Tune and warranty

The elephant in the room here is that everyone knows it could potentially be a HUGE battle to get a tuned truck warrantied if the engine blows. Notice how many people say things like "Ford can't tell" "Flash it back before you go in" etc to hide the fact it is tuned. If people are so confident issues will be covered why hide it? Because they don't want to flagged or unfairly denied warranty work. Don't expect a 40 year old law to save you from a company that has dozens of lawyers on retainer and unlimited time.

I would expect Ford to initially deny warranty coverage. However, I do think you could duke it out to get it covered especially if wasn't a direct issue (like a tranny or something). And a tuned truck is not a blanket denial for warranty coverage of an engine issue either. It comes down to how much battling you are willing to do should the need arise.

Anything not drivetrain related should be covered 100% no issues.

As above in several posts: Ford can tell when the ECU has been flashed. Not specifically that a tune was installed, but they can tell the PCM was flashed.

To the issue of warranty coverage: The Tech is going to do his job, find the issue, attempt to have it covered. IF possible the Tech will do the repairs, not charge you a dime. Win, win. At worst Ford Engineering will have to get involved....That's when things can go south.

SO in the end the issue being considered for warranty work CAN be an easy fix, OR refused due to data recovered by the Tech.

BTW my full deleted F350 had a PCM issue, tech was cool when I asked "just do what you can". I removed the tuning, he replaced the PCM (after getting cleared to do the work), I reloaded the tuning. No issues, covered under warranty.
Why??: Ford engineering had him run a few checks and they found a stray voltage input causing my problem. Covered under warranty.

Just $.02 from my actual experience.

I can only comment as such- I had an ‘04 Pontiac GTO & ‘08 G8GT that both had tunes & other stuff (headers/intake/exhaust etc- the G8 was stalled & catless lol) I never had an issue w/ the dealers getting warranty work done (not the only vehicles I’ve owned that were modded just the only ones modded w/ warrantied work) the G8 went in for a known 2-3 harsh shift/flare issue w/ the 6L80E tranny - it wasn’t stalled @ this point, but had headers + intake + exhaust + CNCd heads + LS7 TB & was tuned - I don’t recall whether they could check ignition cycles, but I KNOW they could check ECM/TCM flashes & they performed that TSB AFTER I was out of the 100k warranty. Had to do a decent amount of work replace tranny clutch pack cover ring seals etc

If you have a relationship w/ a decent dealer & are knowledgeable on cars/mechanics I find you get teated fairly.

Same went for my Yamaha R1 & CBR600

Steven Vaccaro said:

When we go in for warranty work, the work is done by the dealer and then paid by the manufacturer. Its in the dealers best interest to do the repair work. The tech and shop gets paid. The only times Ive read about the manufacturer wanting to know of a tune, was in a catastrophic failure. But I dont do this for a living, maybe there is a ford tech or service guy on the forum that can give more detail.

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I'm with Vaccaro on this. Why would a Dealer find ways not to perform the warranty work...they get paid and I have to believe they profit from the repair/warranty work? I definitely don't know the ins and outs of how a Dealership Service works but I gotta believe, unless you are a giant ****** of a customer they would always find a way to perform the warranty work regardless of a Tune, etc. Would definitely be great to hear from a Ford Tech on how it actually works!

When I bought my truck I also purchased the extended warranty. I toured the service area and met my assigned technician who does all their Raptor work. I explained to him that I would be tuning the truck and he said they see it all the time. In fact, MOST of the Raptors have tunes and other aftermarket parts installed. He said to make sure I remove the tune for ANY warranty work and everything will be fine. If you have a good relationship with your dealer AND the dealer has a good relationship with FORD, then you won't have any problems with warranty work. In most cases, you won't know about these things until AFTER you have a problem, so it is in your best interest to have a good relationship with your dealer AND the service tech(s).

BushwiickBill said:

I'm with Vaccaro on this. Why would a Dealer find ways not to perform the warranty work...they get paid and I have to believe they profit from the repair/warranty work? I definitely don't know the ins and outs of how a Dealership Service works but I gotta believe, unless you are a giant ****** of a customer they would always find a way to perform the warranty work regardless of a Tune, etc. Would definitely be great to hear from a Ford Tech on how it actually works!

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They only get paid if Ford agrees with their work as "warranty". Too many times dealers get screwed, so they now let Ford decide what's acceptable. I am glad I stayed stock!!

SL75 said:

They only get paid if Ford agrees with their work as "warranty". Too man times dealers get screwed, do they now let Ford decide what's acceptable. I am glad I stayed stock!!

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Not making fun but this is a great statement. “I am glad I stayed stock!!” would be great on a t shirt or bumper sticker.

Don't feed the troll

JohnyPython said:

Not making fun but this is a great statement. “I am glad I stayed stock!!” would be great on a t shirt or bumper sticker.

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It would be great for a gender transformation clinic.

My first gen Raptor had the sunroof fail 3 times. I had an SCT tune on that but when I brought my truck in, the tech said it was ok because the tune had no effect on the sunroof. He said if the engine or trans or computer has issues, then I’ll have a problem. I suffered the loss in my GTR. Many years ago I went FBO and E85. I ended up losing my trans while still under warranty. I took it in and they denied my warranty work on the trans due to the mods on my car. I assumed they would so I wasn’t shocked. So I bought a Jack’s 1000 race trans to put in. The dealership felt bad for me so they installed the race trans for free. But Nissan denied the work, not the dealership. My GTR was at the dealership for 3 weeks. They had to send ECU print outs and logs to Nissan before they would approve it. Once Nissan got the documents they wanted, they denied my work...