Has anyone been rejected by warranty for tunes truck ?
#11
This is an old thread, but being a new owner of a '14 EB I had the same question. With many mods you always hear cautions about voiding your warranty, it's the same on the motorcycle forums. I haven't looked real hard for cases where there were issues YET, but just a general observation after reading forum stuff every day....you heat the cautions daily, but rarely hear of it actually happening. Granted, there can be a lot of $$ involved, so even a slight chance has to be taken seriously. I want a tune, but I rely on my truck for my business, it's not my weekend toy, so I'm being careful. Most likely I'll go with a 5 star package that's not extreme. Do you guys put the stock tune back if you just go in for an oil change at the dealer? I imagine they could take the opportunity to update your flash.
#13
Senior Member
I agree with those above about going to stock. Unless you buy a OBD2 cover that says do not flash like diablosport has. Also 5 Star/Stage 3 offers warranty to purchase so that you don't have to worry about Fords warranty.
#14
King Hater
I talked to 2 different dealerships about tunes. Both said tunes leave a footprint that can be detected.
Ex. If you blow your transmission and they scan your ecm, they will see the truck was making higher than normal hp/torque ratings. Then will deny the warranty work because of that.
Now that being said I run a 5 star tune on 91 tow/performance. I wanted it just for the mileage increase, Im a pretty conservative driver. I remove it anytime the truck goes in for service.
Ex. If you blow your transmission and they scan your ecm, they will see the truck was making higher than normal hp/torque ratings. Then will deny the warranty work because of that.
Now that being said I run a 5 star tune on 91 tow/performance. I wanted it just for the mileage increase, Im a pretty conservative driver. I remove it anytime the truck goes in for service.
#15
Senior Member
Years ago a friend installed a tuner program on my F-150 to show me how it worked. A few days later while driving to work, the engine shut down repeatedly. It would restart normally. I took it to the dealer svc ctr. After about 30 min, the svc mgr came to me and told me that their diagnostics system was throwing codes that were inconsistent with the problem. He then says (paraphrase)"It looks like someone has reflashed the computer in your truck and it is failing. We have updated your truck and it is ready to go. There will be no charge today, but if it happens again we MAY have to charge you for svc and reflash. " I know he was serious because a couple of weeks later my F350 quit and nothing worked, I had it towed to the dealer. The svc teck found the problem quickly. I had a power lift gate installed and a ground had come loose and shorted a a fuse block. They presented me with a big chg for the tow and work. The ford svc mgr was good enough to call the shop that installed my lift and then sent the bill to them. Good cust / svc relations!!
#16
Senior Member
Yes good customer / service relations really does help. I have a level installed and the dealership knows this. Everytime I go in I bring a box of donuts and coffee. Well I finally had an issue with a noise I thought was in the front end (turned out to be a hitch in the back contacting my 5th wheel hitch sending a vibration to the front of the truck), I brought the truck in and they checked every nut and bolt. They didn't charge me for the visit, when they really could have.
#17
I had my engine replaced under warranty almost a year ago. I put the stock tune back in before it was towed. I left the catless downpipes on though. Ford never asked a question. I had my truck back in less than 2 weeks. I'm friends with the tech and he said they don't have anything at the dealership that can tell if I was or wasn't tuned but he did say if ford chooses to send someone to further investigate my warranty then they can tell. He said it's totally random but some times they will send someone to investigate and they will have your pcm sent to the company who makes them for ford and they can figure out pretty much anything they want. As already stated though it's really up to the dealer. It also helps to get to know someone in the service department. They knew I had a programmer but didn't really care.
#18
there is something we can use as techs to tell if a vehicle has had a flash. Its called Mode 9 data in the PCM. It tells us and FoMoCo if a vehicle has been flashed. It holds all the startup cycles and calibrations that can not be cleared with anything other than a reflash
Last edited by bluefox_gt; 12-31-2014 at 07:35 PM.
#19
Senior Member
there is something we can use as techs to tell if a vehicle has had a flash. Its called Mode 9 data in the PCM. It tells us and FoMoCo if a vehicle has been flashed. It holds all the startup cycles and calibrations that can not be cleared with anything other than a reflash
#20
Member
there is something we can use as techs to tell if a vehicle has had a flash. Its called Mode 9 data in the PCM. It tells us and FoMoCo if a vehicle has been flashed. It holds all the startup cycles and calibrations that can not be cleared with anything other than a reflash
I don't see any red flags but we were using NGS and WDS when I left the dealer so maybe I'm over looking what would give away a vehicle being tuned at dealer level.
Appreciate it.
The following users liked this post:
crazydubc (12-31-2014)