tune vs warranty

[jwalker92]

Ok, I'm new to this forum (just got my truck a week ago.)
I've done some searching and haven't found a straight answer to whether or not a dealer can tell if you've tuned your truck. Anyone know for sure? Thanks in advance!

I have a 2012 ram 1500 with the 5.7 hemi

 

[Graygoose]

yes they can see you've plugged into the computer.

 

[powderbrad]

I waved bye bye warranty before my truck was registered!

Though, they fixed my A/C under warranty. I reckon they'd fix anything not related to the computer / drivetrainunder warranty if they dott have to scan your truck in

 

[Hemi450hp]

A tuner will leave the same footprint on your PCM that a regular code reader/diagnostic tool would. Some dealerships are picky about tuners and others could care less, so there is no right or wrong answer as to whether they will hassle you about your warranty with a tuner. With any truck mods, they have to be able to prove that your aftermarket part caused a failure. This means they can only void your warranty on a part that is damaged as a direct result from the aftermarket part that you are running.

 

[SILVER_BULLET]

they will hassle you about anything really these days if your dealers sucks ive dealt with dealers that could care less about whats done with the truck and others that will find an excuse to blame anything done to the truck so they dont have to fix it but like matt said they have to prove that it was the modification that caused the problem to deny your warranty

 

[Oilbelcher]

High risk of hassle. Also, you are guaranteed to lose access to little know about and often valuable "policy warranty", where the OEM service rep can cover a dealer repair that wouldn't normally be covered. I have benefitted by this in a big way with Honda and Mercedes, where they 1) covered an expensive repair well outside of warranty, like trans replacement, because they 2) saw I had no mods, 3) had record of performing service at the dealer like oil changes, showing loyalty and maintenance, and 4) I was polite and asked about this option. Won't have a chance if you mod with a tuner.

For major problems, if the OEM really wanted to, they could request the dealer to perform special diagnostics to see if you tuned. Many horror stories on Audi forums, where tuners were traced.

 

[xrsman]

A tuner will leave the same footprint on your PCM that a regular code reader/diagnostic tool would. Some dealerships are picky about tuners and others could care less, so there is no right or wrong answer as to whether they will hassle you about your warranty with a tuner. With any truck mods, they have to be able to prove that your aftermarket part caused a failure. This means they can only void your warranty on a part that is damaged as a direct result from the aftermarket part that you are running.

On the newer ones (13+) don't they have a second odometer that stops recording when a tuner is installed? That's what I had heard anyway!

 

[BlownGP]

On the newer ones (13+) don't they have a second odometer that stops recording when a tuner is installed? That's what I had heard anyway!

Not sure what year his was ,but a friend of a friend had that issue when his tranny blew with a tune. Dealer wouldn't fix the trans. I forget were he went, but had the pcm millage corrected and went to another dealer to get the trans fixed. loo

 

[xrsman]

Not sure what year his was ,but a friend of a friend had that issue when his tranny blew with a tune. Dealer wouldn't fix the trans. I forget were he went, but had the pcm millage corrected and went to another dealer to get the trans fixed. loo

Haha the hard part would be finding somewhere to get that done!

 

[Oilbelcher]

Agree. And changing dealer wouldn't matter as the dealer must communicate to the factory for major repairs, by VIN number. If the dealer A rejects, they probably had to get the decision made from the factory service rep. The factory therefore would have record, and dealer B would see this, or the factory would when dealer B submits the claim. Don't tune unless you are willing too fund an expensive repair. As other forums say, you have to "pay to play". No free ride.

 

[Oilbelcher]

I work at an OEM factory (not auto industry) that sells and services through dealers. It's amazing what kind of service record data is available to the factory, via dealers, and analyzed for things like warranty costs and extended warranty pricing.