Anybody with personal experience please chime in. Has anyone that has had the Cow Booster and/or 160 Thermostat, and/or a Chuck CoW Tune performed had dealers to refuse their power train/extended warranty based solely on the fact that the PCM has been electrically altered?
Specs:
February, 2013 Build Date
June 24, 2013 Purchase Date
Corvette
Grand Sport
Coupe
Black
9XXX miles
Dry Sump LS3
MZ6 transmission
Z16
Z51
Z52
NPP
No performance mods
No body mods

Mods:
Mild to Wild NPP Controller
Skip-Shift Eliminator Fuse
Ceramic Brake Padlets
Grand Sport Console Lid
Transparent Targa Top
LED interior Lights
LED Reverse Lights
35% Tint all three windows
Matching Aluminum Accelerator and Dead Pedal
Leave in Jacking Pucks
Shift Ball
Red accents tasteful (Corvette lettering Engine and Interior)

Near Future Mods:
Lloyd's Floor Mats and Cargo Mat

Future Performance Mods (definitely after warranty expires):
Long tube Headers and On-Road X-Pipe
Possible CAI
Tune This weekend

EDIT: I have decided to go ahead and have Chuck CoW install his Tune, CoW Booster, and Stat this weekend at the Corvette Expo in Sevierville, TN. Thanks to all the opinions and experiences.

 

First off, there is no such thing as voiding a warranty. Only a court can "void" a contract, and then only for things like illegality.

The question is, will a dealership honor warranty work after the mods? Depends on the dealership and what part you are claiming. After a certain $ threshold, GM sends in one their goons to approve the work.

First, they'd have to uncover these non-obvious mods. If they did then deny the work, you could take them to small claims, where, pursuant to the warranty terms, they'd have to prove the mod caused the failure.

Realistically speaking, C6 drivertrains routinely handle well above 600HP, if you read the FI subforum. Your tranny is spec'd to like 600 lb/ft of TQ or something. And that includes considerable margins. The odds of some piddly canned tune causing damage to such a bulletproof drivetrain are infinitesimal.

My (non legal) advice is to ask your local service reps some hypotheticals, to see how they feel about mods. YMMV.

 

I understand that I used an incorrect term in the title. You are correct that what I meant was will a dealership honor the warranty if it is found that the car has had its PCM 'performance tuned'. I also understand that these mentioned modifications should have no ill effect on the overall wear and tear and mechanical ability of the Corvette.

From what I have been told by the Auto Body Shop Manager at the local dealership they don't like to do any warranty work on anything unless you bought the vehicle from them.

I didn't buy my Corvette from them because: "Honest dealers don't sell Corvettes under MSRP there must be something fishy with the deal you got from this Mike Furman guy. I've never heard of him; he must be new at selling Corvettes and is trying to make a name for himself. Our 2013 Grand Sport will stay at the MSRP of $80,386 until it sells."

 

Has anyone taken their tuned Corvette to a dealership for power train warranty work and been denied solely on the basis that the PCM program had been electronically altered?

Were they able to tell once a code reader/OBD II machine was plugged in or were you honest with them about the 'TUNE' beforehand?

 

My car has been tuned and I have lost two engines. GM covered both of them. The failures didn't have anything to do with the tune.

However, they have the right to deny based on their statement about an altered car

A dealer makes money on warranty claims, A good dealer will help you as much as possible.

 

there are no guarantees and there is a possibility that similar issues can/will be handled differently.

 

Actually, they have a right if they can show the alteration caused the damage, based on the wording of the warranty, in effect, the car owner breaching the contract.

An important distinction, as they don't have some unilateral power to rescind (what some people erroneously call "void"). You'd have to breach first by actually causing the part failure, but that's something they'd have to prove, if you ever took them to court.

I know for some people this is like suggesting flying to the moon, but my dog could file a small claims case.

 

It NEVER HAPPENS.....

Simply doing the mods NOES NOT void the warranty.... and more often than not GM covers most powertrain

failures wether there is a tune or not. That has been what I have seen.

If you were to take a poll of people DENIED warranty service due to a tune and compare it to people whose repairs

WERE HONORED UNDER THEIR WARRANTY despite the fact that they had aftermarket mods or tunes you would

find without question that GM stands behind their product (despite the mods or tunes) way more than you would think.

You have to realize that it takes a really, REALLY bad tune to break a motor.....

and sad thing is, from what I see as a very high volume tuner....there are more than enough VERY BAD tunes out

there and those motors are still running......

