So get this. I am thinking about getting a tuner (not sure which one) and called 4 local dealers today asking about warranty claims. The first three said, of course, "that will void it." When pressured to be specific to the problem, meaning NOT in any way the result of the tuner (like the radio caught on fire), they still gave me a hard time. Anyway, the forth dealership guy had to talk to his service manager WITHOUT putting me on hold (I could hear the conversation) and this is what I heard. "Well, tuners really don't hurt them at all, but 'they' won't allow us to repair anything that had been altered... (phone cuts out, then) ...name(this person might work there) has a tuner on his '03 powerstroke..." When he came back on, he said, "No go on a tuner." Anywho, after hearing that little bit of the conversation, I wonder about this. I can understand if the modification actually damages something, but to hear "tuners really don't hurt them at all, but..." seems a little hipocritical (excuse the spelling). Any thoughts.

 

This is a no brainer.

If you need to carry the truck in for warrenty work return it to STOCK...don't mention a tuner and you want have a problem. Of course any dealership will tell you it will void the warrenty because if they didn't they would basicaly be authourizing the modification (and in turn taking resposibility for any problems it causes.)

IMO if you carry your truck in for warrenty work with mods anywhere near or related to the problem area then you are asking for trouble. You can name all the laws and acts you want but in the long run its a lot easier to return the truck to stock before carrying it in for work than it is it fight them about....trust me I found out the hard way several years ago with a lowered Dodge.

 

Yeah, you're right. 'Any thoughts' was a no brainer, but the comment of "the tuner really does not hurt it" kind of erks me. I guess that it's one more way to get out of warranty work.

 

If tuners in general would hurt the truck there wouldnt be 5 or 6 different ones on the market with such a huge following. Look at it this way...3 or 4 people have had spark plug problems and posted it here and in turn it caused a panic with everybody wanting to change their plugs every 10,000 miles or sue Ford or what ever. If it got out that a tuner would damage your truck (and trust me if it did it would get out) it would be all over these boards and no one would buy them.

From my experience over the years most dealers look for the easiest thing to blame a problem on, and the easiest thing is ALWAYS an after market part or mod added to the vehicle. At that point they can say "HEY ITS NOT OUR FAULT!" I went through this twice with two different Ram's with cat-backs that needed catalitic converters. They would just look at it and say its been modified and not want to warrenty it. Well after a little hell raising they would but I asume a lot of people would have just said ok and would have paid for it themselves. I guess it comes down to two things: they get paid more for customer work than they do for warrenty work and its easier to bill the customer than it is to file a warrenty claim. So in turn they will try their best to get out of doing warrenty work if they can (this is from my experiences with Ford, Chrysler and Chevy dealers.)

I was actually told by the service manager at the dealership I go to that if I ever bring my truck in for ANY warrenty work to the drive line or suspension to make sure I put my stock wheels and tires back on because if a Ford rep is there and sees the truck they will automaticaly denigh the claim. I could go on and on about this because it pisses me off so bad that you spend so much for a car or truck and then spend thousands more modding it (and doing things right...often better than factory) and then they do anything they can (all dealers not just Ford) to screw you when something needs work that is a legit warrenty issue. I have no problem with them not covering something thats broke because of something I changed but when you just look at a truck and say its modified...warrenty void thats just not right. And thats basicaly all they are doing when they tell you yes a tuner will void your warrenty.

 

Or you can have pimp dealers and reps that thinks its cool stuff that you have nitrous on your truck.

 

Hi.

It's already all over the web

A tuner can indeed damage your truck ... if implemented incorrectly, or end-user adjustments are performed without the knowledge or supporting data to do it safely ...

https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...t=tuner+damage

Cheers
Grog

 

I talked to the head service manager about the performance (or lack of it) of my truck he told me to get a chip or programer and were to get it on e-bay. But to make sure I return to factory settings when cominig in for service. The best thing to do is get a dyno tune so that you know you are safe.

 

Magnuson Moss Warranty Act

 

The only thing that gets me upset is the fact that we even need a tuner. Why can't Ford make the computers do this without an aftermarket chip? I understand different fuel grades and stuff, but even the tranny shifting on my edge is 10X better then Ford. I get better gas mileage and more power and less wear on parts, duh!

Thanks FORD, I will return to stock when / if I need to take it in for warranty.

 

Well my pod is not attached yet. I can't find the color to match it to the interior and I have about another year on the warranty, so no permanent mount for me.

Edited due to the fact I can't spell!

 

Well you know if you don't use it correctly the ignition key can damage your truck.

I think the key to that thread was that once the truck has been returned to stock the dealership can not tell a tuner had ever been used....the rest of the stuff in the post about what you are saying was pretty much a sales add (I don't have to say for who) and just like the "Truth About Trucks" has to be taken with a grain of salt.

 

Ok - whatever, but I believe the topic of discussion was tuners, not keys

The link was provided as a courtesy - and also contined a SEMA link, and other info, like the tidbit you saw.

And, most folks can read past the 'sales' jargon and derive the facts. And the fact is, regardless of who does the 'tuning' (whether it's a full-up custom one or some end user ****ing with settings ad hoc), if it is not done with a primary regard to Safety, then yes, damage is possible.

A quick example if you'd care to look is a number of posts regarding grenaded Lightnings on poorly written (Diablo) custom tunes. Tunes that were written to extract the utmost power, but resulted in severe engine damage. Contrast that with the same platform, running mods and proper safe custom tuning, producing enormous & safe power, year after year.

Another quickie before I go - on handheld canned tuners that enable shift pressure adjustment, a very real danger exists in cranking that setting way up - the tuners don't restrict this, and their docs indicate you do so at your own risk, but what happens in a stock auto tranny is a situation that can quickly lead to failure - the stock mechanicals simply cannot handle the increase safely. The feature is still there, but common sense (and a FTVB upgrade or similar ), should prevail.

As for your reference to the 'salesman' - another cheap shot - but the fact is he consistently provides a weatlh of free advice and knowledge & support to this board. I don't see many other vendors doing that here on such a continuous basis - but they certainly have no qualms about advertising their stuff too.

To each his own, bud.

Cheers
Grog

 

Im glad I have two dealers who don't care but they asked me to take it off and return it to stock before bringing it into them just for liability reasons.

 

As always, it depends on your dealer. And FWIW, a sharp tech can tell if a performance tuner was removed. Contrary to popular belief, not all of us are as dumb as some people think. There's been talk about developing a specific DTC that'll be stored in continous memory if a tuner is removed prior to service somewhere around the '06 or '07 model year.

 

Quintin, would it be something that would also register on 04-05 trucks?