Paranoia.......

[bluecar]

I was at the dealer getting some shakes and rattles looked at and hopefully get rid of them and up drives a young fellow with a nicely modded '06. I started talking to him and he had some nice mods...... everything except the engine. He was told that if there were any issues with the engine, Ford would send out some warranty nazis and find out whether the computer had been messed with - like they "had their ways."

I quite sure that the hand held units like the one I have below, when tuned back to stock that there would no trace of anything having been done.

Nevertheless, this made me feel a bit paranoid. Is the young fellow giving me wrong info? He really wanted to do some things under the hood and was quite frustrated.

Feedback? Thanks all.

 

[UrbanRedneck]

The only way that they can tell it is flashed is if they actually read the short term fuel trim or timing tables with the scantool, which they wouldn't do unless you had the car there for a driveability issue.

 

[SpartaPerformance]

Dealer I bought my car from told me if the car blows up he'll take care of it. There is a way around everything as long as any modifications such as heads and cams are done by a Ford authorized installer. I use as many Ford racing parts as possible anyway to me there is no need for anything else anyway.

 

[bluecar]

Dealer I bought my car from told me if the car blows up he'll take care of it. There is a way around everything as long as any modifications such as heads and cams are done by a Ford authorized installer. I use as many Ford racing parts as possible anyway to me there is no need for anything else anyway.

My service rep showed me someting new that the dealer is installing so there won't be any warranty issues. Its a Ford Racing Kit which consists of a CAI which looked like the factory snorkel except there was a cold air element instead of the thing sucking the air from the rear. There was also some little flashing fob that's probably not applicable for an automatic, and louder mufflers. I considered getting that, not using their tuning fob nor the mufflers. Thus, I can still use my x-calibrator and just put it back to stock whenever I take it in. However, those gouging so and sos priced the kit at $600 bucks!!

 

[walter]

Sounds like he showed you a Ford Racing Power Upgrade Pack. The xcal will work as long as you have the correct tune for the new MAF.

 

[Preston951]

I recently contacted my Ford dealership about modifications to my car still under warranty.

He basically said that you can do whatever you want to your car. As long as you are smart, buy quality products, and take caution when installing the products, you should be fine.

In the event of a failure, if they look at your car and can trace the failure back to one of your aftermarket parts, then that piece will be void from your warranty. So technically if you put on aftermarket CAMs and your headers randomly broke 6 weeks later (I have no idea what I'm talking about ), they would have to prove that those CAMs caused the problem in order to void your warranty over the damaged parts. If they can't prove it, they have to stay true to the warranty.

Same goes with engine tunes. If you tune your car too powerful and you blow your engine, they'll be able to trace that and void your warranty.

"If in fact any modifications are the cause of the failure to a covered component, that component would not be covered under the manufactures warranty. With that being said, if you use quality parts and you are not modifying the vehicle to do any serious racing, you will most likely not have an issue. Modifying your vehicle doesn’t automatically void your entire warranty, usually only the component that was damaged as a result of the modification."

That's the email he sent me.

He also said this:
"One who fears failure limits his activities. Failure is only the opportunity to more intelligently begin again.” - "Henry Ford"




And don't worry about it. As long as you are safe and aren't pushing your system over the limits, you should be fine.

 

[BlownFiveLiter]

I recently contacted my Ford dealership about modifications to my car still under warranty.

He basically said that you can do whatever you want to your car. As long as you are smart, buy quality products, and take caution when installing the products, you should be fine.

In the event of a failure, if they look at your car and can trace the failure back to one of your aftermarket parts, then that piece will be void from your warranty. So technically if you put on aftermarket CAMs and your headers randomly broke 6 weeks later (I have no idea what I'm talking about ), they would have to prove that those CAMs caused the problem in order to void your warranty over the damaged parts. If they can't prove it, they have to stay true to the warranty.

Same goes with engine tunes. If you tune your car too powerful and you blow your engine, they'll be able to trace that and void your warranty.

"If in fact any modifications are the cause of the failure to a covered component, that component would not be covered under the manufactures warranty. With that being said, if you use quality parts and you are not modifying the vehicle to do any serious racing, you will most likely not have an issue. Modifying your vehicle doesn’t automatically void your entire warranty, usually only the component that was damaged as a result of the modification."

That's the email he sent me.

He also said this:
"One who fears failure limits his activities. Failure is only the opportunity to more intelligently begin again.” - "Henry Ford"




And don't worry about it. As long as you are safe and aren't pushing your system over the limits, you should be fine.

Good posting here. Google "Magnuson-Moss Act," for more information, if you're bored. Preston951 pretty much summed it up though. If the failure is not caused by the part(s) you installed, they're required by federal law to honor the warranty.