ECU Flash/Tune Void Warranty?

[DaBears4Lyfe]

Hello All,

Just got off the phone with 3 dealerships and they all told me CAI, Exhaust, and Intercooler upgrade would be fine for upgrades that they dont see an issue with warranty. They would hope i get the installation done by them so they could guarantee workmanship of the products and installation.

When it came to the ECU they all said if an issue occurred with the engine or some other drive train parts they would 100% point the arrow at the ECU and void the warranty.

Any thoughts on this?

If i had my ECU tuned and I had a massive engine failure i would be floating shits creek. Is there anything that runs a data log if I were to keep a stock ECU and in case of a failure just swap them out and tow it to the dealership would they find out?

Please help.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Why do you need/want a "spare" ECU? I don't understand why a different ECU is desirable.

 

[eflyguy]

Because if you flash your ECU, you would need to remove it and send back to have it "restored" in the situation he suggested.

 

[MerlintheMad]

I don't understand "flash your ECU". This topic is Greek to me.

 

[DaBears4Lyfe]

Why do you need/want a "spare" ECU? I don't understand why a different ECU is desirable.

Because if you flash your ECU, you would need to remove it and send back to have it "restored" in the situation he suggested.

Correct. So my big question is if I do this, is there some sort of Data log that will show I was using a different ECU. If there is it doesnt appear a ECU mod is for me. I can not afford to buy a whole new motor and lose out on KIAs 100K warranty.

 

[DaBears4Lyfe]

I don't understand "flash your ECU". This topic is Greek to me.

The Ultimate Kia Stinger Tuning Forum

^^^ Check out @PRESSERtech LLC and @Sales@Tork ECUs Flashing threads. Im hoping they can weigh in on this as these are the two i am most interested in.

 

[DaBears4Lyfe]

duplicate

 

[KLR STINGER]

A second stock "virgin" ecu would not be detectable by the dealer, but is pretty shady. I don;t subscribe to the "put it back to stock and play dumb" idea of tuning. That's fraud in some jurisdictions. Also if you think a dealer can speak on behalf of what mods are ok, you are sorely mistaken. A major repair such as motor and trans would require regional, if not nation corporate approval. If you think for one minute the will support a claim on an obviously modded motor you are deluded. Bottom line is you have to pay to pay. If I blow it up..I fix it. Pretty simple really.

 

[DaBears4Lyfe]

A second stock "virgin" ecu would not be detectable by the dealer, but is pretty shady. I don;t subscribe to the "put it back to stock and play dumb" idea of tuning. That's fraud in some jurisdictions. Also if you think a dealer can speak on behalf of what mods are ok, you are sorely mistaken. A major repair such as motor and trans would require regional, if not nation corporate approval. If you think for one minute the will support a claim on an obviously modded motor you are deluded. Bottom line is you have to pay to pay. If I blow it up..I fix it. Pretty simple really.

If thats the case with ECU tunes then there should probably be some sort of warning on ALL of their threads. This is my first performance car and without doing proper homework i could have bought one and been in some real trouble if i had an engine failure.

 

[MerlintheMad]

The Ultimate Kia Stinger Tuning Forum

^^^ Check out @PRESSERtech LLC and @Sales@Tork ECUs Flashing threads. Im hoping they can weigh in on this as these are the two i am most interested in.

Ah. I see, this is a "tune" issue. Stock Stingers need not apply. Thanks.

 

[KLR STINGER]

With a properly and conservatively tuned car, the risks are minimal. But the risks are always there. The OEMs engineer to a spec, and cost. Now, today's manufacturing and metallurgy have progress to the point that motors can take quite a bit of abuse. Personally I have been very impressed with the quality of engineering in these vehicles, and I think they will take quite a bit of power/torque. However everything has its limits, and its way too early in the tuning lifecycle to know what some of those limits are. Therefore inherent risk to tuning right know due to those unknowns. If you are not prepared financially or capability wise with possible failure outcomes...then don't tune your car. If you are tolerant of those risks and can deal with them if they occur..go nuts.

