here's an article on warranty problems from "enjoythedrice.com"....JR

http://www.enjoythedrive.com/content/?id=7253

 

Even if you replace the coating, the dealership WILL be able to tell if you have run a non-OE program. No matter what you do, they will know your vehicle ran a chip. Now, having said that, there is nothing they can do if you decide to run a chip, unless they can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that running that chip caused the problem. This is nearly impossible to do. But it is possible if some goober buys a Race Only chip designed for 100+ octane race fuel and then runs it on 87 octane pump gas. Most of the street chips when run with the correct fuel rating will never cause any problems, in fact, dealerships like Downs Ford SELL them.

Hope this helps. . .

 

How do you figure?

 

There is a log file that is generated and stored by the OBD-II system that identifies the program being run at any given time.

Hell. . .a ford tech even told me about the Lightining's on-board dyno program and even how many times (and for how long each time) my particular vehicle had been in WOT and how much boost pressure my engine developed.

I was suprised at the information that is available to the diagnostic techs. I chuckle when I hear people tell stories about changing things back to stock before taking them for service. YOU AREN'T FOOLING FORD. Do you really think they are that stupid? Yea, here's a guy with a stock L, but the diagnostic says that he was hitting 14# of boost and his engine management program was running non-OE calibrations. Hmmmmm. . .

I don't know if alot of tuners know the extent of the OBD-II system. They seem to understand the main programming aspects, but the OBD-II has double checks for EVERYTHING.

 

I'm quite familiar with both the Ford and OBD-II programs. I was an EEC-Diagnostic specialist at a Ford dealer for 6 years. I've been trained by Ford engineers in thier schools, and have countless training degrees and certificates from Ford for all aspects of the EEC system. And I've never heard of such a "log". The OBD-II portion of the EEC is very generic. It only monitors a fraction of what the Ford programming does. The OBD-II programming only monitors inputs needed to perform the seven different on board tests. There is no way for the either program to monitor boost. I'd like to know what kind of diagnostic system these people are using to pull this "log" as I've used the NGS, SBDS, and WDS, and neither of those tools do anything like that.

 

Hmmm.

I have seen the data printouts.

I am not a master technician, nor do I claim to be, I can only speak to what I have seen with my own eyes and heard with my own ears.

I am not challenging you or your knowledge/skill base.

My contacts at Ford claim the same knowledge base as yourself, and have produced the data I mentioned earlier. What exact equipment they are using is not information I am given.

If I offended you. . .it was not intentional.

Maybe they are BS-ing me? You seem knowledgeable.

Are you saying that there is nothing software or hardware that can detect if a diffrent engine management program was used?

 

I did a little more digging to some of the people that I know who do that kind of stuff (PCM code and such) after the post you made; after all, if this is true, it would be nice to know .

The only thing that could be related, is if the particular chip brand is programmed to overwrite the module ID portion of the PCM. However, this still does not "log" any kind of data. If this is the case, when you hook up the NGS or WDS and pull up the Module ID code, it can have something written there instead of the factory module ID. I have heard of another brand of chip doing this, although I will not mention which. I know that the Autologic chips do not do this, as I just asked Mike Wesley about it.

I'm assuming it is, but I have to ask anyway, was this done on a Ford vehicle? I know that other brand PCMs do some stuff Ford PCMs don't, like datalog info, store milage, etc..

 

Sal, please tell which chips do this. I think it would be helpful.
if not email me. island_de_pascua@hotmail.com thanks

 

WrongdayJ
And Everyone else trust me if you dissconnect the battery for a good 24 hours before taking it to the dealer all the codes will be cleared. I myself just currently went through worrying that my warrenty would be voided. I was having this surging problem and had no idea what it was thought me and my friend fixed it. Then it came back. So to make a long story short the truck was all F'ed up and had to go to the dealer anyway for the intercooler and wiper recalls. so me and my friend stripped her and off she got towed to the dealer. Well dealer first says the engines shot. Then they say the ford tech is coming into check it out they arent sure whats wrong. So i was dreading that thinking they would find that i had a chip or some code left by it. Well ford tech says he doesnt know whats wrong taking his info back to put in the computer to see whats wrong. Well anyway fast forward to today about a month later they say the truck is all back together and all recalls done but still not working. Well they said that they found the problem it was an electrical connector that wasnt connected and he said that the computer found it and now the truck is fine. Well i will see when i get her back how she is hopefully this afternoon i will be getting her back. So trust me if the regional ford tech that they had come in to look at my truck didnt find any codes from a chip then im pretty sure that the chips dont leav any codes just rember to dissconnect that battery for 24 hours. Hopefully illl get her back today and she will be back to her old self.
Vin

 

There is a section of the article that I guess would be called the disclaimer, saying that any performance mods may cause warranty problems, and that the "official Ford position" is not to do it (put in a chip), but the majority of the article is about which chips to get and how to put them in. And I don't know if anyone else gets that magazine in the mail, but to someone who doesn't know that SVTOA isn't directly connected with Ford, when you get a magazine in the mail that is about moding your Lightning, it seems that putting in a chip is the thing to do. I didn't order that magazine, I got it because I own a FORD Lightning.

I've also heard of dealerships installing chips into peoples vehicles. How could any dealership void a warranty that was in question because of problems that the dealership was itself partially responsible for? I guess there are just some mod-freindly dealerships and some that will do anything to get out of paying some $$

 

Sal,

I've never formally met you, but I want to thank you for checking into this obviously pretty hot topic. It's good to have tech's on board this forum to help dispel alot of the crap that gets thrown about.

So let me see if I get this right: There are some chips that can be detected, because they (in some way) change a numerical value in the PCM. There are also a number of them that can not be detected as long as the proper 'precautions' are taken. ie: disconnecting the battery and replacing the contact protection coating. Is this correct?
(If so. . .can I assume that your chip is one of the ones that can't be 'detected'?)

 

What happened to your "log file" ??