Tuned guys: post personal experience with warranty claims

[xxaarraa]

I asked this a couple times in the MPT thread but didn't get a response, so posting here. I am already aware of the following general information:

1. A big portion of warranty claims are at the discretion of the specific dealer in question. Some dealers are easy to work with, some are not.
2. They have to prove the engine tune is responsible for the part that is malfunctioning.

Having said all that, I would like to hear specifically from folks that have tunes. Have you had warranty claims denied? Would reflashing the stock tune avoid potential friction at dealer, or is there a counter on the ECU that will indicate that it has been flashed anyway?

I am considering MPT but don't want to jeopardize my extended Ford warranty I just paid for. Thanks guys.

 

[nikhsub1]

1. Usually dealers want to do warranty work, they get paid well to do it. If you grenade your motor, or something of high dollar value, Ford will send a tech in to inspect. That is where your warranty will get *****'d if at all. It usually isn't the dealer.

2. Yes and no. The law says so but when Ford says to YOU; "We aren't going to fix xy or z because we think the truck was tuned and we are voiding the warranty", then what? See you in court? Okay... Ford has more time, money and patience than all of us combined so good luck with that.

Bottom line is, you have to be prepared to pay to play with potentially warranty killing mods.

 

[TXRaptor]

Bottom line is, you have to be prepared to pay to play with potentially warranty killing mods.

I agree!

I have modded the last 4 of my Ford pickups right after buying them new, but I have NOT had to take them in for engine or transmission related warranty work. (thats good!) I will take my Gen 2 in for the seat belt issue, but I doubt they will care about my mods.

 

[Gsteve]

there is a flash counter , when picking a tune go whish someone with a rep of not blowing shit up.

 

[TXRaptor]

there is a flash counter , when picking a tune go whish someone with a rep of not blowing shit up.

Blowing up engines is bad...

 

[M3sparky]

I asked this a couple times in the MPT thread but didn't get a response, so posting here. I am already aware of the following general information:

1. A big portion of warranty claims are at the discretion of the specific dealer in question. Some dealers are easy to work with, some are not.
2. They have to prove the engine tune is responsible for the part that is malfunctioning.

Having said all that, I would like to hear specifically from folks that have tunes. Have you had warranty claims denied? Would reflashing the stock tune avoid potential friction at dealer, or is there a counter on the ECU that will indicate that it has been flashed anyway?

I am considering MPT but don't want to jeopardize my extended Ford warranty I just paid for. Thanks guys.

i also got sold into getting the extended warranty even though i denied it three times and said i was going to mod it. i just got my mpt in so i cant wait to get it tuned. the guy that was selling the extended w. was just about swearing that modding wont void anything, but they will only cover everything else thats not related to it or that actual part that was changed. AND he said i can call in and cancel it anytime, and if i had used it even they would just deduct the use percentage amount and refund the rest. so if your dealer is not to mod friendly types you can always cancel the extended lol.

 

[03'Darin]

Most of the warranty decision is not made by the dealer. The PCM monitors countless functions of the vehicle and will take a snapshot of any event that is out of factory specs.

Let me try to explain it this way. I had a customer with a Focus ST that had low compression on 2 cylinders and wouldn't run. He swore up and down it had never been tuned. Which it turned out he was correct. However he had put an aftermarket BOV on that was adjusted way out of spec. So the car was producing more boost at certain load percentages than it was supposed to. So every time this happened the PCM takes a snapshot. Date, mileage, engine temp, rpm, load percentage, etc.. So when Ford requested data files from the PCM on this car they denied the warranty claim. The customer had also cut the cats off and was running a short straight pipe off of the turbo.

So the PCM tracks everything. Even a pedal commander which doesn't reprogram the PCM will produce traceable snapshots every time the truck is producing more specified boost.

So any type of performance mods like a pedal commander or tune can affect a warranty repair. Ford extended warranty is the same as the Factory warranty. So that can affect your coverage on extended warranties also.

