How would a tune affect my warranty?

[JimInNY]

I just bought a 2012 GT Premium from a local dealer, and their service department is being very vague about what tuning will do to my warranty.

I have already decided that they will not be my choice to service this car in the future, so I'm looking for a dealer that will be able to perform some mods and tunes that will not void my warranty.

Can you folks help?

And you should have a sticky thread with some basic info on it, location, hours, phone numbers, etc.

Thanks in advance,

Jim

 

[Kevin @ Wicked]

Depending on what failures occur on the vehicle, the warranty will still be in tact, but if you per say "pop the trans" from excessive gear banging etc...thats the grey area. Ford isnt to keen anymore with people abusing warranty at there expense.

 

[onlycodered]

You can always set your car back to stock if you use an SCT tuner instead of having an actual shop tune it.

 

[JimInNY]

Would you guys know the fine line to tread when it comes to tuning while preserving warranty?

 

[AlloyGT07]

I bought my pre-owned 07 GT from a ford dealer. It had a Steeda CAI and a tune installed. The mustang still had the original factory warranty. And I also bought an extension (which was a waste of money). So from my experience a CAI and a tune did not affect the original factory warranty or an extended warranty.

​

 

[JimInNY]

So from my experience a CAI and a tune did not affect the original factory warranty or an extended warranty.

​

Thanks! And thanks to everyone who replied, especially since this is Easter Sunday, and most of you, unlike me, probably have lives. lol

I would someday like to do a CAI, maybe a catback exhaust, a gear change, etc, but I would really hate to be on the hook for a $6k motor or trans on a brand new car if something goes kaboom.

It's advertised as a beast, so we should be able to make good use of its beastly abilities, no?

 

[FrostByte]

You have to find a "mod friendly" dealer. This means if the mod didnt cause the problem than warranty stands but if mod messed car up then no warranty on those mod affected parts. It depends on the service manager & the mechanic. There also is a law that says we can mod our cars any way we want & not void a warranty but if the mod directly or even indirectly causes a part to fail than it can/will void your warranty. Weather or not that "dyno tune/super charger/CAI" caused the failure is the opinion of the service manager & mechanic & your at their mercy. Try & PROVE it didnt!

I was fortunate when I bought my car the dealer's service mgr was "mod friendly" & the mechanic was a Mustang enthusiast himself so as long as my mods didnt mess stuff up then I was ok.

I had a dealer tell me that if I changed my tune @ all he would void the entire cars warranty, he may have not been able to legally to do that but taking him to court would be a waste of time. He also told me that lowering my car voided the entire suspension warranty as it changed the geometry of the suspension, he would even prob void the transmission warranty. So dont even argue with them, just move on if they are not.

I know Carmody Ford is mod friendly and Metro Ford MIGHT be.

Go to different dealers in the area & ask their opinions & let them know your looking for a mod friendly dealer to service your car. Give them examples of the upgrades you want to do.

My opinion of extended warranties is that they can be good to have. If you buy one get a FACTORY extended warranty as opposed to a DEALER extended warranty. A factory warranty will cost about 10% more but is worth it because you can take your car to ANY Ford dealer for warranty repairs. A DEALER warranty means that only the selling dealer may do the warranty work so your tied to that dealer. This is especially handy when the selling dealer is NOT mod friendly.

 

[ford20]

You can always set your car back to stock if you use an SCT tuner instead of having an actual shop tune it.

With the copper head PCM you can not do that anymore. Ford get sick of people modding their cars and than breaking something and bringing it into the shop completely stock, so they designed the copperhead to create a log that every time you tune the car it creates a time stamp in the computer. That is one problem that people who buy used 2011+ cars have because they didn't know it was modded and than they take it into service and are SOL.

You have to find a "mod friendly" dealer. This means if the mod didnt cause the problem than warranty stands but if mod messed car up then no warranty on those mod affected parts. It depends on the service manager & the mechanic. There also is a law that says we can mod our cars any way we want & not void a warranty but if the mod directly or even indirectly causes a part to fail than it can/will void your warranty. Weather or not that "dyno tune/super charger/CAI" caused the failure is the opinion of the service manager & mechanic & your at their mercy. Try & PROVE it didnt!

I was fortunate when I bought my car the dealer's service mgr was "mod friendly" & the mechanic was a Mustang enthusiast himself so as long as my mods didnt mess stuff up then I was ok.

I had a dealer tell me that if I changed my tune @ all he would void the entire cars warranty, he may have not been able to legally to do that but taking him to court would be a waste of time. He also told me that lowering my car voided the entire suspension warranty as it changed the geometry of the suspension, he would even prob void the transmission warranty. So dont even argue with them, just move on if they are not.

I know Carmody Ford is mod friendly and Metro Ford MIGHT be.

Go to different dealers in the area & ask their opinions & let them know your looking for a mod friendly dealer to service your car. Give them examples of the upgrades you want to do.

My opinion of extended warranties is that they can be good to have. If you buy one get a FACTORY extended warranty as opposed to a DEALER extended warranty. A factory warranty will cost about 10% more but is worth it because you can take your car to ANY Ford dealer for warranty repairs. A DEALER warranty means that only the selling dealer may do the warranty work so your tied to that dealer. This is especially handy when the selling dealer is NOT mod friendly.

