Tuner scare

[t_j]

I am about ready to pull the trigger on a tuner myself. Chris at Freedom gave me a quote and want to do it before the 5-star sale this weekend. He said its better to have a tune friendly dealership. But a little shy to ask the service manager if they are as that might open a can of worms. How do you even ask that?

You don't not if they know who you are and can write a note on your file.

But in all reality, even if the dealer is tune friendly, they might be for other warranty repairs but I can't imagine them being friendly if something goes wrong with the PCM or any of the powertrain, surely every dealer sooner or later is going to blame it on the tune???

The flash count will be a dead giveaway as soon as they compare that number to the ford records. (I'm assuming like dodge they track every firmware flash using their custom diag tools).

I will not be buying a tuner for my truck until the 120k bumper to bumper warranty that I purchased is up as doing so would effectively just be throwing away the money spent on it.

 

[Deleted member 12951]

Yeah, I was just reading the warranty info on those. Plan as day...

WHAT IS NOT COVERED BY THIS AGREEMENT: Unless stated otherwise (See STATE SPECIFIC provisions for additional exclusions or changes), this Agreement does NOT cover:
e) Repairs caused by improper or unauthorized service procedures, Failures caused by: (3) the installation or use of any part not approved,
certified or authorized by the Vehicle's manufacturer or any repair caused by after-market (non-factory approved) PCM reprogramming;

 

[Jordan@Apollo-Optics]

If you value your powertrain warranty then you should not put a tune on. Even if you return your tune the dealers can see that it was flashed with another tune as the PCM stores a programming counter as they have a limited number of times they can be programmed.

I know of two people personally who have had engines replaced under warranty and both had tunes on them. One got his transmission replaced at the same time too. FWIW, I think both had a Ford ESP plan.

 

[Wilson]

I use e-30 ethanol they have to prove what caused it. More than likely it's miss use.

 

[pat247]

We all know the risk of doing mods to our trucks, a tune is no different than any other mod you might do, any and all mods potentially void part or all of your warranty. That said do some research of tunes and tuners, make your decision and have fun with your truck. A good tune will wake the beast within.

 

[Perauto]

I have posted this several times so here we go again.

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 drive train 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.