Actual voided warranty or denied claim
#16
Rennlist Member
Tuning is a personal choice one should make with the understanding that if something crashes due to the tune it's your nickel. Choose a quality tune/tuner. If you go for max hp/tq you raise the risk.
I have tuned 3 911's to date. My current TTS has the Cobb tune with PDK Update which I love. Modest but noticeable bump in hp and an overall improvement in the PDK character. Very happy i chose to do this tune.
Never had an issue on any of the tuned vehicles with warranty work and always worked closely with my dealers. Also never tuned to get max hp more to get modest gains and improved personality. Does not mean I don't know the risk but feel it's worth it. If you don't have the confidence in the tune or the cahones to take the risk, stay stock.
I'm sure you can ferret out instances where tunes caused issues and warranties were lost. That's a fact. But there are several Pcar drivers on this forum and others running Cobb or Giac tunes without issue. It's your choice.
I have tuned 3 911's to date. My current TTS has the Cobb tune with PDK Update which I love. Modest but noticeable bump in hp and an overall improvement in the PDK character. Very happy i chose to do this tune.
Never had an issue on any of the tuned vehicles with warranty work and always worked closely with my dealers. Also never tuned to get max hp more to get modest gains and improved personality. Does not mean I don't know the risk but feel it's worth it. If you don't have the confidence in the tune or the cahones to take the risk, stay stock.
I'm sure you can ferret out instances where tunes caused issues and warranties were lost. That's a fact. But there are several Pcar drivers on this forum and others running Cobb or Giac tunes without issue. It's your choice.
#17
Three Wheelin'
VW keeps a record of ECU reflashes. If your car is connected to their diagnostics and the reflash count doesn't match, they mark you as TD1 and void your powertrain warranty. Not sure if Porsche has a similar mechanism.
It's for this reason that I did a piggyback tune on my Golf R.
It's for this reason that I did a piggyback tune on my Golf R.
#18
Rennlist Member
Supposedly if you get the giac tune through the dealer there is a limited powertrain warranty from champion porsche (not PCNA). My understanding is if you blow a turbo or transmission (and you didnt overly abuse the car-ie bad overrevs or tons of launch modes) your dealer gets a replacement part directly from champion for replacement ( for the duration of the new car warranty). No one has tested this limited warranty yet AFAIK. It would explain why the torque gains are limited with the giac and i believe there is alot more safety built into the map.
Anecdotally, one guy on RL fried not one, but 2 ECUs and had at least one replaced by the dealer. The cobb also can have a permanent “DME” error code which I havent seen with the giac (maybe because it was developed using piwis II).
This is all speculation at this point.
Anecdotally, one guy on RL fried not one, but 2 ECUs and had at least one replaced by the dealer. The cobb also can have a permanent “DME” error code which I havent seen with the giac (maybe because it was developed using piwis II).
This is all speculation at this point.
#19
The golf R forum has some great info. Even with the Cobb reset they can tell because the firmware has a checksum and no one has defeated that. A lot of dealers dont care but if they do your toast on the engine and tranny.
#20
Racer
Cobb told me Porsche has a similar system. They also said installing and removing their tune multiple times does not change the factory reflash count.
#21
Dealer was able to see my 981 boxster wasn't stock even after I removed cobb tune while trying to get them to figure out why transmission was getting stuck in limp mode a few times. They attempted to record me admitting it wasn't stock and tuned, which I never did. They did threaten warranty could be void if Porsche techs see that when they send data dump. End of the day they refused to dig deeper into it stating aftermarket cats would need to come off.
I'm no tech but have been told its very obvious that its tuned. The techs themselves don't really care about aftermarket stuff as long as its not a factor of what they working on and you're honest.
If you tune your car, you can't expect Porsche NA to be liable to cover warranty. The troubling part is once you did it you can't go back by 'uninstalling' etc... would have to replace ECU and reprogram which probably isn't something that will happen via dealer.
People do as they want, but my 2 cents is if you have to mod, you're probably unhappy with car and should get something else you're happy with 'out of box.' In reality the mods make little difference in the overall experience or anything meaningful...you're just setting yourself up for headaches later.
I'm no tech but have been told its very obvious that its tuned. The techs themselves don't really care about aftermarket stuff as long as its not a factor of what they working on and you're honest.
If you tune your car, you can't expect Porsche NA to be liable to cover warranty. The troubling part is once you did it you can't go back by 'uninstalling' etc... would have to replace ECU and reprogram which probably isn't something that will happen via dealer.
People do as they want, but my 2 cents is if you have to mod, you're probably unhappy with car and should get something else you're happy with 'out of box.' In reality the mods make little difference in the overall experience or anything meaningful...you're just setting yourself up for headaches later.
#23
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Dealer was able to see my 981 boxster wasn't stock even after I removed cobb tune while trying to get them to figure out why transmission was getting stuck in limp mode a few times. They attempted to record me admitting it wasn't stock and tuned, which I never did. They did threaten warranty could be void if Porsche techs see that when they send data dump. End of the day they refused to dig deeper into it stating aftermarket cats would need to come off.
I'm no tech but have been told its very obvious that its tuned. The techs themselves don't really care about aftermarket stuff as long as its not a factor of what they working on and you're honest.
If you tune your car, you can't expect Porsche NA to be liable to cover warranty. The troubling part is once you did it you can't go back by 'uninstalling' etc... would have to replace ECU and reprogram which probably isn't something that will happen via dealer.
