stevedolce

Can the dealer tell if i super chip/tune my jeep even if i do a "restore to stock?"

the dealer i went to for service mentioned the super chip leaves a "fingerprint" and that running the 93 octane tune could've caused my transmission solenoid failure.

i'm by no means making this a blame SC thread, i'm just curious.

thanks
steve

KurtieR

Yes it does leave a fingerprint. Its almost like a counter. Every time you install a tune it counts for one and then reverting back to stock will count as one. I highly doubt it caused any issues, that part would have failed anyways

Croce

I think if the dealer flashes/updates your jeep and you have a tune installed it can possibly brick the superchip and you have to call them to get the vin removed

TURTLECON

How can they know what tune you used? What if all you did was correct speedo or gear ratio?

JK_Crawler

Yes they can tell. Each tune will leave a footprint if it's not a factory computer calibration. I'm not sure how jeep does it but I work for GM and when we program a computer(ECM, TCM, etc...) it will show a screen with calibration ID #'s, some are previous calibrations and the last listed will be the most current calibration. On the far right it will have a box that says current calibration with the Id # inside. If we see a * next to the calibration Id # it is an aftermarket Calibration, A.K.A "tune", GM has made it to where we can't program these modules, so if someone goes to a tuner and gets a custome Tune loaded on the ECM and wants to remove it we can't. If they have a Bully Dog etc, They can unload it them selves.

It's very possible that the tune could of caused the damaged to the solenoid, most of the Tuners out there will have a feature for the TCM (Transmission control module) hold shifts on automatic transmissions longer to improve driving performance on the road. Of course they don't say that directly. This is type of tuning is very common in off road vehicle tuner since they know 9 out of 10 customers will have oversized tires. Oversized tires with stock gearing leads to sluggish driving and altering the shift pattern to hold the shift long will give the appearance of "improved" driving performance. By holding the shift longer could of caused the solenoid to be damaged due to overheating or overloading that circuit.

From a technician stand point my opinion would be I don't know exactly what caused the solenoid to fail, but having a tuner on the vehicle makes me believe it would of been the root cause, But there is no real way to know. Working for a GM dealer where we sell Chevy & Cadillac I see these situations all the time with Corvette's, Camaro's, CTS-V, etc... I'm the corvette /CTS-V Tech at my shop and I get these kinds of questions at least 2-3 times a month from owners that I talk with. I also offer tuning to these customer but only on the side, I can unload the tune if they have a problem so we can repair the vehicle if it's still under warranty. I have never had to do that though, I conservatively tune cars still under warranty base on the Modifications on the car. Any kind of heavy internal modifications I tell them upfront the warrany will go out the window when I open up the engine, that type of clientele can handle it though money wise so they don't really care. Must be nice right? lol

The reality of it is all car/truck manufactures are aware of these kinds of Programmers/Tuners and trust me they do everything in there power to make the Technicians aware of it and how to spot these devices/programing calibrations. My advice is don't use Programmers/Tuners while the vehicle is under warranty if you don't want to come out of pocket, unless you have a friend in the dealership that can Turn the blind eye so to speak.

JK_Crawler

Doesn't matter you are still re-writing the software that's already written into that ECU, so it's going to change that info that they see on there end. If it's not an OEM calibration you are gonna be SOL

jadmt

according to AEV the procal does not get far enough into the computer nor does it change any parameters that are not allowed to be changed. apparently it is akin to setting the clock on your microwave.

JK_Crawler

That's is possible if they aren't changing parameters in a module that has a calibration Id. Again I'm not sure how jeep does it but most manufactures are similar in the way the design their operating systems. Rule of thumb is if it's module that communicates with another then chances are it will leave a foot print somewhere.

Any kind of programer that's altering parameters or information in a power train module is going to with out a doubt leave a foot print.

TonyFLP

Diablosport says that if the vehicle is returned to stock (with their tool) the dealer won't ever know.

I know that with the software we use to tune GM vehicles if the tune is rewritten with the stock file we took out, the dealer has no way of knowing it was ever there. The Cal ID's all stay the same in these instances.

I don't know if Superchip is the same way or not.

JK_Crawler

Same thing for the tuning software I use. I use hypertech, but I use it on my laptop it's not a hand held programmer. I had a customer come in with a bully dog on his 14 GMC Sierra and I claimed he put it back to stock on his truck before coming in, but the calibration ID had a * wit a different Id#. He came in for a ECM update that was apart of a Recall. I told him to try it again and come back because we couldnt do anything with the different calibration ID#. He never came back so I'm not sure if he ever really got it set back to stock.