old days'.

Cars came, like most things with a 3 month (yes month) guarantee, so you did not have to wait long before sticking your 'go faster' stripes on the car and not having to worry about voiding your guarantee.

I have said it before, as has Casey and others, if you change the specification of any product you purchase then you will almost certainly VOID any guarantee given by the manufacturer of that product for the simple reason that the product is no longer 'as supplied'. And some manufacturers are a lot more 'finicky' than Rover - just have a look at your computer and its various bits and pieces and you will find things such as 'Guarantee Void if this label is removed/broken'

So as Hugh say if you change it, and it breaks then don't bitch.

If you don't change it and it breaks then bitch like mad.

Ted
Ted Newman

come on guys, many of the parts found within an F are inferior to what it should be, even my dealer has no problem making that statement, because he saw so many failures on (esp. my!) MGF which are 'worth a deeper thought considering the mileage'.
An anonymous insider within Rover UK told me herself that the MGF was built 'too fast', that too many compromises had to be made to make it happen that fast, and now you get the results. Tracking (wishbones etc), chassis, windows, brakes, HG, cross member bar, hardtop, electronics, plugs, gearbox, frontpipe, hydra'fart'gas, VVC, speedo, interior, coils, fuses, coolant cap, exhaust manifold, leaks&rattles etc etc etc. It all sucks to some extent to a lot of people who have had bad experience(s) with it! Remember this car costs much more than any other 1.8 4cyl car, so as a customer I might expect some decent mechanical quality for that price, esp. for you UK guys who pay 20% more than I do.

If you say a K&N is bad for a car, well, you might take a look at the original airfilter and figure out how that thing can even let air through!!! Of course TVR is much better than MGF, costs just twice as much. [And still I hear some Triumph guy say here TVR is not exactly what it should be either, although it has improved dramatically over the years. ZZZZzzzzzz...]

Chipping, ok, I know this is a bad thing to do, but judging the aftermarket tuners who replace standard parts with DECENT upgraded parts sez enuff 4 me. There is demand for this, you might wonder why if all their customers view their MGF as a 'toy'?

I feel a lot better with a K&N, SP, upgraded interior, upgraded VW brakes & pads, lowering knuckles, and plenty of smaller parts (linkage, sensors, ratchets, fuses, wiring, coils, solenoids... replaced by the dealer (mostly FOC with more recent redesigned parts, but still lost about £5,000 in repairs)
Dirk Vael

*g* the old story.

Dirkie nobody said that a K&N is wrong and nobody said that there aren't better parts availiable.
In these days each product comes to market without 100 percent verification of all terms.

The threads start was Modifications and warranty.

No doubts IMO.
in front of a grey line...
>If you don't change it and it breaks then bitch like mad.
>....if you change it, and it breaks then don't bitch.

So a term of own risk and nothing else.

BTW... no risk no fun .. more or less .. nearly in each live conditions :)

dk
Dieter

Actually, I asked Rover about exhaust systems and air filters and they were quite happy for me to fit them without it affecting the warranty. Many MG dealers actually sell these parts with new MGFs.

Maybe we should not got to quikfit in case Rover don’t like the exhaust pipes or brake pads they sell, I don’t remember the documentation with the car saying anything about this kind of thing, so better safe than sorry.

And I still did not get answer my question in this thread, why the crusade? Read what you wrote again.

The Sony part was just an example, I did not expect you to take it literally, the example was to show that some additions (such as headphones, if the correct rating) can be generally accepted as additions that would not void the warranty.

Even with British law we still have some basis for what is reasonable (carefully worded to avoid bringing (AKA Nic) into the discussion :-).

And what is all this keep on moaning stuff. I feel people have the right to complain in a public forum about problems they have, as long as it is reasonably on subject, it is a way of sharing a problem with others, this is the whole point of a BBS. And if people want to moan about something then that is their right, maybe it even makes them feel better by getting it of their chest.

My problem with this is that none of the readers deserve to be slagged off for complaining, especially when in most cases they have good cause.

Ok, in a few cases what you say is true, but with the vast majority it is not (especially from someone who does not even own the product in question), driving the car for a year from new does not qualify anyone as an expert in MGF ownership and gives very little insight to reliability (especially when never having any real problems).

>'Guarantee Void if this label is removed/broken'

Ted, I think this argument goes, you put in an adapter card and it screws your system (This can happen with adapters that are designed to work on a standard PC platform). This should not void your warranty because of the very nature of the Personal Computer.

The units with the label are usually for non serviceable devices. Maybe MG should put a big sticker on the boot lid to warn you, saying, only to be serviced by an MG dealer :-)

I am not saying that some things should not void your warranty. What I am saying is that some products which Rover have no manufacturing control over (providing they conform to certain standards) should be, and in my experience are, acceptable to Rover.

Get a stage 2 head fitted and Rover would be quite right to VOID the warranty with regard to damage that was caused by changing the head or damage to the head. On the other hand I feel that it would be unreasonable for them to refuse to fix the windscreen wipers under warrant because of it.

If the after market part can be shown to be the cause of the problem, again this would be a good reason not to fix the problem under warranty.

To be quite honest, I have always found Rover very reasonable in this respect, after all it is an MG and minor modifications are all part of the whole MG thing.

Wow, that was a long one, sorry everyone, but I can't resist :-))))))
Tony Smith

This warranty issue is only unclear from different experiences with different dealers etc.

I think that the base line which has to be adopted is NOT what a particular person has said verbally at this dealer or that dealer, as they are usually not empowered to speak on a Rover policy issue.

Rover documentation speaks of 'warranty covers all original specification components', which clearly says all. How far individual dealers or customer care people are prepared to go in individual circumstances is an individual thing. The policy can't be assumed to be 'whatever' as a result of this, although it would add weight to any subsequent legal proceedings.

It's rather like (UK) number plates where the regulations are clear and unambiguous. Your plates may be a little outside the Regs but the fact that they may have passed X amount of previous examinations doesn't mean that the next test is going to go the same way.

Individuals have to make their own decisions and accept the risk, however small or large this is.

Rog
Roger Parker

As a mechanical engineer, i would say this: the different part of the engine are designed for a certain power and a certain torque. If you change the power and incidantly the torque by putting an air filter, the pieces are not designed for.
I mean: the force from the explosion in the cylinder is transmitted to the shaft of the motor and if the power of the motor increase, the force increase. The different pieces of a motor are designed to withstand a certain level of stress. So it's natural that putting an air filter or whatever which increase the power and the troque void the warranty
Eric
DEMANY Eric

This thread was discussed between 02/02/2000 and 07/02/2000

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