Looking for a concrete answer on Hondata/kTuner

[10thDave]

Ok, it seems that I can't find a concrete answer to this question, even from my dealer.

I have a 7 year/160,000KM warranty on this 2017 Civic Hatchback.

IF I decide to go with either tuning module, and something goes wrong with the car and flash back to stock then bring it in, will they be able to tell it was flashed and void my warranty?

Some people say yes, some say no. And my dealerships answer was kind of neutral, saying "only if it was done properly". Whatever that means.


The cheapest I found the Hondata for was $900 cash, any cheaper ones out there (not used?)

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[Blitzer]

The theory is that they can only invalidate your warranty of they can prove that what you did caused whatever your warranty failure was.
For instance, if you flash it and your shocks fail, that would be tough to prove it was the fault of the flash.

What no one seems to know is if they connect the car to the computer whenever it comes into the shop, and whether or not the last date of flashing is shown prominently when they do connect it or whether they would have to go looking.

I wonder if this can be tricked by the old trick of changing the date on the laptop used for flashing. "If" that worked all you'd need to know was the original date of the flash.

 

[10thDave]

The theory is that they can only invalidate your warranty of they can prove that what you did caused whatever your warranty failure was.
For instance, if you flash it and your shocks fail, that would be tough to prove it was the fault of the flash.

What no one seems to know is if they connect the car to the computer whenever it comes into the shop, and whether or not the last date of flashing is shown prominently when they do connect it or whether they would have to go looking.

I wonder if this can be tricked by the old trick of changing the date on the laptop used for flashing. "If" that worked all you'd need to know was the original date of the flash.

Yes but if say I did a +6 PSI flash and my turbo died a month or 2 later I'd be a bit worried for the outcome even if I went back to stock. This is the only thing making me iffy on wether I want to get it or not.

The turbo dieing is probably not likely to happen but either way if they were able to tell it was flashed I'm sure they could easily deny the warranty

 

[vonlaser]

There's a guy on here that mis-shifted and ended up bending rods. They sent the car to Honda and they could apparently see it all. Honda could tell that it had been flashed and how much boost was running at the time. Warranty was denied and he and his buddy swapped the engine.

 

[10thDave]

There's a guy on here that mis-shifted and ended up bending rods. They sent the car to Honda and they could apparently see it all. Honda could tell that it had been flashed and how much boost was running at the time. Warranty was denied and he and his buddy swapped the engine.

Mis shifted how? It would mess it up that bad? Sounds a bit far fetched, share the link if you can find it please.

 

[vonlaser]

Assumed mis-shift meant that he was going for 4th and accidentally ended up in 2nd at wot. check it

 

[10thDave]

Assumed mis-shift meant that he was going for 4th and accidentally ended up in 2nd at wot. check it

Thanks. From the sounds of it he had the rev limiter removed and mis shifted really far into the area past the limit.

Maybe I'll just take the $900 I was going to use to buy the flashpro and put it towards my next vacation or pay $900 off my car...

 

[vonlaser]

Nothing wrong with that. I will say I'm running ktuner myself, halfway through a vit custom tune. It's night and day from stock, like super crazy improvement. The horror stories are very rare. I'm not worried and don't see myself going back to stock.

 

[10thDave]

Nothing wrong with that. I will say I'm running ktuner myself, halfway through a vit custom tune. It's night and day from stock, like super crazy improvement. The horror stories are very rare. I'm not worried and don't see myself going back to stock.

I hear you on that. I personally doubt anything bad would come of it if I even did it, I think because it comes more down to what happened with my last vehicle and how the dealers always gave me the run around on everything (nothing was done to it other than Audio).

Maybe I'll just finish off the stereo in this car and be done with it.

 

[360glitch]

Thanks. From the sounds of it he had the rev limiter removed and mis shifted really far into the area past the limit.

Maybe I'll just take the $900 I was going to use to buy the flashpro and put it towards my next vacation or pay $900 off my car...

The rev limiter cannot prevent a mechanical over rev. If you are at redline in third gear and accidentally shift back into second the ECU cannot prevent the revs from going through the roof and likely causing damage to the engine.

To answer your original question, I believe they can tell if they take the time to look.

 

[10thDave]

The rev limiter cannot prevent a mechanical over rev. If you are at redline in third gear and accidentally shift back into second the ECU cannot prevent the revs from going through the roof and likely causing damage to the engine.

To answer your original question, I believe they can tell if they take the time to look.

Ah, alright. I guess the "what's a flash? I don't understand this I just drive the car" excuse wouldn't work hahaha

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