Mods vs warranty

[justvettn]

I love doing mods to my Raptor but a Tune I will stay away from. The truck has lots of power for a daily driver.

 

[Squatting Dog]

The only real thing I miss about the tunes is it solves the goofy throttle and shifting...

-Greg

 

[Pynenut]

I have 8000 miles on my SCREW and I did the tune. You gotta pay to play!

 

[Boss Hoss]

Hell I mod all of mine from day one tune to suspensions. If you are worried then leave it stock.

 

[jjwpgh]

With the SCT X3 you can switch the truck back to your trucks specific stock tune with about 15 minutes of free time. I run the 93 perf tune from 5star but if/when I have to go to the dealer for anything i'll be switching it back to the stock mappings and leaving the sct x3 at home.

 

[Wrong Way]

You can always buy a second ECU that way no "fingerprints" (evidence of a tune) are left.

 

[Pynenut]

I've been running the 91 performance tune for a couple months and I may need to take the truck back to the dealer for some things. If I return in to stock, should I let them know and will them reflashing the transmission for example cause any issues?

 

[DubbsFaris]

A tech can tell if you have tuned your raptor, even if you return it to stock. Ford got pretty smart with all of their vehicles in the last few years, and just so you know, if your aftermarket tune is detected, it will void your entire power train warranty and even SOME electrical components as well.

Ford dealers will typical have techs that while they make the most stupid mistakes in the world that even a typical mechanic would never screw up, They are trained on detecting tunes over any other aspect of their jobs. Why? If you break it and they can prove you had a tune, they stand to make a tremendous amount of additional money from that. Ford pays a set amount for warranty work, it is paperwork intensive, and dealers consider it a heavy burden of their labor force.

This is the short answer believe it or not, and it can get extremely unpleasant for the owner, even if they are on the right side of the issue.

Beware- if you tune, don't admit it online, and don't ever take your truck in for any service with your tuner in the vehicle.

I have heard that returning your truck to stock tune, and THEN disconnect battery for hard reset, and run truck for a couple hundred miles as your truck's computer is attuitive meaning it learns and adjusts certain settings and ratios for tunes that leave a red flag if you don't do all above steps. Even at that, your PCM keeps a reflash count, so they will know if you change your tune back and forth a lot, another red flag. If its just one or two times, they cannot prove it was tuning by the customer unless they have a documented flash count from a previous servi e visit.

I have had MUCH experience in this and know one of the premier tuners that works for Ford. I am not trying to discourage, just give the real information they use against you.

 

[Pynenut]

Thanks. I'm not concerned with them finding my tune. I know they can find it if they want to. My main concern was any "damage" that can be done by them reflashing my computer. I already returned it to stock. So if they reflash over the stock tune, will that cause any issues? Afterwards, I can flash back to my tune. My dealer seems to be pretty mod friendly.

 

[Perauto]

I laugh every time I see a thread that the members say just return it to stock and take it to the dealer..NOT TRUE.
I own a company who does performance tuning on GM and Ford vehicles. [performance autosport] The first thing we tell our customers is tuning will VOID your Warranty. Even if the Vehicle is returned to stock the dealer tech can tell it has been flashed and will flag the car,If the dealer has any doughs there are several tests that can be done to see if the ECU has been altered.
People will also quote the Magnuson warranty act about the manufacture proving the damage but who has the time or money to fight them,plus it is clearly specified that a tune will void the warranty in the owners booklet.
IMO a tune is great for performance and if the warranty is not an issue than do it,but do not think you can get anything by the dealers these days ,the first time your truck is plugged in to the Ford laptop the first screen the tech sees is that the truck has been modded and when that laptop is updated by Ford all that info goes directly to there data base and your done.
Any major or minor repairs must be approved by the Ford warranty people and a rep will be sent out to look over the vehicle for any major repairs,the dealer is NOT the decision maker and if they fix it with out telling Ford first ,then the claim is denied.

All of my personal and shop vehicles are 100% stock with no ECU mods for that reason,if I wanted a fast vehicle I would not have bought a Raptor,I love my tuck but love the Warranty more.