The only problem with that is if you have a big issue good luck getting any help even from a mod friendly dealer. There is a guy in Texas on another forum that had his car smoking and it ran like it had a real lopey cam in it . He brought it down to the dealer to get it checked out they did an oil consumption test as he was constantly putting oil in (2 quarts in 1300 miles) and when he brought it back to them 500 mile later the dealer said that it was low on oil (they marked the dipstick). They eventually did a leakdown test and it came back ok so #8 is supposedly still good as were the rest of the cylinders. This is Ford's response to the problem:

His car is completely stock besides axlebacks and a JLT catch can and possibly some exterior mods.

The dealerships get paid for warranty work if Ford would ok the work as a legitimate problem. Look at how much trouble he had when the dealership knew there was a problem, the techs knew there was a problem, and the Ford Customer Service Rep knew there was a problem but Ford Engineers won't admit to it. Even with a mod friendly dealership I wouldn't risk it if you are worried about your warranty.

The only performance mods that I know of that won't void your factory warranty are the Ford Racing power packs and you have to get those installed by a certified dealer in order to keep a warranty. Oh and the Roushcharger

 

[onlycodered]

With the copper head PCM you can not do that anymore. Ford get sick of people modding their cars and than breaking something and bringing it into the shop completely stock, so they designed the copperhead to create a log that every time you tune the car it creates a time stamp in the computer. That is one problem that people who buy used 2011+ cars have because they didn't know it was modded and than they take it into service and are SOL.

Damn that sucks. Didn't know that at all. Guess I'll be holding off on doing the tune for a while.

 

[03SONIC]

A ford racing tune would not hurt your warranty, anything outside of that a dealership can choose not honor your warranty.

 

[onlycodered]

A ford racing tune would not hurt your warranty, anything outside of that a dealership can choose not honor your warranty.

I'm assuming this is a crazy-expensive tune done at the dealership, correct?

 

[03SONIC]

I'm assuming this is a crazy-expensive tune done at the dealership, correct?

Not at all.

 

[Unrealford]

You can always set your car back to stock if you use an SCT tuner instead of having an actual shop tune it.

Nope...

 

[Unrealford]

A ford racing tune would not hurt your warranty, anything outside of that a dealership can choose not honor your warranty.

True..

 

[JimInNY]

That seems to be the internet consensus, Ford Racing tune, or nothing, if warranty is an issue, which it is to me, since I don't want to have to pay for broken parts.

 

[ford20]

I'm assuming this is a crazy-expensive tune done at the dealership, correct?

You get the procal tuner along with the power pack which includes dual exhaust, new drop in filter, a case of oil filters and the pro cal tuner for IIRC around $750. But it also has to be dealer installed.

 

[rw0640]

A ford racing tune would not hurt your warranty, anything outside of that a dealership can choose not honor your warranty.

According to the Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act they can't void your warranty if you use non-Ford branded aftermarket parts unless the aftermarket part caused the damage.

"Warrantors cannot require that only branded parts be used with the product in order to retain the warranty."

The federal minimum standards for full warranties are waived if the warrantor can show that the problem associated with a warranted consumer product was caused by damage while in the possession of the consumer, or by unreasonable use, including a failure to provide reasonable and necessary maintenance.

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnuson%E2%80%93Moss_Warranty_Act"]Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

 

[onlycodered]

You get the procal tuner along with the power pack which includes dual exhaust, new drop in filter, a case of oil filters and the pro cal tuner for IIRC around $750. But it also has to be dealer installed.

From what I've been able to find, this is only available for the GT, right? I've got a 2012 V6.

According to the Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act they can't void your warranty if you use non-Ford branded aftermarket parts unless the aftermarket part caused the damage.

Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yes but it's very hard to be able to prove one way or another that a tune may or may not have caused an engine failure. Even with that law I've seen Ford and/or dealers (even other manufacturers) wiggle out of paying for things under warranty. I guess I'd just rather not play games with the warranty on my engine as that's probably the most expensive part in my car to replace. That and my Mustang is currently my daily driver.

 

[rw0640]

Yes but it's very hard to be able to prove one way or another that a tune may or may not have caused an engine failure. Even with that law I've seen Ford and/or dealers (even other manufacturers) wiggle out of paying for things under warranty. I guess I'd just rather not play games with the warranty on my engine as that's probably the most expensive part in my car to replace. That and my Mustang is currently my daily driver.

That's a good point. That's why you should flip the tune back to stock before bringing it in

Actually a good rule of thumb, I believe SCT recommends this on their site, is to return it to stock any time you go to the dealer because they may run available pcm updates that would screw up your tune and potentially not allow you to return the car to stock.

 

[onlycodered]

That's a good point. That's why you should flip the tune back to stock before bringing it in

This was mentioned earlier in the thread and it was pointed out that Ford is now using Copperhead PCMs which create logs every time you tune your vehicle, therefore making it very easy for dealerships to find out whether or not you've tuned your car and then set it back to stock before bringing it in.