Ok well I decided I'm gonna drop the hammer once I find the right 5.0 whether it be a manual or auto, the test drive will decide. My question is what is this whole thing "you cant tune the 5.0 and your dealer WILL KNOW"?? Is it true that if you tune the car and even if you return it back to stock they will still know you had a tune? Jim @ JDM told me its the same as the 05-10's that it shows it was reset, which is the same as disconnecting the battery, only it shows the exact time and date. He said if you know exactly when you retuned it and the dealer asks you, you can just say the battery died, or you disconnected it for something.

I also have a friend who is the service manager of a ford dealership, and he said "a code pops up, but there are ways around it".

Anyone else know the EXACT ANSWER to this question? I dont want to buy the new 5.0 and literally not be able to mod it without voiding my warranty. I was planning on getting the Steeda Cai and Lund tune combo, but if I run into tranny issues I dont want them saying "tough luck its your problem since you have a tune".....

 

I'd just check with whatever dealership you plan on getting any warranty work done at. Some dealerships care more than others about mods. Perhaps if you have or develop a good relationship with your dealership, they'll work with you a little more on the mods.

I don't think you'll get a definite answer as to whether the dealership will know for sure or not. You'll have some people say that they'll never know, if you just disconnect the battery. Others will say that it counts everytime it is flashed, and they'll see that.

Obviously, a tune shouldn't void your entire warranty. But if you get a tune, and blow your engine...Well, don't expect them to cover the bill.

 

Exactly my point. On my 2010 if something happened all I had to do was put it back to stock and say "hey, Idk what happened and I never modded it". If I get the 5.0 and put an intake and tune on it and something happens, I am screwed. So you bascially have to think is 30rwhp worth $5k+? Yes the intake and tune is only around $700 but if you ruin the motor its ALL on you.

 

Most dealers are lame about it. If they see your car has been tuned, depending on your problem, they will deny you warrenty work. Just the way it is. Like I've told multiple other people with this same question, it's either you don't mod and play it safe until your warrenty runs out or you say screw it and mod the crap out of your car. It's personal preference but don't look to dealers like they're all that and a box of chips. They only care about making money.

 

They will know....this question comes up periodically on the forum and we have gotten pretty clear answers-though the details escape me at the moment. There is some kind of unique code that is installed on the computer at the factory. If the computer is ever flashed, no matter the current state of tune, this code will be missing and therefore provide proof to the mechanics that it was tuned at some point.

I think this is mostly fair since it's possible to input tune parameters that will destroy your engine through no fault of Ford and Ford shouldn;t be expected to pay for a tear-down and metalurgical analysis of your busted pistons when your tune was responsible for the damage.

My problem with this is if a problem crops up with your engine that was truly unrelated to your tune... you'd have a hell of a fight on your hands.