Alright, so I came back to my senses and traded in my chevy for a 2012 F-150 5.0 from Joe Machens Ford in Columbia,MO. Have been reading alot on them and decided the 5.0 was the way to go. I put a rough country leveling on and some 20' xd spys and some terra grapplers. Went in to have a key replaced on it earlier this week, and while waiting decided to pick the brain of the service advisor as to what I can and can't do to the truck while still under warranty. He said the leveling kit and bigger tires and wheels are fine, just no major lift, they have no issues with putting different exhaust on it... as long as I don't delete the resonator. He said a cai is ok as long as it has a dry filter due to the oiled ones have been known to throw oil on the MAF sensor and cause them to crap out. All and all pretty happy with his responses.... until I brought up a tuner.

Now, I've read some say ford can detect if a tuner has EVER been on it and if issues arise will void the warranty for this. However he told me that as long as i remove the tune AND the tuner from the truck before taking it in for ANY service they have absolutely no way to tell it has ever been on there. Even if the were to send the computer to detroit for testing they have no way to tell. He said this is basically the only aftermarket upgrade I can do that he has absolutely no way to tell if it was ever on there. He said they have so many diesels running around that have tuners on them and they know it but as long as they are removed they can't prove it. I was just wondering if this is what anyone else has been told? Is there anyone out there with any experience with this. Any info. would be appreciated.

 

It sounds like you have a more reasonable dealer than most.

I believe that there ARE ways to tell that the vehicle has seen a tuner if push came to shove.

 

Only way I think they could tell is if you flash a new tune on the truck and the tune tells it to run at like 50* of timing and the truck blows up, you dont uninstall the tune and they go in at look at the computer and it says the computer is commanding 50* of timing at WOT. A smart mechanic can figure it out. However if you detune it before it goes in I really dont see how they know. The diesels they know based on the spray patterns on the pistons.

 

I've read that lets say the motor blows that somehow it almost takes a snapshot of everything and data logs it and they could tell through that

 

The way they can tell is the computer records ignition cylinder cycles. Meaning each time you start the truck it's recorded. When the computer gets reflashed it erases that data. So when they see say 2 cycles with 5k miles they know it's been reflashed and there goes the warranty out the window. That info came from a friend of mine who is a master Ford mechanic.

 

^yep, they know how many times the computer was dug into. They don't know exactly what was done, but know it has been fiddled with.

 

Anything prior to '09 it looks like a battery disconnect after that its different.....

 

Maybe they check the truck's browsing history!!

 

Obviously the dealer has never heard of a checksum...there ARE ways to tell that a tune has been installed...if you talk to a computer engineer that is

 

This is all dealer specific... We've got 5 deals in town and everyone will tell you and do something differant... had a buddy blow out both turbo's on his 250 first dealer denied the claim had it towed to the second and they fixed it under warrenty... Showed me real fast some dealers are out to screw the customer and some are out to get warrenty money paid to them...

 

There is no way to tell if a tune has been on the 5.0. Only thing that happens is it will just show up as the same as a dead battery. The diesels can be busted easily when they put a tune on them. I have no idea on the Ecoboost so I won't comment. If they send the PCM to FoMoCo there is a way to get a pretty good idea it was tuned but it doesn't work for all vehicles and they rarely ever do this.

 

I am sure they can tell even after a reflash back to stock

Especially if you adjusted the factory speed limiter (95-105 mph) if you went over that
it is recorded in the (aka black box )for insurance accident data

So if they see the truck was doing 125mph @ some point they know something was changed, I dont know if there is a way to clear that or if it rewrites over itself after xxx amount of time

Either way if I toasted the stock motor, I wouldnt want another one free or not
might as well build it the way you want

slick