Warranty and Mods

[DuffRAM]

Has anyone had their warranty voided due to modifying? I have a full warranty on my 13 1500 and want to do performance mods. I also have a bunch of free oil changes and was wondering if they would deny those also.

 

[audio1der]

This is a good read, finishing with the M-F act protecting us but ultimately the dealer holds the cards and can make your life difficult.
Oh- and welcome aboard!

What Voids Your Vehicle's Warranty? -- Edmunds.com

 

[Chewy]

Stay away from tuning and popping open the engine and trans and you should be OK. They won't look at you and say; hey, you put an amp and speakers in here and that's what caused the engine to knock", but they could say hey, we see you've tuned it, and that voids the warranty. People say "just pull the tune off", but the dealers can see "flashes" to the computer so don't kid yourself there.

Stick to CAI, cat back exhaust and perhaps a ported TB from Moes and a catch can. Headers and things like that CAN cause issues with dealers. Some dealers are better than others at allowing or not saying anything to RAM about the mods.

JMO
Chris

 

[Graygoose]

They wont void the free oil changes, but headers, tuner, etc can void what they deem could cause issues later for the motor, etc. I got me a set of JBA headers, called my dealer which I have a great repor with, he said sadly, they have to at least report any changes in the computer, whch gets reported up from there. So I sold them wasnt worth it to me for 10hp to lose my warranty.
Tuner, both Diablo and Edge say it won't leave a trace in the computer, just de-tune it and take it in for any warranty work. problem is, some say the incription IS left in there, so again, a sole decision I made not to do it. I paid like $1800-$1900 more for a 100,000 warranty, so want to keep that, not lose it. But some dont care, they can mod and see beneficial gains. It's when or if there are issues, is the long battle you can have with Dodge over your claim. If denied, just dont feel like paying $3500 for a new tranny out of pocket.

*edit, Chris tree'd me on the post

 

[ljvsnyder]

The manufacturer has the burden of proving that the aftermarket equipment caused the damage, their decision must be made in writing and state the how and why they came to that determination. That being said, they know that most people don't have the ability to fight them on denied warranty claims. Key is get in good with your dealer and they will go to bat for you. As to performance chips, if the 1500 ECM is anything like the Cummins CTD it tracks the number of flashes. Chrysler keeps a database on how many times you ECM has been flashed by an authorized computer. So if you throw on your diablo sport and flash the ECM you will have one more flash than chrysler shows in their computer. If you decide to get any performance mods be sure to check with the vendors on here and support those that support our community.

 

[Hemi450hp]

If you are concerned about the warranty, then I would stick with the basic mods like an intake, throttle body, and exhaust. Some dealerships can be picky about mods, but I have known others to warranty work on trucks that were even running nitrous.

Your best bet is to just talk to your local service guys and see what they say about the mods. I finally found a guy at my local dealership that will take care of me even though I have a few aftermarket mods and a tuner. Its all about who you know and how you approach them.

 

[Graygoose]

maybe I should grab the Service writer at mine and take him for a drink...LOL

 

[BIGBLACKHEMI]

maybe I should grab the Service writer at mine and take him for a drink...LOL

I'm a service writer for Volkswagen tipping your guy goes a long way. All the kids with the modded GTI's and Jetta's take care of me so I take care of them.. I feel obligated to since I used to be one of them lol

 

[Graygoose]

LOL nice ^^^^^^^^^^

 

[BIGBLACKHEMI]

LOL nice ^^^^^^^^^^

Thanks....

 

[raptor1797]

My dealer told me I could level and body lift but if I tune it , my powertrain warrenty is gone . Really killing me not to tune it but powertrain parts are expensive. So for now im holding out on the tuner.

 

[-Arana-]

I asked my service guy a lot of questions regarding mods and he said as long as they are installed right he doesn't have a issue with mods and I asked him about tuners/programmers and his answer was make sure you have it saved, because they are not responsible if they flash it

 

[Hemi450hp]

I asked my service guy a lot of questions regarding mods and he said as long as they are installed right he doesn't have a issue with mods and I asked him about tuners/programmers and his answer was make sure you have it saved, because they are not responsible if they flash it

Easiest fix to not losing your tuning is to just set it back to stock before you take it in. This only takes a few minutes and can save you a lot of headache by not allowing the dealership to flash over your performance tune.