Custom tune and Ford dealer maintenance

For my '07 GT, I plan on putting in 3.73 rear gears, a cold air kit and a custom tune by Xcal2. This is the first mod I've ever done (actually I'm gonna have my hot rod shop do the work). I usually have my cars dealer serviced. Does anyone have advice on how I should deal with the dealer? Should I tell them to perform the standard maintenance, but leave the tuning as is? Or is it better for me to reset the tune to stock, get the car serviced and then retune it?

Mark

Reply to
stratman
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I lack personal experience with late model, however, I would ask one question before making changes.... will this change void my warrantee?

Reply to
Spike

The answer might depend on who you ask the question. If I were Mark I'd address my question to Ford Inc and ask them to fully explain their answer not a simple "yes" or "no". From what I've read recently I'd say the correct answer is "no" but the easier answer will be "yes" especially coming from the dealer. A few dealers have separate "performance divisions" which do this work, with the dealer still providing full Ford warranty coverage.

Reply to
Richard

If you do return your tune to stock you'll want to also put your stock intake back on... otherwise you'll probably get a check engine light due to the car running lean... Depending on which CAI you get your car might even run really rough...

for normal service... then again my dealership was very very cool about mods!

Reply to
John S.

I believe it is important, whether or not you leave the tune on when you go to the dealer for service, to specify that they NOT do any update re-flashes from the factory. I've read horror stories about immobilized cars requiring a new tune from the tuner programmer before they'd even start. Something about a changed code as the basis for the non-standard tune.

On the other hand, if you return to stock tune and remove the CAI before taking the car in, you should be able to discover the factory re-flash code (if any) and email it to your tune-maker and receive a new one right away.

Tangled web, eh?

Reply to
Frank ess

Mama mia! I didn't think this small tune would cause any headaches! Thanks for the advice. I think I'll discuss the issue with my dealer and then decide what to do...

Mark

Reply to
stratman

Another point, I keep hearing that Ford can tell if you have used a tuner or not, wouldn't be hard to do, I just don't know how they are doing it...

Reply to
My Name Is Nobody

Yes, you should tell the dealer that you do not want them to put in any updates to the computer... basically they end up changing the "strategy code"... what happens is you go to load your custom tune and the strategy codes no longer match you end up with a car that won't start... then you have to sent your unit (SCT X-Cal2 for example) back you your shop/store to have them put an updated strategy code on your tuner... Kind of like taking your PC in for a cleaning and the shop decides to upgrade your PC from XP to Vista (without asking you...), except now all your XP programs don't work...ooops!

Reply to
John S.

This is what I have been told by multiple sources, including some engineers inside of Ford...

If you re-flash your car back to the stock tune the only thing that anyone can tell is the last time the computer has been reset. They cannot tell whether you loaded a custom tune or not. They just know the computer was reset... which of course happens when you do things like disconnect the battery...

Now suppose you don't re-flash to stock... Dealership cannot tell if the computer is running a custom tune... Again I was told by multiple sources that the dealership would need to send your computer into Ford to have some one there determine if the computer had a custom tune... Now someone said they were told by their dealership that the dealership could tell... but i was never able to confirm that... i'm thinking it was just a scare tactic from the dealership... LOL

I had my car in for all kinds of service and since it was supercharged there was no way I could put the stock tune back in... I just politely reminded them to write on the work order in big letters not to re- flash/update my computer... never had a problem...

Reply to
John S.

LOL good analogy...

Reply to
My Name Is Nobody

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