Years ago when we had the 03' Cobra's if we had a drive line failure it wasn't uncommon for Ford to send an FSE in to inspect the car for mods. They used to put us through training to detect if a car had mods done to it. Back the it was the dealers responsibility to tell Ford if the car was modded. Of course most dealers didn't. Dealers wanted the warranty work AND they didn't want to **** of their customers. So if Ford would pay and the customer was happy in the end it was a win win for everyone but Ford. However if the dealer got caught doing that Ford would not only kick the warranty claim and refuse to pay it. That would also end up with the dealer getting warranty audits more frequently.

We replaced a motor in a 2008' GT500 that one of my customers blew up. We couldn't detect any mods but when Ford got the blown motor back they felt it was modded and refused to pay the claim. So we were out something like $15k.

So as mentioned above. Be prepared to pay if you make those decision to mod the truck in certain ways.

Now with that said if you tune the truck and the AC compressor goes out both factory or extended warranties won't balk at paying that repair.

So a tune doesn't just void your warranty.

Also as said above if Ford denies the claim goo luck fighting them and saying THEY have to prove that your mod cause the failure.

 

[Dane]

I never had my tune void a warranty fix - though it did come close when a cat went out. I ended up bringing it back a second time so the tech could "get creative" on a separate appointment.

Mind you, this was not only with a tune, but a Roush Supercharger added.

Oh, and yes, there is no "setting it back to factory" without them knowing. As stated above, they can tell.

 

[taco-13]

Most of the warranty decision is not made by the dealer. The PCM monitors countless functions of the vehicle and will take a snapshot of any event that is out of factory specs.

Let me try to explain it this way. I had a customer with a Focus ST that had low compression on 2 cylinders and wouldn't run. He swore up and down it had never been tuned. Which it turned out he was correct. However he had put an aftermarket BOV on that was adjusted way out of spec. So the car was producing more boost at certain load percentages than it was supposed to. So every time this happened the PCM takes a snapshot. Date, mileage, engine temp, rpm, load percentage, etc.. So when Ford requested data files from the PCM on this car they denied the warranty claim. The customer had also cut the cats off and was running a short straight pipe off of the turbo.

So the PCM tracks everything. Even a pedal commander which doesn't reprogram the PCM will produce traceable snapshots every time the truck is producing more specified boost.

So any type of performance mods like a pedal commander or tune can affect a warranty repair. Ford extended warranty is the same as the Factory warranty. So that can affect your coverage on extended warranties also.

Years ago when we had the 03' Cobra's if we had a drive line failure it wasn't uncommon for Ford to send an FSE in to inspect the car for mods. They used to put us through training to detect if a car had mods done to it. Back the it was the dealers responsibility to tell Ford if the car was modded. Of course most dealers didn't. Dealers wanted the warranty work AND they didn't want to **** of their customers. So if Ford would pay and the customer was happy in the end it was a win win for everyone but Ford. However if the dealer got caught doing that Ford would not only kick the warranty claim and refuse to pay it. That would also end up with the dealer getting warranty audits more frequently.

We replaced a motor in a 2008' GT500 that one of my customers blew up. We couldn't detect any mods but when Ford got the blown motor back they felt it was modded and refused to pay the claim. So we were out something like $15k.

So as mentioned above. Be prepared to pay if you make those decision to mod the truck in certain ways.

Now with that said if you tune the truck and the AC compressor goes out both factory or extended warranties won't balk at paying that repair.

So a tune doesn't just void your warranty.

Also as said above if Ford denies the claim goo luck fighting them and saying THEY have to prove that your mod cause the failure.

See any issues with forscan changes?

 

[03'Darin]

See any issues with forscan changes?

Forscan shouldn't affect anything unless you were to screw up a module, and that may not even get detected as a forscan alteration. I've done multiple changes to my truck with Forscan. I can't see that causing an issue.