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Headed to dealer for MT82 issue.

347CobraII

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he said they ran diagnostics on the ECU and nothing caught their attention.

Do you know how a dealership could detect a prior tune? Ebay has these for sale : "Ford VCM II scan tool, dealer level diagnostics
It's stored in PCM.

Other thing they may have turned blind eye or didn't look but we don't know because we are not there to see.

Just like in truck engines I can see audit trail on how many times it has been flashed, hp, tq, setting changes (tool ID) and engine protection that are permanent store in ECM (over speeds, boost, high temps, low oil pressure). As for now they don't really monitor them like they do in cars do to how popular tuners are. It's there in truck ECM because drivers like to have there buddy at dealership turn up power and speed. We also have password protected ECM if turned on. We can over ride passwords but there audit trail there too because you have to generate them through manufacturer
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GhostRider8

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I did a lot of research on tune signatures being traceable when I had my F150 ecoboost. Dealer doesn't have the systems to trace a tune if it's removed before being taken in. If the dealer removes CPU and sends to Ford engineers they will find that's it's been flashed.
 

RitzGT

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How common is it for a tune to cause detonation / pre-ignition?
I'm not sure how common it is. Since "tuning" includes the ability to change fuel maps and timing, I expect there is quite a bit of room for mischief if things are not implemented correctly. All "tunes" are not created equal.

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RitzGT

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I did a lot of research on tune signatures being traceable when I had my F150 ecoboost. Dealer doesn't have the systems to trace a tune if it's removed before being taken in. If the dealer removes CPU and sends to Ford engineers they will find that's it's been flashed.
Every time you flash the nvram, it increments a counter. So if you remove all vestiges of a 3rd party tune and put thing back to stock, it is possible to know that the ECU has been flashed. In this case...not once, but twice. One would think they would then do a lookup on their systems to see if a dealer had performed any ECU flash. If not, that might generate some hard questions. I don't think it's unreasonable for Ford to deny warranty coverage on an engine if they can show that you made fundamental changes to the software that has the ability to cause grave harm to the engine if not implemented correctly. Personally, the instant I flash the ECU, I just assume that the engine is out of warranty. If I break it, it's on me.

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paul123

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I did a lot of research on tune signatures being traceable when I had my F150 ecoboost. Dealer doesn't have the systems to trace a tune if it's removed before being taken in. If the dealer removes CPU and sends to Ford engineers they will find that's it's been flashed.
it could be that they don't have the systems, or maybe they are just being generous on anything that isn't total engine failure. Probably need access to Ford's scan tool to get to the bottom of this.
 

paul123

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OP did buy his car used:

As a final edit, might I also add that this car is pre-owned with 3000 miles when bought.

if you buy a used Mustang on dealership lot, advertised CPO! Warranty ! , are the cars checked for any evidence of aftermarket tune, flash counts, etc.?

in a related question, if you trade in a relatively new Mustang, will they check your trade-in for a tune, flash counts, etc ? Such cars will likely get sold back out as CPO, so it seems like they would need to know that.
 

347CobraII

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on a side note, what prevents an ECU swap? is the ECU paired with another control module in the car?

Not sure because how other computers that are married to PCM. Don't know if changes other computer "ID" when it see new PCM. Then when you put old PCM back on it won't see other computers. There getting very complex with new systems with car. I know you can with older cars.

With trucks they could swap Engine ECM problem is mileage in ECM won't match the truck we will know something is up. Only seen 2 company drivers that had ECM in side box. They did get caught, got fired, paid for damage it caused
 

Dolsvt00

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It's called an equizzer. Up until 04 you could swap ecm's without an equizzer flash all you had to do was turn PATS off.
 

Doctor Fishtail

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