bam

Greetings all,

Just purchased a 2004 GT3 that the original owner put on exhaust headers, fabspeed exhaust and has a Revo chip. The car was brought to the local porsche dealer for some warranty work prior to my taking ownership. In speaking with the service person at the porsche dealer, he told me that having the revo chip on the car most likely would invalidate any engine related warranty issues. Not sure if he is just trying to create a little intimidation or if this possibly could be a big issue since I have at least two years of the warranty left.

Has anyone had a chipped GT3 and if so have they had any motor related problems caused by the chip?

Do you know of any problems that a chip on the GT3 could cause?

Has there been any GT3 engine warranty notifications on the 996 GT3s since they have come out?

Thanks in advance for sharing your experience and any advice that you might have

Bob Rouleau

If you designed the engine and somebody changed it, how would *you* feel about the warranty? GT3 engines are VERY reliable. I don't know of any issues. I also don't know about anyone else chipping them. If the engine fails good luck with your warranty though.

PogueMoHone

If you chip it, flash it etc., you lose the warranty. Now you may luck out and a particular dealer (or Porsche) may not question the repair...but you'd be pushing your it!

Certain mods are known to cause certain problems and if they occur they raise a red flag..when that flag is raised, your goose is cooked.

enthusiast

Your second sentence needs more detail; car was brought to dealership by who for what kind of warranty work? Then, once you owned the car, you talked to the same dealership about the chip ?

From the Warranty and Customer Information book that comes with the car, "This Warranty Does Not Cover: ... Modifications not authorized by Porsche Cars N.A. or it's authorized dealers. ..."

they also have the bullet in there about competition, racing or track use...

So... a chip change or mod is a big deal to the manufacturer and warranty help will depend on your relationship with the dealership and what exactly fails on the engine. Porsche AG worked hard to provide a reliable high performance engine with a factory warranty they could live with. I know folks who have modified their GT3 but won't modifiy the engine or engine management while it is under warranty for this reason.

The competition / track use clause is used at the Porsche AG Dealerships' descretion depending on what an owner claims is a warranty issue and not a track issue. Case by case basis.

There were warranty tasks for some early 2004 GT3 for fuel system and engine management adjustments for altitude.

Dale Gribble

bam, the GT3 gods above my are right.

lots of companies who flash chips say that your warrenty will not be void (myself included), but this is because they claim that the dealer will never be able to detect the software alteration, such is the case with the unichip for instance. I always advise my customers that if your flashing your chip/running a simple plug n play ecu and going in for service where a mechanic will be going into your car and poking around: take out the box and reset to stock. it takes all of 10 minutes and will relieve your worries

if you go in for motor trouble and something like the ECU has been tampered with, or internals have been changed, then they have reason to deny your warrenty.

pcar964

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you replaced the Revo chip with the stock chip before you give them the car for the warranty repair, how would they ever know? I know the black boxes record a lot of info, but do they know when the chip is swapped too?

Dale Gribble

^ they wouldn't.

i've tried this on a mazda6 v6: flashed it with unichip, then had one of my mazda tech's (didn't tell him anything about the chip) check it with the factory diagnostic tool, nothing came up.

how long are these gt3's still under warrenty?

Larry Herman

Advice? Yeah, install the chip where it belongs...in the trash. These motors have more than enough power. My bone stock GT3 would run with all but the latest Cup Cars down the straight. They are highly tuned right from the factory. Why mess with it to possibly gain a few HP and risk detonation and other problems?

Vancouver83LTD

dunno how much hp you might actually gain chipping a GT3 - GT2 is another matter....

Z06

Chips not enough gain .to much trouble...the can tell when you remove(re & re) the computer..if it has been disconected...it will show on the scanner.

Put it back to stock..the engine is worth $$45k

Nordschleife

Boy, you really know how to put your foot in your mouth.

1. its fraud. premeditated fraud, its wrong, you know its wrong, you advocate it.

2. an experienced technician can tell that the ecu has been swapped. You have to swap the whole ECU, not just the chip, how good is the average joe at soldering in chips and removing the old ones without damaging them or leaving a mess on the PCB. Even if the error codes are cleared after replacing the original ecu, an experienced shop knows what to look for.

3. the people who offer to flash the ecu believe that they do not leave a trace, again this is nonsense, an experienced technician knows immediately, the only way you can avoid this is by flashing identical code, including the parameters, in wich case there is no point in changing the code.

4. with poorly motivated technicians, however, all bets are off. Can you be sure you won't have your car checked out by an on the ball guy with a point to prove.

Chipping normally aspirated engines offers small benefits compared to the gains realisable on turbo charged engines.

My experience with turbos, in a very hard running duty cycle, is 100% failure, whether they are on Porsche or Audi engines. All my turbo engined cars have been modified by reputable tuners, the ones the factory has relationships with. I have had all my warranties honoured. In the first place the tuner negotiates with the manufacturer about how the costs are shared between themselves. I have even had turbos replaced out of warranty and been given an extended warranty after the work has been done. Why has my experience been so good? Firstly, I have made myself known to the manufacturers and tuners, secondly, I have not tried to do anything underhand. It is no accident that Audi has moved away from turbos with their S4 and RS4 cars.

Finally, why would anybody get a chip from a company that has little knowledge of Porsche engines? Most of these suppliers are still selling the concept of the free lunch.

R+C

TT Surgeon

I think a chip is a waste of time on a GT3, a m96 is another matter, but it will void your warranty. I've always been upfront with any mods with the dealer, they're not idiots. Porsche uses the new 'series 12' software that will detect any flashing, 85% of dealers have it now. My friend just sold his '03 996C4S that had been giac flashed and 'retuned to stock', guess what, the dealer found it in about 5sec on the ppi, now he's got a problem.

RJFabCab

WHO ARE YOU? AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH LARRY'S CAR?



RE the warranty issue... the factory can't be expected to cover a chipped car. It ultimately will come down to your relationship with the dealer.

NJ-GT

Keep the engine stock.

The Cup car won't pass DOT emissions, and the car has different cams, headers, ECU, a/c removed, radical airbox, low restriction exhaust, and just another extra 10Hp (390Hp).

If you want more power on a GT3, work the internals, install a SC or Turbo, get a NOS wet/dry kit.

Personally, I don't think an extra 100Hp will make this car that much faster at the track. The GT2 has something close to 100Hp over the GT3, The C6 Z06 probably more than that, and both cars barely keep up with the street GT3RS.

Work on the weight, suspension and tranny. Leave the engine and brakes alone (other than track pads, and better brake fluid).

bam

Wow!! Thanks everyone for your thoughts on this whole chip thing in regards to affecting the warranty.

I did call AI design who had "flashed" chipped my car. Like some of you, I thought that a new chip was put in, but it sounds like they re-programmed what was in there. Like some of you said, AI design said the dealers would not know. However for me personally, I have difficulty not playing it straight about my knowledge of the chipping.

It pretty much comes down to two choices, take my chances that nothing will happen to the engine during the warranty period, or find out what it cost to get the car re-flashed back to stock.

I think I will be looking into re-flashing the car back to stock, I don't want to invalidate my warranty on a 45K engine and the car has plenty of horsepower and it will take me a long time to learn to drive what I have.

A lesson learned on buying used and overlooking a small detail such as chipping and the possible repercussions on warranty.

Thanks everyone for your candid advice, as usual, much appreciated. bob