Re: 164 L or S? AD #743, Warrenties, Mods and Stepper Motors

["David R Johnson" <johnsnd@domain.elided>]

On May 25,  3:02am, C M Smith wrote:

> Responding to comments in AD 745:
> Thanks for the Bently story. I now understand why the relationship with a
> new car is so impersonal to begin with. A 3 year warranty deprives one of
> the intimacy you achieve by getting the grease from your beloved new Alfa
> under your fingernails, I wasn't even permitted to remove the DRL relay to
> turn off the headlights in the daytime because "no mods allowed under
> warranty".

In the US, it is supposed to be illegal for a dealer to deny you warrenty
coverage due to a modification unless it can be proven that the modification
was the cause of the failure.  Additionally, the onus of proof is placed on the
dealer or manufacturer, not on the owner.  So for example they could not deny
you coverage for bad valve guides because you put on aftermarket springs.
 Unfortunately, this law does not stop numerous dealers from trying to pull a
fast one.  Many times a call to the area representative can result in a quick
change of mind (the threat of a poor customer satisfaction rating can work
wonders), but sometimes only legal action, or the threat thereof, does the
trick.  Of course this action could cost you more than the repair.  I don't
know what the rules are in other countries though.

> Furthermore, the idea about rotating the gears in the steppers is ingenious
> but I caution against it in the strongest terms. The outrageous cost of
> this repair is due to the ridiculous design of the dashboard. Between 5 and
> 12 hours of labour is required to reach the parts and reinstall the dash.
> The equivalent task for the similar system on the SAAB 9000 is under two
> hours. All so Alfa could hang the glovebox on the outside of the dash, why???

Hmmm, I had thought that the cost of the motor itself was quite high, and
perhaps this trick would be useful for somebody doing the work at home except
that someone posted that the gear does indeed rotate by multiple turns and thus
it would not work. Oh well, it was just an idea

Dave J.
1982 GTV-6

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