Quote:
Originally Posted by Rhyder
So your stance is that a tune causes damage to the vehicle?
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Yes and no. It CAN cause damage, but it may not. But I think you're missing the point. That's not the crux of GM's issue concerning aftermarket tunes.
If the tune is done "incorrectly", meaning paramater settings are too far out of specifications for safe operation of the components it controls, then yes. Such as say, a glitch in the aftermarket tune waits to turn on the electric cooling fans until too high of a temperature, and you blow a coolant hose because of the higher temps, and then melt a piston, or lean out the fuel trims too much and melt a piston, etc. Would you still classify a melted piston as a GM warranty defect?
If the aftermarket tune is done "correctly", meaning that the parameters are outside GM specifications, but within the envelope under the fail point that the components can withstand, it likely won't cause damage to the engine. This is the tune that people seek. They don't want a tune that could damage their car, within warranty period or not.
Some dealers will work with you, others won't. It's up to the dealership mainly. So that's why it behooves you to have as good a working relationship with the service guys as you can.
Not all warranty claims require an ECM snapshot sent to GM. But if GM requests for and gets a snapshot of your aftermarket ECM tune, regardless if it's done right or wrong, they're going to deny any warranty claim against a "covered" drivetrain part. It's just how they're operating now. The good thing is, if you don't try and claim the failure against the warranty, you have nothing to worry about. But if you do try and claim it, they've got every right to investigate the root cause since they'd be paying for it.
BTW, GM isn't the only company that does stuff like this. For example, Dell says (or at least they used to) if you used a laptop battery that wasn't an authentic Dell part, and your computer goes belly up, so sorry, no warranty.