 

[Weareblondi]

actually, there is a warning. when you purchase any tune, be it a piggyback or a flashed ecu, there is generally a warning saying that you are up the proverbial creek if anything goes wrong because it is not of the manufacturers coding. that being said, a piggy back tune is usually a quick way to get more performance, but, and i stress that, it is just that, it piggy backs onto the actual ecu. you are not going to get the best performance as opposed to an actual tuned ecu. but, again i stress that part, the coding of the ecu is proprietary. manufacturers don't like it when you crack open their ecu's and play around. 1) the extra performance that is usually found is what they leave behind for the next generation of that vehicle and or a special edition vehicle. and 2) they do spend the time and money to research what the engine can and cannot handle. it's not like the old days where you would pop open the "brain" insert a chip, have fun for the weekend and remove the chip when you went to the dealer complaining that your car runs like crap. ecu's will data log, not sure about kia but a buddy of mines gtr did. he went in for a scheduled tune-up, they found out he was using launch control quite regularly, why wouldn't you it was fantastic, and voided his transmission warranty. and it was legal because it stated it in the actual warranty. excessive usage of launch control.
whatever you do to your car, like i had written before, should be at your own wallets risk. if you are not willing to deal with any problems that occur, which might not happen, ex: bigger rims and tires wreaking havoc on steering components, different tunes, bigger turbos, etc, then please do not do any mods. enjoy your car as is and the 10 year warranty will take care of the rest.

 

[Weareblondi]

A second stock "virgin" ecu would not be detectable by the dealer, but is pretty shady. I don;t subscribe to the "put it back to stock and play dumb" idea of tuning. That's fraud in some jurisdictions. Also if you think a dealer can speak on behalf of what mods are ok, you are sorely mistaken. A major repair such as motor and trans would require regional, if not nation corporate approval. If you think for one minute the will support a claim on an obviously modded motor you are deluded. Bottom line is you have to pay to pay. If I blow it up..I fix it. Pretty simple really.

i disagree with that, a second ecu would not be the same as the one that the car was manufactured with. i do not think that its just pick up next ecu and drop it in. i think it is coded to the vin of that particular car. if it wasn't, you would just call around to junkyards, find a wrecked stinger and just buy the ecu, as long as it was the same level, gt-gt, gt1-gt1, etc.

 

[MerlintheMad]

With a properly and conservatively tuned car, the risks are minimal. But the risks are always there. The OEMs engineer to a spec, and cost. Now, today's manufacturing and metallurgy have progress to the point that motors can take quite a bit of abuse. Personally I have been very impressed with the quality of engineering in these vehicles, and I think they will take quite a bit of power/torque. However everything has its limits, and its way too early in the tuning lifecycle to know what some of those limits are. Therefore inherent risk to tuning right know due to those unknowns. If you are not prepared financially or capability wise with possible failure outcomes...then don't tune your car. If you are tolerant of those risks and can deal with them if they occur..go nuts.

This is analogous to money risks: if you can't afford to lose it, don't invest/risk it. Same with our toys. I plan to drive mine as-is. So that if it does "blow up" it will be under warranty regardless. They make the car to accelerate like a maniac and to go fast. Playing with it inside those parameters will preserve the warranty. Of course, not doing stupid things is required also. That's what the operation manual is for. Obvious dumbass things. Play competently, treat your car safely, and all should be well.

But if you must tune, be able to afford the risks, or don't play that game.

 

[KLR STINGER]

i disagree with that, a second ecu would not be the same as the one that the car was manufactured with. i do not think that its just pick up next ecu and drop it in. i think it is coded to the vin of that particular car. if it wasn't, you would just call around to junkyards, find a wrecked stinger and just buy the ecu, as long as it was the same level, gt-gt, gt1-gt1, etc.

When you do a boot load read and write clone from the OEM to the second ECU, they are exactly the same to the car and and dealer tools. Only difference would be any external or serial numbers physically on it. I did not mean grabbing some random ECU and dropping it in. The context here is tuning, and the copying of one to the other is implied.

