Superchips Says No

[rondar]

I had been reading threads about programmers and if dealers could tell if a new truck had ever had one. I wrote on the Superchips forum and asked. I was told by Ron at Superchips that if you return the truck back to stock, the dealer will not know if the truck had ever been programmed. I have a new 2009 SD and I purchased a Cortex Programmer to get a few more MPG. I do not want to lose my standard warranty or the $2500 extended warranty. What do you think of this information? Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
RJS

[benjamin24]

To be perfectly honest, I don't know. I've heard of one guy who said his dealer told him the only "chip" he could run that wouldn't void his warranty was a superchip. Is this true? Again I don't know. Most tuners do leave what is known as a footprint in the vehicles computer. Some companys are better at hiding said footprint from the ford techs. What I do know is that alot of the basic over the counter tuner/chips have been known to cause problems with the trucks. These problems themselves are the evidence of poor tuning and lead the dealers to investigate further and end up finding the tuners footprints. What I'm saying is that the tuner basically tells on itself. Canned tunes are basically the same tune for every truck with the same engine. Custom tunes are more refined for a specific need and varies with a vehicles factory programming. The old saying You get what you pay for applies real well here.

[rondar]

Thanks Ben.....

[sportsman500]

being a ford diesel tech myself i can tell you yes i can . It's not so much about the codes that may or may not be there but what reflashing the pcm does when its been reflashed . there are p1000 codes telling me the pcm has been reset , u-comuntication codes that a standard odb -2 reader cant clear . superchips can say what they want .

[Larietguy10]

Originally Posted by sportsman500

being a ford diesel tech myself i can tell you yes i can . It's not so much about the codes that may or may not be there but what reflashing the pcm does when its been reflashed . there are p1000 codes telling me the pcm has been reset , u-comuntication codes that a standard odb -2 reader cant clear . superchips can say what they want .

I have a question for you then. If you are able to see these as easy as you say, do you always void the customers warrenty if you see one? I have a few friends here in AK that are Ford Diesel techs (and have been for many years) and they say they are able to see most of the cheaper tuners, but when it comes to the others such as spartan it is very hard to see it it at all. They also tell me that it's up to the Tech if they will void the customers warentee or not.

[twildman]

Originally Posted by Larietguy10

They also tell me that it's up to the Tech if they will void the customers warentee or not.

The tech can't void a warranty, only Ford can do that.

[Larietguy10]

Originally Posted by twildman

The tech can't void a warranty, only Ford can do that.

I understand that, and I shouldn't have worded it that way. The tech is the one that initiates the reason for the void through the service manager. All I'm asking is if he lets it go or if he see's the tuner and automatically relays the info?

[sportsman500]

no i dont automaticly void warrantys. It realy depends on several things ie ... what parts failed , is it due to tuner ? , customers aditude . I can however submit my findings to ford there is a form to file for warranty canncelation . Once thats done it is very hard to get ford to revalidate the warranty . It is possibly but very hard to do .

[Rob]

So If someone were to use the superchips tuner, and return it to stock, and take every measure to limit the "signs" left behind like a tailpipe covered in black soot, is it less likely a tech will investigate further to find out if the root cause of the issue is from a tuner or not? I guess I'm asking if one thing leads to another really. If you find a 6.4 with soot in the tailpipe, do you look further and deeper to see if it is tuned? Does the engineer or service writer also look to uncover any findings? It seems that FOMOCO is really looking hard at the warranty repairs now and blame almost everything on tuners.. at least they do here.

[Larietguy10]

Originally Posted by sportsman500

no i dont automaticly void warrantys. It realy depends on several things ie ... what parts failed , is it due to tuner ? , customers aditude . I can however submit my findings to ford there is a form to file for warranty canncelation . Once thats done it is very hard to get ford to revalidate the warranty . It is possibly but very hard to do .

That's an awsome answer! It's nice to see there are some techs out there that look at the whole picture rather then just the tuner. We have a guy at the main dealership here in Anchorage that will submit to void if he sees any aftermarket parts on a 6.4. That real bad part is his truck has the most mods on it and he still has his warentee!