2017 Tuner / Diablo PCM questions

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TDevil

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I have a 2014 Big Horn with a Vararam intake and a magna flow exhaust. I also run a Hemifever tune on a Diablo InTune I2 and I love it.

I'm debating trading in my truck for a 2017. I have a few questions about this:
I know I need a modified PCM. This new truck will obviously have a warranty. I've heard you need to swap in the Orig. PCM before taking in the truck for service, and the only thing that will be off is the mileage. So:

1) What happens if the dealership sees I've driven 5 miles in 3 months and come in for an oil change? I assume the oil life on the Orig. PCM would also read 100% and the modified one would read the true oil life. And not just oil changes, but any other service. Has anyone gotten any hassle over this?

2) Occasionally there are PCM updates. I'm still not entirely certain I know how they work now on my 2014 (I know I have to flash the PCM back to stock before taking it in to Dodge in case they run an update to the PCM, my tuner won't work until I get a file from Diablo) and I've never been clear on if re-flashing the PCM with my tuner AFTER Dodge has installed an update essentially negates / overwrites their update or how that works. But I have a similar issue with the new modified / orig. PCM swap. If I run my truck on the modified PCM, take it in to Dodge for service and swap in the Orig. PCM, and they update it, then I put my modified PCM back in the truck, I assume the update from Dodge is essentially wasted? How would I get an update (if I need one) into the modified PCM? I know they can be manually installed, but does that screw with the tuning on the modified PCM?

Sorry, I know that is a lot, but I love my tuner now and this is a big factor in me trading in my truck on a newer model that is apparently harder to mod. Thanks for any help / direction!
 

EJR_3

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Good question that was asked multiple times and every time left unanswered. I'm guessing no one know the RAMifications of these actions.
 
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TDevil

TDevil

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Yeah, I would think these are straightforward questions anyone would have before ripping out their PCM in a new truck!
I did poke around the Diablo forum and they stated the PCM swap does not change / effect the odometer (which makes sense, I would think that would be borderline illegal / fraud to be able to swap the PCM and reset the Odometer any time you want) so I would THINK that if I reset the oil life at 10,000 miles, swapped the PCM to the modified one, drove 8,000 miles, then swapped in the Orig. PCM it would see that there were 8,000 more miles on the odometer and adjust the oil life accordingly, but maybe I'm giving too much credit to how the system is designed. :)
I think I'll call Diablo Sport this afternoon and see what they say / if I can get any more info. Now I've read you can either get an unlocked PCM from them OR send in your orig. PCM to be unlocked, which would leave you with 1 unlocked PCM, so I'm very curious what they say the dealer might do if they found that in your warrantied truck.
 

Hemi450hp

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The warranty question doesnt have a right or wrong answer because every dealership is different. The Odometer will always read correct, but they can go in and see a discrepancy in mileage if they know where to look for it. Some dealerships are picky and will do this where others could care less. Any warranty questions need to be addressed with the dealership you plan to use for service as they have the final say over this.

Any factory updates are going to be overwritten by the new Diablo tuning, so it does not matter if the dealership flashes a new file on the PCM or not. If they flash an updated file that is newer than what Diablo has n file, then the tuner is designed to automatically load the older flash back on the PCM first before it will write in the new performance tuning.
 
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TDevil

TDevil

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Thanks guys. I actually just got off the phone with Diablo (I called before I saw these last 2 responses) and they confirmed what I (kind of) thought and what Hemi450hp states:
The mileage is stored elsewhere so swapping the PCM won't effect the mileage, though obviously as Hemi450hp says if they were really inclined I'm sure they could find the discrepancy.
Any updates that are released and installed by the dealer on the stock PCM are essentially wasted / useless as soon as you swap the Diablo PCM back in. The guy I spoke with made it sound like you could only install updates using the Diablo tuner and that Diablo tries to stay up to date / provide the milestone updates. I'm not a fan of relying on another company to run updates on my truck (The last update I got installed CarPlay with Siri support, which is great for me, and I don't know I'd want to wait 2 months for Diablo to push the update) but I would imagine that Moe's would be quicker, and since they are where I would be getting my HemiFever tunes from anyway, that shouldn't be a concern I guess.
Well, now to decide if I really want to go trade in my baby . . .
 

thekevin

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I am glad you asked these questions because I just bought a 2017 and these were the exact same questions I had about it. I will probably run a full 5k mile break in on it and then decide what route to go but the $1k pcm and intune from diablo seems to be the way to do it. I have the 100k mile warranty on mine so I don't really want to send mine in to be unlocked.
 

ramittome

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My tuner and unlocked pcm was put on my 2015 at about 500 miles. YOLO, right? Lol! I've taken my truck to the dealership a few times for minor warranty issues. It helps being personal friends with one of the service writers, but yeah, they can tell it's got a tuner on it. I pulled it off last time I went for them to look at something and my stock ECU wasn't even registering. She told me she was going to get the mechanic to check that out. Then asked if I messed with it, and before I could answer she said nevermind, to back it back if I had problems with it after I messed with it again. Lol!
 
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