Came from my dealer on friday,we where talking about power tunners and such,he said let me show you somthing,it was a binder from Ford on mods that people make to there trucks.It had many listing of mods,such as,chips,pullies,exhaust,throttel body etc.The binder told them with pics what to look for,to see if any mods had been done.He told me that if I did any mods that were not approved by Ford my warranty would be void,he also showed me the page.He said ,he was told that there were to my engine problems occuring,and trany.I can not afford to lose my warranty,has anyone else come across this yet?Sad day for me ,had planned on some mods.

 

Talked to reps from Hypertech and Superchips this weekend and they both said there is no way to tell if you have tuned it if you a) return it to stock b) drive it for twenty miles. They said that the code that they get at the dealership after doing this is the same code they would get if you disconnected the battery. Check with the tuner company see if they have the stuff in writing anywhere.

YMMV

 

thats what I thought too,but he said that they can tell ,and it is recorded,

 

Quintin,

I think you've addressed this in the past, but could you weigh in?

 

If you reflash your PCM, add a chip or fart around with a tuner, you can expect to have your warranty voided for anything from engine problems to tranny problems. I had an apten chip installed on my sport trac, and the dealership does not want to cover the tranny repairs under warranty because of it. The chip was not installed on the truck when I brought it in, so they presumed it was installed, and based on that, voided my warranty. I tried a second dealership, and they told me nothing was wrong with the tranny after the 1st dealership told me it would be $4700 for the repairs.

I am going to take out all the other performance mods, which is an intake system and mass air sensor, and try another dealership. You will get different answers from different dealerships.

From what I am reading however, the best way to go is with a flasher. It is nearly impossible to tell if anything has been messed with, and you can return the PCM to stock if you do have problems. It's a risky game though that could cost you thousands. I'm learning the hard way.

 

I'll have to agree with Ford on the tuners. There's no way they can verify that a person used it correctly or that the tuner manufacturer didn't come up with a tune that totally whacked out the truck and caused problems. So as you can imagine, a mechanic might be in the shop beating his brains out trying to figure out what's going on, not knowing that someone loaded a custom 'tune'. This is why I'll wait until my waranty expires before I even think about using a tuner. I want to, but I'm waiting.

Now obviously, if Ford says they'll not cover engine work under waranty because you installed custom floor mats, then we have a problem...LOL But there's just no way they can keep up with everyone's mods. I'm sure it costs them plenty of money every year trying to fix problems that were caused by mods and them not knowing it. Keep in mind, not every owner is not a genious and I'm sure people do some really stupid things and then want to blame Ford because of their own stupidity or arrogance. Not saying that's anyone here...but I'm sure these people are out there.

 

Well if the car manufactures could come out with some decent hp and whatnot from the factory, we wouldn’t have to be modding everything.... If SCT or any other aftermarket company can remove the throttle lag by a little computer work... Why the hell cant ford!!??

 

probably because after running the engine at 6500 revs for the equivalent of 8.62 years with no oil in it, it died.

IOW, I agree.

 

Even it they did, people would still not be satisfied and do some type of performance upgrades. The cycle never ends. As far at the throttle lag, that may be Fords way of keeping DL components from seeing to much stress, decreasing there warranty claims.

zman

 

You guys are right. Fords are built to barely handle their own power, heaven forbid you add 20 horse power to them. It's no wonder that Ford would spend so much time, reasearch and development of a supercharger system with Roush, sell them new on the Ford dealerships as a Ford authorized product and not warrant it.

 

Ok, I can understand the deal with tuners, but why would they have a problem with aftermarket exhaust?

 

Actually, from what I understand, and has been stated in the chip forum, according to the moss-magneson act they cannot void your warranty unless they can prove the aftermarket product caused the failure.

I wouldn't think that it would be that simple to prove the chip caused the problem when you can put it back to stock to begin with. (of course following the recommended procedure)

 

You signed a contract with Ford. That contract states that with purchase/lease of their vehicle, they would warrant it against factory defects for a set period. That contract also states that they reserve the right to void that warranty if you alter the vehicle beyond stock parameters (performance, tires, suspension electronics).

Take it to court and quote MM, but you signed that contract when you bought your truck.

Caveat Emptor when buying mods.