People do as they want, but my 2 cents is if you have to mod, you're probably unhappy with car and should get something else you're happy with 'out of box.' In reality the mods make little difference in the overall experience or anything meaningful...you're just setting yourself up for headaches later.
I'm no tech but have been told its very obvious that its tuned. The techs themselves don't really care about aftermarket stuff as long as its not a factor of what they working on and you're honest.
If you tune your car, you can't expect Porsche NA to be liable to cover warranty. The troubling part is once you did it you can't go back by 'uninstalling' etc... would have to replace ECU and reprogram which probably isn't something that will happen via dealer.
People do as they want, but my 2 cents is if you have to mod, you're probably unhappy with car and should get something else you're happy with 'out of box.' In reality the mods make little difference in the overall experience or anything meaningful...you're just setting yourself up for headaches later.
#24
Racer
Dealer was able to see my 981 boxster wasn't stock even after I removed cobb tune while trying to get them to figure out why transmission was getting stuck in limp mode a few times. They attempted to record me admitting it wasn't stock and tuned, which I never did. They did threaten warranty could be void if Porsche techs see that when they send data dump. End of the day they refused to dig deeper into it stating aftermarket cats would need to come off.
I'm no tech but have been told its very obvious that its tuned. The techs themselves don't really care about aftermarket stuff as long as its not a factor of what they working on and you're honest.
If you tune your car, you can't expect Porsche NA to be liable to cover warranty. The troubling part is once you did it you can't go back by 'uninstalling' etc... would have to replace ECU and reprogram which probably isn't something that will happen via dealer.
People do as they want, but my 2 cents is if you have to mod, you're probably unhappy with car and should get something else you're happy with 'out of box.' In reality the mods make little difference in the overall experience or anything meaningful...you're just setting yourself up for headaches later.
I'm no tech but have been told its very obvious that its tuned. The techs themselves don't really care about aftermarket stuff as long as its not a factor of what they working on and you're honest.
If you tune your car, you can't expect Porsche NA to be liable to cover warranty. The troubling part is once you did it you can't go back by 'uninstalling' etc... would have to replace ECU and reprogram which probably isn't something that will happen via dealer.
People do as they want, but my 2 cents is if you have to mod, you're probably unhappy with car and should get something else you're happy with 'out of box.' In reality the mods make little difference in the overall experience or anything meaningful...you're just setting yourself up for headaches later.
#25
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
I completely agree with you but being that I just got the car i'm gonna do the HF cats and enjoy till I get used to the power which I suspect will take longer than previous cars as I won't be driving nearly as much. I DD'd my AMG for the first 6 months of owning it and got used to the factory 520hp fairly quick. I then tuned it and didn't feel the need for more power till I sold it 3.5 years later. I tuned the AMG with no concern as I was tight with the SA. When I meet the SA at the local Porsche dealer I'll have a better idea as to what I can get away with and go from there but for now i'm playing it safe.
#26
Rennlist Member
The way I see it, modding a car is a part of the journey.
It's like marriage, but with less yelling.
Occasionally stuff goes limp, but then you just gotta man up and get some work done.
The key is to go in progressions and enjoy the ride.
It's like marriage, but with less yelling.
Occasionally stuff goes limp, but then you just gotta man up and get some work done.
The key is to go in progressions and enjoy the ride.
#27
Acquaintance blew his engine (Porsche), after the tear down it was revealed the engine had ingested bits of the aftermarket catalytic converters - warranty denied.
#28
??????
OK I have to admit that this is a bit confusing ... how did the engine ingest bits of a catalytic converter which is quite a bit downstream in the exhaust system??????? Must have been one helluva backfire. Maybe I am not seeing something here???
#29
Build - up of back pressure
#30
Rennlist Member
if you re flash the ECU....you are pretty much guarantee that the power train warranty will be void. (not the entire car) if the dealer found out, they might not flag it right away, but lets say if you go in because your turbo is screeching at 40k miles and needs a turbo replacement.....they will not cover it.....is pretty straight forward and it make sense......
if your AC is not working....then that's a diff story because you tune cant affect the AC hence it cant void the warranty of the AC
Not sure if piggy back tune is an option for the 991.2 but personally i would opt for that instead of a flash since that's a plug and play and can be removed completely without any trace of a "tune" (technically there is because they can still send in the ECU and dig deep into the values to see that the car is running a higher boost via a piggy back tune....but then again...is a LOT hard to get to etc etc.) I know the piggy back is not "as good" as a re-flash because is just fooling the ECU and keeping the wastergate closed......but i did rather seen less gains and keep the warranty than gaining an extra 10-15% with a high chance of voiding the warranty
if your AC is not working....then that's a diff story because you tune cant affect the AC hence it cant void the warranty of the AC
Not sure if piggy back tune is an option for the 991.2 but personally i would opt for that instead of a flash since that's a plug and play and can be removed completely without any trace of a "tune" (technically there is because they can still send in the ECU and dig deep into the values to see that the car is running a higher boost via a piggy back tune....but then again...is a LOT hard to get to etc etc.) I know the piggy back is not "as good" as a re-flash because is just fooling the ECU and keeping the wastergate closed......but i did rather seen less gains and keep the warranty than gaining an extra 10-15% with a high chance of voiding the warranty