2023 Dodge Challenger Hellcat tune turns into a $36,000 repair bill - Autoblog

Look like Stellantis can detect tune. Wonder if Ford has the same trick up its sleeves?

 

not the same thing but yes, they can tell.

 

They way I understand it, it only will come into play in the USA if the tune causes an issue that the customer is claiming a warranty related item. Having a tune won't affect AC work, but it will catalytic converter failure. My 2020 will stay untouched until all factory warranties have expired.

 

All auto manufacturers can detect any aftermarket tune. An aftermarket tune can void certain parts of your warranty but not all.

Brakes, water pump, wiper motor ect would still be covered under warranty. All engine/ transmission issues could be subject due to tune.

APR added their tune to the CPU of my VW GTI at 500 miles and basically voided the engine warranty.

No engine modifications on this truck!

 

This isn't really news... any part of your truck that you modify may not be covered by the factory warranty if you have a problem and the modification caused or contributed to it.

 

The dealer can tell because their tools will not work. Some of my customers have bought tuned vehicles without knowing they have been tuned. Since I have the dealer tools that I use for diagnostics I can update their PCM to the latest factory calibration. Problem solved. If anyone is stuck with a tuned PCM they can send it to my shop and we can remove the tuned calibration and update it back to the factory calibration.

 

And then in the future no one can tell it was ever tuned?

 

That’s not the intention but I suppose in some cases for older model years that might be true. For late model vehicles, Ford gathers a lot of data over the air (OTA) via the mobile/cellular data network. That creates an ongoing record of the vehicle from the day it rolls out of the factory. I suppose it’s possible for Ford to determine if a vehicle is tuned by using OTA data but I honestly do not know for sure.

 

Same here - as much as I'm curious what the 3.5 is like with a tune, I won't consider it until the warranty is up. And even then, maybe not - the truck has loads of power as it is.

 

I won't pretend to know how an OTA truck works, tuning a truck and flashing it back to stock is not a guarantee you won't have an issue later. Changes in mode 6 data can still tattle. A truck with 30k miles and the same number of key cycles as an average 15k mile truck will still throw a flag should they chose to dive that deep. Outside of catastrophic engine failure it doesn't seem to be that common for them to dig in like that, assuming you dont have a bunch of other visible performance mods.