Questions before ruining warranty

[Goosey23]

Hey Guys,

I'm starting to gather parts for a 18 manifold swap. Have my n-Gauge and a PMAS intake already, just need to buy my tune and the manifold itself. My 2016 is going to be running out of warranty due to time soon and am pondering getting an esp from Flood Ford.

My question is, how many people have actually had major engine related problems due to tunes? I think doing an 18 manifold and a Lund tune is pretty safe, but I wanted to hear other people's experiences. I understand that I will be voiding much of my engine warranty with this, but considering what the random things that i've already had warrantied under the bumper to bumper (new a/c compressor, paint on mirrors, sun visor breaking and more I can't think of right now) I figured the ESP wouldn't be a terrible idea with some of the known problems out there. So, has anyone heard of people having major issues from this kind of setup? I've really never heard of anything, but I figured I'd ask.

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[EFI]

Make sure to check what exactly the ESP covers, as it's not the same as a bumper to bumper.

You'd be essentially voiding half your newly purchased warranty, which might not make it worthwhile afterall.

The engine is stout, and as long as you don't abuse it and hit the rev limiter everyday you should be more than fine with it for years to come.

 

[Fleco17]

If you have a good relationship with your service department, it will help things go better when a issue comes up. As for the warranty, Ford can only refuse to fix an issue that was caused by changes you made. So for example, tranny acts up, they can't say the intake caused it without proving it. I say, go for it. Mine is a 17 certified preowned, and I changed installed Steeda cai and tune. So I still have warranty till 100k. Not going to worry about it.

 

[Goosey23]

Thanks for the responses, I think my biggest concern really is something major happening. I really haven't heard any horror stories so that makes me feel better.

 

[Fleco17]

I'm thinking of going down the same road as in 18 intake but keeping stock injectors, was considering running e85 but where I live, it's not really available. Having Steeda do the tune.

 

[AZ18yote]

If you have a good relationship with your service department, it will help things go better when a issue comes up. As for the warranty, Ford can only refuse to fix an issue that was caused by changes you made. So for example, tranny acts up, they can't say the intake caused it without proving it. I say, go for it. Mine is a 17 certified preowned, and I changed installed Steeda cai and tune. So I still have warranty till 100k. Not going to worry about it.

Agreed. I was at the dealership today to have them look at a few things and all they mentioned about my mods was how mean it sounded and how surprised they were during road test lol. No charge for anything. Unless one of your mods is directly responsible for a failure or is the failure itself there's a good chance they will not deny your claim on that specific issue.

 

[LethalPerformance]

You’ll be fine with a setup like that. Failures from aftermarket calibrations on basic NA setups like that are rare. In the past 9+ years of selling Lund Racing’s tunes for NA cars I’ve not once seen or heard of one of our customers having any type of issue like that as well. So you’re good to go in my opinion.

We’ve got 1320 Junkie ported 18 manifolds and lockouts in stock. We can definitely set you up with a solid tune from one of the 4 top tuning companies we offer here.

Let us know if you have any other questions.

https://www.lethalperformance.com/1...d-ported-2018-mustang-gt-intake-manifold.html

 

[CrazyHippie]

I found this old thread and decided to resurrect it.

I've been deeply pondering tuning my 2023 10R80-equipped GT/CS to primarily improve transmission performance, and I'd like a bit of a forum 'sanity check' before torching the active PT warranty. I've not yet chosen a tuner, so suggestions are welcome.

Here goes:

● My Mustang is a summer, street-only daily driver; avoiding wet weather, with monthly 600-mile (each way) interstate road trips.
● It is driven approx 6000 miles annually - gently the majority of the time and almost half of the miles are steady interstate driving.
● More aggressive driving is limited to occasional, gently/evenly applied, but strong, pulls for passing and for fun. I don't beat the car nor seriously drive it in drag or track mode; nor otherwise with traction control off. (I just don't have an itch to push the car.)
● Engine is never intentionally red-lined.

So, the power train warranty will apply to a total of approx. 12,000 additional miles (as described) over the next 2 years. (The first 6K miles and year 1 are already behind me.)

We know that the factory tune is such that the 10R80 is subjected to rather unrefined, and frequently harsh, shifting that may actually contribute to a "death by 1000 cuts" type of cumulative drive train stress. One may even ponder whether or not this is part of an OEM planned replacement strategy. (Tin foil hat properly used there.)

My risk management sense suggests that ditching the active Ford power train warranty to install a custom tune that's focused on smoothing out the transmission, while balancing improvment of BOTH average fuel efficiency and power/torque, is a viable risk. And if such a tune actually exists, may it possibly even reduce PT failure risk?

I can also (reluctantly) afford to replace an engine or transmission if absolutely necessary and am at an age where I'm less inclined to wait out the warranty while settling for (apparently) suboptimal transmission performance.

Does this seem reasonable, or are these the ravings of a crazy hippie?

