Oil leak, Is it a waranty repair?

[04HUG]

G'day
Yesterday I was driving on a gravel road and a stone was flicked up onto the oil cooler (V9X). It now has a small dent about 30mm long and Oil is dripping from a seam.
Do I have a valid warranty claim for this repair.

 

[rastik86]

I would say not as it is not directly a failure of the oil cooler but rather damage caused by an external element.

There would be such a clause in any warranty I would say.

It would be like claiming warranty on a bullbar after you hit a tree and kinked the front of it and cracked a weld, really. They'll pretty much tell you in which direction you can off and f...

 

[glennm]

It would be worth trying as it should be protected during general road use and apparently it is not.

 

[Old.Tony]

Warranty usually covers failures/faults that are caused by manufacturing fault or poor design/implementation (D40 timing chains as a prime example) or by error/omission during servicing.

A stone flicking into the oil cooler is a little different to a stone flicking up and cracking your windscreen or puncturing a tyre because the oil cooler isn't normally damaged in general use (ours is mounted behind the bullbar+winch and above the gravel plate).

Thus the avenue that you might succeed in is the "ought to have been protected" one. The cooler should have at least some protection from debris. If it does have some protection, and this was the result of a "million to one" hit, they would (can, and probably will) argue that Nissan could not be expected to predict such an event and aren't liable for the item as a warranty claim (and to be honest I'd find that fair).

 

[04HUG]

Update

G'day

New replacement Oil Cooler From local Nissan Stealer, $780.00 (about 6 to 8 working days to get)
Epoxy Putty to patch leak, $14.80

I patched the leak on Monday morning, then ordered a replacement filter from a contact in Melbourne about 3:00pm ($425 inc postage). The replacement filter turned up on Wednesday afternoon. Put the replacement Cooler in today (Boxing Day).
Made a stone guard for the Sump/Cooler from some Stainless Steel while I had the vehicle up on the ramps.

(Sorry no photos as I'm challenged when it comes to things like that.)

I didn't try the warranty is I wanted it fixed now and without the argument from the local Nissan Stealer.