Don't modify your new Mustang - Ford said so - Lateral-g Forums

69MyWay · #1 07-19-2011, 09:21 AM

Interesting article:

http://www.stangtv.com/news/dont-mod...w-tsb-says-so/

**camcojb** · #2 07-19-2011, 09:36 AM

they all do the same, though they may not advertise it. GM has been able to track re-flashes of the pcms for a few years now; even if you remove the tune and reflash to stock they can still see it was flashed with a non-factory tune or mod.

I don't blame them. I've modded my new vehicles and would never expect the factory powertrain warranty to be in effect afterwards.

**Ketzer** · #3 07-19-2011, 10:04 AM

Wholeheartedly agree! When you mod, YOU take the responsibilty of failed parts. It's unfortunately a complicated issue.
Some people lie about mods. Then act out expecting the dealer to "cover it" regardless.
Some dealers try to find reasons NOT to do warranty work or void entire warranties because of mods when it is clearly an unrelated part that failed.

There has been a ton of underhanded stuff going on for a very long time on both sides of the argument.

Jeff-

70rs · #4 07-19-2011, 12:25 PM

On the chart shown it says in one section "determine if battery has been disconnected OR if a flash tune has been removed...."

Does this open the door to denying claims simply because the battery may have been disconnected at some point?
It's disconnected for many reasons, not just for a flash tune.
Audio gear install being a common one.

BBC69Camaro · #5 07-19-2011, 12:57 PM

I thought Ford had a deal where if you buy a FRPP part that was for your car and had it installed by the dealer it was covered under the factory warranty, is that not the case?

Or is this just a case of a non-approved part possibly voiding the warranty if it causes damage?

**GregWeld** · #6 07-19-2011, 08:27 PM

I would never expect to retain a factory warranty after "mods" -- the very definition of the word is MODIFY... once modified -- the warranty should be void = after all -- it's not the product they warrantied any longer is it.

If you're "big enough" to be able to modify something - then you should be big enough to fix it when it breaks too IMHO.

JMitch19 · #7 07-20-2011, 07:25 PM

Buy a "spare" pcm and flash away. Put the untouched stock pcm on the shelf in case it needs to be reinstalled at a later date. I know this works for the GM Diesel guys.

I agree with what Greg said about voiding the warranty to a point. I know some dealerships are understanding and willing to work with you and the mods you have been done. Others seem to just want to be hard asses. All I'm saying is if I put a supercharger on my car I don't expect them to warranty the powertrain, but if my power drivers seat quits working I don't believe I should be denied warranty due to my car being modded. I think that looks like an obvious example, but I have seen stupider things happen. One dealer tried to have the manufacture void the entire warranty on a friends car due to aftermarket exhaust and rims...

Steve88 · #8 07-26-2011, 10:47 AM

I can see some cases where some mods could and maybe should void the warranty but the dealers that look for a reason not to warranty a car are only shooting themselves in the foot in the long run. I bought a new Ford F150 in 98 and I lived in a fairly small town then. I ordered the truck with a 5 speed and the trailer towing package that was rated at 8500 towing. The truck was never modded or abused and the 5 speed had problems from day one. The dealer attempted to fix it twice under warranty with little sucess then when I brought it back the third time the service manager said he was going to void my warranty because he saw me pulling my race car on a trailer and I exceded the towing capacity. I explained that my car (Fox bodied Mustang) and trailer together wieghed 5K which was well under the trucks tow rating. He called me a liar so I contacted Ford Motor Company about the warranty issue and they said they did not care and would not help me and I was on my own. I traded in the F150 at the GMC dealer and sold the Mustang and traded off my wife's Cobra convertible that we bought new and I have not owned a Ford product since and I will not own one ever in the future. I got a Ford Service survey right after that and I let them have it on the survey and 3 months later a rep from Ford called and said that he wanted to "make it right" and I told him he better go to the GMC dealer and track it down!

Revved · #9 10-25-2011, 05:05 PM

/\/\/\/\/\It is sad to see it come to that with a customer just because of an idiot Service Manager.

I spent 9 years on the line as a Ford Tech and 3 years as an advisor. I worked at 3 different dealerships over that time and was fortunate to always have been at dealerships that were reasonable regarding modifications. (It helped that I was modding cars for customers- sometimes for the Sales and Service Managers friends!)

I've seen cars that were properly modded and drive for miles without incident and seen cars that were poorly modded and have had nothing but issues. The manufacturer obviously can't be responsible for every modded vehicle out on the road, how the work was done, or how the vehicle is being driven so the warranty is written to protect the manufacturer from the hand full of idiots that ruin it for everyone else. The language used to be that if the dealership determined that the modification was the cause of the part failure that the repair would not be warrantied. Most dealerships are given the latitude to make the judgement call on that but can refer to a factory rep if needed.

I've only seen one time in those 12 years that a full factory warranty was voided and in that case it should have been- the vehicle was unsafely modified and should not have even been on the road let alone the Manufacturer pay for the part failure.

....sorry... I'm rambling... its been a long day... and its only Tuesday.

**camcojb** · #10 11-06-2011, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMitch19

Buy a "spare" pcm and flash away. Put the untouched stock pcm on the shelf in case it needs to be reinstalled at a later date. I know this works for the GM Diesel guys.

I know this is an older post, but wanted to clear something up. Swapping ECM's on the 07.5-later Dmaxes won't work either. Problem is they store the exhaust filter cleanings (regens), and your stock ecm won't show any for whatever length of time you have it swapped out. Dead giveaway that the ecm was removed as the filters can't go very many miles without being cleaned through the computer.