I'm kind of proud of it. I just hope they do not call my next programmer the Turbo Updater Race Device.

Renntech is a lot more expensive than Kleeman. i wonder if mercedes warranty is the reason

Yep I am in the process of doing it. I have a friend that works there though if that matters.. Just getting it at cost is all.

I have to pay for it to be programmed to the car then it can just be plugged in whenever. I think there is another member on here that has multiple ECUs for his car with different tunes.

BMW is the WORST when it comes to this. They will snoop through your entire car and PRO-ACTIVELY void your warranty for mods, even if you're not claiming anything wrong with the powertrain. I know first hand. BMW can take a leap off the highest building..(have owned 4 BMW's, this will be my last, I'm defecting back to MBZ)

LOL, the T.U.R.D awesome!!

Looked long and hard at the MSD 80/81 and 85. Very tough nuts to crack and it is a shame for if there was ever a need for a small brick to take an ECU back to stock BEFORE going back to the dealer its the tubo BMWs.

That being said, I can not wait for the TTV8 550

Update
Yep, I built a programmer for the MSD80/81 and MSS60/65. It was a real pain in the butt but it is done and working.

Looks like the new turbos from MB are all BDM Tricore based. That sucks.

Sorry to hijack, but I didn't want to make a new thread for a quick question.. I got a letter (more like a post card really) saying that "MY WARRANTY MAY ALREADY BE EXPIRED" or something to that effect. It wasn't from MBUSA or anything, looked like it was from some 3rd party company, but it had my VIN # and real name. Is this legit? It's an '09 and I would think I had at least 4 years..

If the dealership your dealing with is so quick to void a warranty they will most likely look into you purchasing that spare ecu. Bottom line is they cant void the claim unless they prove the mod caused the failure. And as I said, if they are gonna go through that much trouble you better bet they will investigate that purchased ecu. It does not benefit the dealer to not do warranty work. They gettin' paid Just talk with the SA before tuning the ecu. There are plenty of dealers that are mod friendly.

No sir. Sorry to sound contradicting but you are incorrect. Mercedes has sufficient reasons to void your warranty with an aftermarket tune. It might not void your warranty on the electrical system, ie , radio, head lights or they might not void your warranty on the sterring alignment or the brakes or the exhaust system but sure they could void your warranty on the engine and possibly the transmission by putting extra stress on the components.

Do you really think that someone could get away with modding an ECU?. There are dealers that don't care but if something bad was to happen they could perfectly void your warranty and laugh at the Moss magnuson law or whatever that is. my .2c

^^^+1. I am with you 100%.

Someone suggested the R.A.T. device from Renntech but I honestly don't think that you can use it with other tunes but that is just me saying, I am not 100% sure. Dynocomp uses the R.A.T with their own custom tune but they are also Renntech dealers and they additionally deal with a friendly local mercedes dealer (Shumaker mercedes benz in Scottsdale, AZ)

Basic Warranty is 4 years/ 50000 miles (80000 KM) from in-service date.

To answer the post of the individual who revived the thread (the other posts are back on warranty voiding issues again...).

The VIN is public record, these aftermarket companies buy records from the DMVs around the country in bulk. Then they send out these aftermarket warranty mailings (and some have been caught cold calling people.. they got slapped by the FTC hardcore for that).

There is no affiliation with MB, and in most cases, they are junk, waste of money, cover very little, and at the very worst, they are scams. Turf it.

If you had an issue, that requires them to check the ECU with STAR, then they will know that it was modded. And they could at there discretion void your warranty. So your rolling the dice on this one. I would leave well enough along, until your warranty has expired, then modify the car to your hearts desire.

I went the dealershop cuz I got CEL.. and I told them "i guess there is some prbm on purge valve.. so.. check it out.. but make sure that not to reflash my ECU!!" then.. they fixed that w/o reflashing it.. then they even told me "why would we reflash if there is no prbm on ur ECU.. we will never do it.. so don't worry about it -_-a" then.. the changing purge valve was covered by warranty!! Im happy now!! haha

Even if you flash it back to stock, they can tell you modded it by simply looking at the case of the ECU. All flashes, as far as I am aware, require the case to be cracked open. The case isn't pretty after that...

Even with a mod friendly dealer, there is a regional warranty service manager that will investigate major warranty claims such as blown motors, trannys, rear ends. Otherwise the dealers would make a fortune from the factory fixing everything they could under warranty. The dealer can tell if the ECU has been removed from the car even if you don't pop it open to flash it (hence the "two ecu" solution won't work). If it's not on your MBZ service history, questions will be asked that you might not have the right answer to.