 

[engineermike]

@CrazyHippie to he honest ford didn’t leave much power and efficiency on the table in the tune. You maybe could gain a tiny bit of response if you run 91/3. As for the trans, that’s very hit or miss with aftermarket tunes. Sounds like you’d be better off leaving it stock.

As for durability, I’ve been running 650-850 rwhp for 5 years and 50k miles and it’s still holding together so I think a tuned stocker will be ok unless it’s defective.

 

[Cobra Jet]

If you’re posting a concern as you are about the effects of a tune and possibly need to use the warranty IF something were to fail due to the tune - then take this advice:

Have enough $$$ set aside to cover any “what ifs” or “when it happens” because just a simple engine replacement at a Ford Service Center is an easy $8k +.

Some have had engine failures due to improper tunes - just as many have had failures without tunes, it happens. The difference being even if you try to flash back to stock, the key cycles gives away the fact that the vehicle had PCM tampering, period. Some have said their Service Center was able to get Warranty Authorization for such a major repair, while others have not had that luck.

Ford has been cracking down on major warranty claims more so now than say the last 5 years. They’re drowning in $$$ for warranty claims and a major repair like that will require additional tear/down investigation of the “why” the engine failed.

Not putting this out there as a “scare”, just putting it out there as fact that if tuning you run a greater risk of being denied a warranty claim. Any modification to the PCM is considered “tampering” by Ford, which by their Warranty statements is reason for denial of claim.

 

[GrayMater22]

@CrazyHippie to he honest ford didn’t leave much power and efficiency on the table in the tune. You maybe could gain a tiny bit of response if you run 91/3. As for the trans, that’s very hit or miss with aftermarket tunes. Sounds like you’d be better off leaving it stock.

As for durability, I’ve been running 650-850 rwhp for 5 years and 50k miles and it’s still holding together so I think a tuned stocker will be ok unless it’s defective.

I did a Steeda tune with the max flow cai on my 22 GT 10r80 and it did smooth out my shifts considerably, I completely understand what the OP is talking about. Prior to the tune my shifts were very jerky and violent.

 

[CrazyHippie]

If you’re posting a concern as you are about the effects of a tune and possibly need to use the warranty IF something were to fail due to the tune - then take this advice:

Have enough $$$ set aside to cover any “what ifs” or “when it happens” because just a simple engine replacement at a Ford Service Center is an easy $8k +.

Some have had engine failures due to improper tunes - just as many have had failures without tunes, it happens. The difference being even if you try to flash back to stock, the key cycles gives away the fact that the vehicle had PCM tampering, period. Some have said their Service Center was able to get Warranty Authorization for such a major repair, while others have not had that luck.

Ford has been cracking down on major warranty claims more so now than say the last 5 years. They’re drowning in $$$ for warranty claims and a major repair like that will require additional tear/down investigation of the “why” the engine failed.

Not putting this out there as a “scare”, just putting it out there as fact that if tuning you run a greater risk of being denied a warranty claim. Any modification to the PCM is considered “tampering” by Ford, which by their Warranty statements is reason for denial of claim.

Great advice. Yes, I'm aware that any type of tune pretty much eliminates the warranty.

 

[CrazyHippie]

@CrazyHippie to he honest ford didn’t leave much power and efficiency on the table in the tune. You maybe could gain a tiny bit of response if you run 91/3. As for the trans, that’s very hit or miss with aftermarket tunes. Sounds like you’d be better off leaving it stock.

As for durability, I’ve been running 650-850 rwhp for 5 years and 50k miles and it’s still holding together so I think a tuned stocker will be ok unless it’s defective.

Yep, my tuning goal would be primarily to optimize shifting, not so much for power gains. Careful selection of a tuner will be critical. My 10R80 started out shifting very erratically, but smoothed out noticeably once it finished its initial learning period, and frankly, also once I learned how to control all of the power. So maybe you're right that leaving it stock is the right choice. I'm definitely making an assumption that there's something to be gained based on what others on the forum have shared. It will all boil down to an honest discussion with the tuner.

 

[Cobra Jet]

Yep, my tuning goal would be primarily to optimize shifting, not so much for power gains. Careful selection of a tuner will be critical. My 10R80 started out shifting very erratically, but smoothed out noticeably once it finished its initial learning period, and frankly, also once I learned how to control all of the power. So maybe you're right that leaving it stock is the right choice. I'm definitely making an assumption that there's something to be gained based on what others on the forum have shared. It will all boil down to an honest discussion with the tuner.

If you’re looking to adjust your 10R80’s shifting parameters or its “feel”, then take a visit to this thread and read all of it. M6G members have found a way of disabling the adaptive learning on the 10R80 via Forscan.

https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/th...daptive-learning-transmission-options.190874/

Now it’s still “tampering” because the user is using Forscan to change the “As Built” parameters. I do not know if changing the 10R80 parameters affects key cycles or not; that would be a question for others with deeper knowledge. I would imagine the 10R80 parameters are in the TCM and not the PCM, but again that is merely a guess.

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