Find someone with a 4.8 or 5.3 truck or SUV that will swap Y pipes with you. Then have it replaced free under warranty on their vehicle.

 

If the Whipple was running rich enough it will cause problems with the cats. My magna charger was dipping down to 8-1 air/fuel ratio before the Futral dyno tune.

 

If you read your warranty book it points out that failures due to alteration of factory parts, use of non-factory parts or parts that are not "GM approved" will not be covered. They don't have to cover anything in the drivetrain or exhaust if you modify the vehicle. It's a bit vague but I have witnessed several court cases where the manufacturer was not held liable in any respect because the vehicle was "not as built and warranted originally by the manufacturer". You contact my area manager in a case like this and he will quote you those decisions. As a Service Manager I have some latitude in these decisions but ultimately if I go against their policies I can loose my job.........and that ain't gonna happen! Don't get me wrong, I've been building hot rods and race cars for most of my 57 years and I love horsepower....but I need to stay employed for a few more years. I guess what I'm trying to say is, drive it stock until it isn't in warranty anymore....then put the blower on it, and maybe some NOS too, it's your truck.

 

In reality GM can say whatever they like. They are still bound by federal regulations http://www.enjoythedrive.com/content/?id=8128. Most service managers and techs alike are encouraged to avoid covering warranty work if possible. It really comes down to how hard you want to push and how well you can prove your arguement.
In your situation though, I would think that you are flowing a little more air through that cat than it was originally intended to handle.
Not interested in going cat-less??

 

I understand Mag-Moss very well and that is intended to cover aftermarket replacement parts mainly....it's not a "end run" for when you put a blower (Whipple or whatever) on your engine. And someone stating that a supercharger doesn't effect a cat-converter hasn't made too many live dyno runs lately. The car factories are edgy about covering modified vehicles...modified to make more power or handle differently. Believe me, I'd rather have my shop full of warranty work any day, we get more per hour for warranty work than we do for customer pay and they pay us a 40% markup on the parts too but they still have their policies and procedures......and I get audited all the time. We ARE NOT encouraged to avoid warranty work, that's an old wives tale, they want us to fix the vehicles right, keep our customers happy and have them return for future purchases. I'm not defending the manufacturers, I know my job....been doing it for almost 30 years.....been a hot rodder longer than that so I know a few things about performance. I don't always agree with them but at least I know where they stand and why.

 

I didnt mean any of that as a personal attack, so I hope you didnt take it as such. My father has worked for GM since 18, so near 40 years. Getting the smallest things covered has always been a crap shoot until he became fleet manager a few years ago, even now he has occassional spats with the service manager about warranty work. Ive owned 3 C5 corvettes one of which was kept totally stock and at times warranty work for the smallest things has been argued such as getting the seats fixed. I once had to argue that my "excessive weight didnt cause them to break, they are just poorly made". Im not overly large but my weight fluctuates up to 250 in the offseason at around 5'10. Maybe your dealerships are simply better managed than those he has worked for. I know that warranty work pays better, but Ive always been told that there are "incentives for getting around it" that is coming from a service tech, but of course he could have been pulling my leg. I do agree that its going to be difficult to provide an arguement that the blower didnt cause the premature failure to the cat due to the additional airflow from the blower.

 

I like your way of thinking! Unfortunately, it seems all the friends I have that are cool enough to do so all drive something OTHER than a GM SUV or Pickup. Great idea nonetheless!

 

You are totally correct in that the dealership doesn't have to cover anything. One important point that I forgot to point out earlier was that I called the service advisor[SA] (not the Service Mgr[SM]) yesterday and asked specifically if the SCer would make a difference. "Nope, bring it on in." When I dropped it off this morning both the SA AND the SM spoke with me about the P0430 DTC. The SM mentioned that the only time he had seen me in for service was for new tailgate cables (which is true). During the tailgate cable install, he and I spoke at length about the SCer and the SVO injectors and the H2O injection I had on the truck. The SM mentioned this morning he "remembered the truck" - I took this to mean he remembered the mods as well.
Anyway, I am not looking for anything I don't deserve. If the Whipple voids the cat warranty, so be it. I am peeved, however, that I was told the Whipple meant no warranty after being told otherwise even after I had been upfront and forthright about it.
You could answer one question: If warranty work pays well, what is to keep the Service Manager from 'neglecting' to note on the work order anything about the mods? Even with an audit, if GM gets back my faulty Y-pipe, how will they determine that it came from a SCed truck vs. a NA truck? I have purchased 2 new trucks from this dealership (which doesn't really affect the SM, but it should mean something...), have given nothing but A+s for service surveys, and woud imagine that a bit of goodwill would be in order. Apparently not. Any insight? Am I missing an important point?

 

Yes, I know, but how many Y-pipes are replaced on a daily basis? Will one more really make that much of a difference?

 

I would like to keep the exhaust system as quiet as possible (hence the 70 series Flows). Would gutted or removed cats make a major difference in sound?