 

[DaBears4Lyfe]

actually, there is a warning. when you purchase any tune, be it a piggyback or a flashed ecu, there is generally a warning saying that you are up the proverbial creek if anything goes wrong because it is not of the manufacturers coding. that being said, a piggy back tune is usually a quick way to get more performance, but, and i stress that, it is just that, it piggy backs onto the actual ecu. you are not going to get the best performance as opposed to an actual tuned ecu. but, again i stress that part, the coding of the ecu is proprietary. manufacturers don't like it when you crack open their ecu's and play around. 1) the extra performance that is usually found is what they leave behind for the next generation of that vehicle and or a special edition vehicle. and 2) they do spend the time and money to research what the engine can and cannot handle. it's not like the old days where you would pop open the "brain" insert a chip, have fun for the weekend and remove the chip when you went to the dealer complaining that your car runs like crap. ecu's will data log, not sure about kia but a buddy of mines gtr did. he went in for a scheduled tune-up, they found out he was using launch control quite regularly, why wouldn't you it was fantastic, and voided his transmission warranty. and it was legal because it stated it in the actual warranty. excessive usage of launch control.
whatever you do to your car, like i had written before, should be at your own wallets risk. if you are not willing to deal with any problems that occur, which might not happen, ex: bigger rims and tires wreaking havoc on steering components, different tunes, bigger turbos, etc, then please do not do any mods. enjoy your car as is and the 10 year warranty will take care of the rest.

I have yet to see any warnings. Here is a ECU tune I was considering before your help lol.

Hyundai Kia 3.3TT Bench Flash Tune | DamnFastDD.com

 

[Weareblondi]

ah, i did not know that. i always figured that they plugged in the ecu to the actual car and coded it to that specific vin so as to make sure when you were in for service that there wasn't any type of hinky stuff going on. maybe it's just what i used to do, ahem sorry to any dmv workers on the forum, when i used to bring in my cars for yearly inspections. plug your obd sensor into a clean car, scan the tag on your windshield and taadaa, you passed inspection and the sniffer test, even though you are running open headers and dual carbs on the street.

 

[Weareblondi]

I have yet to see any warnings. Here is a ECU tune I was considering before your help lol.

Hyundai Kia 3.3TT Bench Flash Tune | DamnFastDD.com

its under the terms of use. they won't be held liable for any damages to property. all performance parts carry that, even ones that are c.a.r.b. certified. like most exhaust systems will tell you its for "offroad use only" which means it is stupid loud and will probably pollute the air more and maybe kill the last remaining polka dot penguin that is living in the south pole in a commune. or something like that.

 

[Sales@Tork]

i disagree with that, a second ecu would not be the same as the one that the car was manufactured with. i do not think that its just pick up next ecu and drop it in. i think it is coded to the vin of that particular car. if it wasn't, you would just call around to junkyards, find a wrecked stinger and just buy the ecu, as long as it was the same level, gt-gt, gt1-gt1, etc.

There are only 2 different types of ECU's from what have found so far, one for the AWD and one for the RWD. If you do find a wrecked car for instance that is like yours i.e rwd or awd you can take that ecu and plug it up and drive it. Yes you will get a CEL for mismatched vin and launch control will not work. There is always risks with modding any car at any stage of the game. We buy shop cars simply so we can push our own car and test the limits. When we put out tunes we make sure they are safe and put thousands of miles of testing on them before being confident in releasing them.

 

[Weareblondi]

i thank you for the answer sir. i was not implying that you were offering an inferior product, i am sorry if that is how it came out. but, and i am sure that is one of the reasons why you do so much testing of your products, is that you have seen and witnessed the crap that some companies will produce for a quick buck. but, i think i am being truthful in saying this, in purchasing your product, if i start to drive like a complete loon and grenade my engine, i can't point to you and say it's your fault, right? you provide a service and a product that is tested to a high degree, but it still falls upon the car owner if he/she messes up their car, with or without your product installed. that is what i was trying to point out.