Typically, it's the driver AND the maintenance (or lack there of) that kill motors and they know that.

Tunes very rarely kill motors....even BAD tunes.

CoW BOOST! YOUR CAR...TUNE YOUR CAR....and put all the anxiety aside and ENJOY THE DAMN THING.

Use a tuner like myself with 10's of thousands of successful tunes out there with no problems and your sleeping good.

Use some dude that offers you a $200 tune and tells you he's got a good 10 or so tunes under his belt.... and you're

NOT sleeping soo good.

Call me....I'll set you up good...and you'll NEVER regret it.

914-332-0049
Chuck CoW

 

I called you Monday June 23, 2014 and Posted in your thread on the upcoming tuning event at VettePros in Charlotte. Here is the LINK and the post.

Chuck,
I called the 0049 number above earlier today and left a message with one of your com-padres in regards to CoW Booster, Thermostat, and Tune voiding GM Warranty. I have a stock 2013 Grand Sport Coupe: 7XXX Miles, LS3 Dry Sump, and MZ6. I am interested in the CoW Booster and registering for the upcoming event in Charlotte, NC. Just thought I would bump your thread and touch base. Patiently waiting on you to get settled back in from your trip to Oklahoma.

Craig

 

I've got a tune & headers and just was denied warranty coverage for a fluid leak on a transmission line. My tune had nothing to do with a bad seal on the line, but denied anyways. He says to me I didn't buy the car here anyways. Well I own 3 vehicles and he has just insured I don't ever buy from them.

 

Obviously you want to go to another dealer. Dealership service departments make tons of money on warranty repairs (especially lately with all of the recalls), and I seriously doubt GM is going to send out a rep to deny this claim. And even if they did, obviously your mods have nothing to do with the part failure, which is what the warranty actually says.

Dealerships are franchises and they vary greatly in their honesty. Just gotta find a good one. Sometimes the service guy will try good cop, bad cop, claiming GM is the bad cop and won't pay for the warranty repair, which is typically bull$#!t. So I go along with the deceit and say, "let them try, I'll take them to small claims."

Just remember a dealership is there to make money, not be your buddy.

 

If you can read and comprehend the factory warranty it's pretty clear GM's stance. No matter who says what or how convincing they may seem.

 

Tech II to pull the calibration/verification numbers, get the correct numbers from GM to check, and if they don't match, then they are supposed to print the page and send it in to GM to void the warranty from there forward.

So the question comes down to if the dealer checked the calibration/verification numbers on the repair, or not? For items that are simple (bad master cylinder or hub bearing), would dare that they don't take the time to check.

High dollar repair items like a Blown motor, trans, diff, you can bet that they are required to check.

 

I have taken multiple cars in for warranty work that were tuned without any flak from dealerships. Car can always be flashed back to stock prior to going to dealership.

 

But if you have a major issue and GM calls for a computer flash to review, they can tell it was reflashed. And if they don't like what they review, you might get voided.

 

Not true. The TECH II GM scan tool cannot find any trace of a tune once returned to stock-but the global platform cars (Camaro etc) are accessed with the GDS 2 system and same tracks calibration history as well as CVN's.

Bottom line- nothing is impossible, and if someone is truly losing sleep over the subject,they shouldn't do any mods. That said, on our C6's once the stock program that WAS COPIED into the Intune or other device is reflashed,the CVN's aren't altered and no history is left behind.

 

true

 

Ears wide open.. How confident are you in this response? No checksum data or other parameter is permanently altered?

If I copy my original tune, and have an issue, flash it back, they can not detect it, correct?

Can you share with us your background / first hand experience in this area?

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1570945598

"Just for fun, I went and checked my tune compared to he factory list of CVN's for my VIN and it does not match. I re-flashed mine to stock with HP tuners and it still showed a difference from what is online. After flashing it using a Tech II, the CVN's finally matched up, but the order they're listed in changed, probably showing big brother that at some point the programming had been re-written. "

 

When my engine went bad, I told the district service manager the car had a tune. He could clearly see the roll bar and the aftermarket rotors
GM gave me a new engine twice. So, the tune doesn't necessarily void warranty. In my case it was an oiling issue. Tunes don't affect oil systems.

 

I did it too. Toke my car to the dealer had my friend scan the car with a Tech 2 recorded the CVN's flashed my tune check CVNs and didn't mash. Did a full re write with hp tuner using my stock file and CVNs were same as new.