Quote:
Originally Posted by wstar
Either way, the burden of proof is still technically on the manufacturer to show that you caused the problem. If the car has a defective camshaft from the factory that's going to snap after 10,000 miles, tuning the ECU doesn't change a thing about that really. Driving habits will cause a far larger variance.
Sure, Nissan has more lawyer-power than you do, but you also have the dealership on your side if you choose the right one. They're more interested in maintaining long-term customer relationships, and will spend the time to investigate what really caused the problem and whether they should push things in the direction of Nissan paying up or not. I haven't yet heard of a legitimate case (with any mfg) where ECU tuning caused someone to lose on the warranty when a mechanical manufacturing problem was clearly at fault. I'm sure if you dig around you might find a few, but you can find a few of anything on the internet, and those people just may not have understood how to work the system in their favor.
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I agree that if there really is a problem with the engine when they manufactured it that the problem is STILL their issue, BUT just for an example as an extreme, if your car is TT and let's say the CRANKSHAFT breaks, they can say it's because you were pushing too much power, it is DESIGNED a certain way, and you are DIRECTLY messing with it, even if it just a tune, you still are modifying something the manufacturer didn't really design you to play with
On my first hand experience, BMW 535i was chipped, motor blew at 30k miles, and a few days later BMW HQ called and informed me that the car's ECU was reset but their black box had data logged a higher amount of air and fuel being dumped into the car over a prolonged period of time.. SOL
Another friend in Dallas had ONLY a NST pulley kit, one day was driving, pulley sheared... He reinstalled the OEM crank pulley and belt, and it was wobbling, drove to the dealer, the OEM cast iron crank pulley sheared! Now I believe the crankshaft was defective that even the stock pulley would wobble... But they proved he had an aftermarket pulley and corporate declined all repairs... Paid out of pocket for a new motor...
Again, the dealer, if you find the right one may be able to pull strings and pull some shady work so you keep them as your main dealer, and hell, they make money off a warranty engine swap, so they SHOULDN'T care... (If the dealer is accused of foul play, the dealership gets fined several times the cost of the repair) Again for a catastrophic engine failure, unless you REALLY do have a great dealershit (Brandon, you have Baker North and South, so you're taken care of) you're gonna be SOL by tuning your car when it's warranty time
So if you're willing to bet your $500-1000 tune plus the cost of a new motor for the extra xHP, and no throttle delay, which I haven't experienced, and the ability to take your limiter off so you can go 200mph, by all means, do it...
Hell, I'm an Econ major, by all means tune your car, 99% of the money you pay goes into Americans' pockets, it supports the economy!
In my opinion the stock ECU will adjust the A/F ratios enough to get the best HP out of your mods if you give it enough time to adjust, making the effects of a tune minimal