Tuning and warranty question

Quick question. I know that with all tuners it's easy to flip from stock flash to desired flash quickly.

I was speaking with a relative who works in a dealership as the guy who handles all computer work. He warned me about warranty issues with flashing.

He said these days anytime they hook up to the machine, they specifically check logged timestamp of update. If it doesn't match origination date from sale it gets flagged as tampered with and is cause for challenging warranty claims.

Anybody have experience with this? Is this just a concern with more experienced techs, do all dealerships do this? Next purchase for me is either ktuner (if they become available again) or hondata. Just want to know what I'm signing up for.

Thanks!

Your mileage may vary, but we've seen engines and transmissions replaced on tuned vehicles under warranty.

I have been reading these mods from ktuner and Hondata. I would wish for a little more power and more importantly, to remove the rev hang.

Not sure if I would do it because of the warranty. I bought the extended warranty so I do not want to give Honda reasons to refuse warranty claims. There is no reason for Honda to honour the warranty if we put additional load to the engine and transmission.

The exact thing I am concerned is the time stamps of the connection attempts.

Find yourself a mod friendly dealership. Take it in for an oil change, make talk with the service manager and techs, and see what their viewpoints are on mods. The techs at my department are very leinient and have 300+ HP Civics themselves, as well as talk about warranty claims on other tuned cars. No guarantee this will be a complete safegard, however.

MugenCivicX said:

Find yourself a mod friendly dealership. Take it in for an oil change, make talk with the service manager and techs, and see what their viewpoints are on mods. The techs at my department are very leinient and have 300+ HP Civics themselves, as well as talk about warranty claims on other tuned cars. No guarantee this will be a complete safegard, however.

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I would not take casual conversations too seriously.

My understanding is the policy is set by Honda, not the dealerships. The dealerships are happy to do the repairs and then foot the bill to Honda. Especially for a big job, it has to be approved by Honda and they sometimes send someone to assess the damages.

My friend has a 2016 Mazda 3 which had condensations inside one of the headlights. Mazda Canada actually sent someone to inspect the headlight before approving the replacement.

mis3 said:

I would not take casual conversations too seriously.

My understanding is the policy is set by Honda, not the dealerships. The dealerships are happy to do the repairs and then foot the bill to Honda. Especially for a big job, it has to be approved by Honda and they sometimes send someone to assess the damages.

My friend has a 2016 Mazda 3 which had condensations inside one of the headlights. Mazda Canada actually sent someone to inspect the headlight before approving the replacement.

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Absolutely correct. If they send out a rep, you're screwed. But as for just going in for routine maintenance and they're cool with mods, they're most likely not going to note anything prior to a warranty claim.

Does anyone know if the computer records the last update date, the last few dates or all the dates?

360glitch said:

Your mileage may vary, but we've seen engines and transmissions replaced on tuned vehicles under warranty.

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please post links to these for proof, please. not totally saying i doubt you, i just want to vetify myself.

BoostedSiCoupe said:

please post links to these for proof, please. not totally saying i doubt you, i just want to vetify myself.

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Most people that are lucky enough to have that happen are smart enough to not post about it publicly. I can personally verify 2 engines and 1 transmission. (not the same people / car)

I’m not saying it’s Honda’s policy to cover such an issue, just that it happens.

i do believe that if honda sends one of their engineers to look at the ecu for an engine replacement claim, then youll be fucked.

but if its just one of their master techs then maybe they wont find out?

i do believe that something is recorded or there is some discrepency with an update, or something, that would show a red flag if they really looked at the ecu.

its odd because that one bald guy jason who is always promoting honda's shit even made a video pushing ppl to use hondata.

makes me wonder if honda actually gave him the ok to do that video. because honda definitely wouldnt honor a claim if they found out you used hondata to flash the ecu.

BoostedSiCoupe said:

its odd because that one bald guy jason who is always promoting honda's shit even made a video pushing ppl to use hondata.

makes me wonder if honda actually gave him the ok to do that video. because honda definitely wouldnt honor a claim if they found out you used hondata to flash the ecu.

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There are actually some Honda dealers that are Hondata dealers, interestingly enough.

360glitch said:

There are actually some Honda dealers that are Hondata dealers, interestingly enough.

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How does that work? I know at least two dealerships offer the Hondata. Will they cover any issues then?

Below are some opinions on net. Regardless of the virtues of mods, they all say that mods would void manufacturer warranty.

https://autoexpert.com.au/posts/the-truth-about-engine-ecu-upgrades-chips-re-mapping

http://www.autos.com/aftermarket-parts/6-things-to-know-about-installing-an-engine-performance-chip

http://driving.ca/auto-news/news/the-risks-of-tampering-with-your-cars-ecu

mis3 said:

Below are some opinions on net. Regardless of the virtues of mods, they all say that mods would void manufacturer warranty.

https://autoexpert.com.au/posts/the-truth-about-engine-ecu-upgrades-chips-re-mapping

http://www.autos.com/aftermarket-parts/6-things-to-know-about-installing-an-engine-performance-chip

http://driving.ca/auto-news/news/the-risks-of-tampering-with-your-cars-ecu

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What about a plug-in piggyback tune like JB4 from Burger Motorsports? I know that the guys on the VW forum say that this is supposedly undetectable. I know that it is for German cars, but is there an option like that for us? I went the website, and what they offered was for "Track Only".