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Tunes and buying a used GT350?

Ninjak

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If I was you, I would get the manager, and the finance guy to say they will give you a warranty and honor it for that vehicle.

The way I understood if the car has a aftermarket tune or not is that the tech does a ignition count. It will show how many times the stock tune has been cranked up. If the count is zero, or very low, then the tech goes with it's a modified car. Of course that is in comparison with the mileage as well.

I could be wrong, but this is the process I believe they do. As I said in the beginning is get them to honor a warranty or the remainder of the warranty for you.
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NoXiDe

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I don’t agree it’s beyond a techs level of skill to hook up an ODB reader.

Also, my dealer does NOT have a Hunter.

I haven’t had the need to check out their service other than the initial oil change and yearly inspection. I have asked about their techs training but will so as circumstances permit.

I appreciate the heads up though. I’ve changed a couple of values through Forscan and hadn’t really thought it might come up.
They must not be selling the model R because the R wheels require touchless tire mounting equipment. There's no way the dealer is going to do tire replacements on an R. That would be a huge headache...
 

Phoenix

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I live in California and completely agree. However, I think you missed an extra "t" in but. :wink:
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

if i bought my car used from ford but i have evidence that the intake has been out of the car....would they be required to reflash the car to stock? if not would i have gotten an obvious statement i would have had to sign?

the car did say "no dealer warranty" on the sticker when i bought it. i know the bumper to bumper works as i used it on the A/C.
 

icormba

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Only thing that you can do is take the car for a smog check. In CA, for instance, they will be able to tell if the car’s computer was “unlocked”, which will signify that a tune was installed. In CA, a computer that was unlocked equals an immediate fail on a Smog check because they know that you have been messing around with the emissions controls and monitors.

The state uses that data to presume that you have been running an illegal setup in the street, but removed it for the smog check, so they fail you immediately and send you to a referee who looks for signs that the car has been tampered with by running a supercharger or other power adder modification, or an advanced tune.

You can do this at the Ford dealer, a local smog shop, or a referee by appointment.

I myself, would not be too concerned about this happening to a GT350 because most are happy with the motor as is, I would concerned if I was buying a turbocharged car like a Focus RS, Honda Civic Type R, or Focus ST— those particular car are always the recipients of turbo swaps, downpipe or up pipe swaps, or other changes that will require a tune, and the original owner may not have known that the evidence of the change would show up years later at his first smog. They are most likely unaware that CA is able to tell if you installed at then at all. A

I know all of this because one of my vehicles a 2006 mustang that was converted to a 2012 and certified by the state for 2012 emissions, was caught up in this exact situation where amongst other issues in newly changed state law, the car was immediately failed and sent to the referee because the computer had been unlocked multiple times. They could tell when, what date, and what time. It took a total of 3 months to get it all figured out with the state.

This was such an issue that Hot Rod Magazine is currently recreating the situation with a test car, to do an article to prove that in some cases a swapped car with a newer motor, a can run better emissions than is previously had and should not be caught in this quagmire.

I have also been looking at turbo cars as a replacement for my current daily, and I’m looking at the cars I mentioned above: civic type r, focus rs, focus st, ecoboost mustang, and for those cars, it is harder to find a car that hasn’t been modified if you are buying second hand. A good rule of thumb is: if you see modifications of any kind, walk away. If they started changing parts like exhaust, sway bars, lowering springs, etc. then it is probably a safe bet that they ordered and installed a tune in a box, or bought a programmer.

The only situations where a computer is unlocked is if it was accompanied by a Smog EO number in the case of a 50-state legal supercharger install, where the tune has been certified to not change the emissions equipment of the car, but when buying a car, you have to hope that the previous owner cared enough to know the difference between a legal kit and an illegal kit.

But in your case, take the car or request that the car have a smog check. Or go buy from CarMax as they make sure to put everything back to stock before they sell the car.
This is NOT a true statement on all cars. We have a tune on our SRT Jeep. I reset it to factory before taking it to SMOG 2 weeks ago. It passed just fine. The "after market" Volant Intake passed visual inspection as well, but that has a C.A.R.B. sticker on it... which helps.

Besides, I had to "so called" unlock my car's computer on the GT350 the other day when I replaced the battery. I had to use Forscan to reset the battery recharge system. No way that's going to fail a SMOG check.
 

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jpowl

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So the takeaway is: take it to Ford and have a PPI done specifying they check it for an aftermarket tune.
 

Wildcardfox

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This is NOT a true statement on all cars. We have a tune on our SRT Jeep. I reset it to factory before taking it to SMOG 2 weeks ago. It passed just fine. The "after market" Volant Intake passed visual inspection as well, but that has a C.A.R.B. sticker on it... which helps.

Besides, I had to "so called" unlock my car's computer on the GT350 the other day when I replaced the battery. I had to use Forscan to reset the battery recharge system. No way that's going to fail a SMOG check.
You know what you're right. I looked into it and my immediate fail was caused by vin numbers not being matching the vin on the chassis; however the referee did note that the computer had been unlocked multiple times. So I misspoke.
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