realjones88

The dealership wants to void your warranty because they don't want to pay for a new ECU for your car (which would normally be covered). This is understandable since it's your fault the car won't pass emissions. So tell them you don't want the new ECU, they'll send it back, and there should be no other issues.

So with the dealership issue taken care of I think you will be ok if you send the tune off to Kleeman to get it adjusted and then you get your emissions testing done.

I don't think they are going to flag your car nationwide or anything. If you go to a different dealer in the future for a warranty issue (not ecu related) you shouldn't have issues.

PaulE550

PurpleHeartAMG quick question for you.

When MB does any sort of maintenance on a vehicle they track it by VIN number. So if a dealership flags a vehicle for ECU tampering in its service records, wouldn't that information be retained by corporate when the local dealership does a normal backup of its maintenance database to corporate and wouldn't that information then also be available to all MB dealerships anywhere when that vehicle is bought in for subsequent service at other dealerships? After all, since we can bring our vehicles to any MB dealership for warranty work, that would imply that all the dealerships can verify all vehicle service history information by the VIN, as well as its eligibility for warranty repair.

solekeeper

here's another question, as purpleheart brought up.. say u were looking at a used car and before you bought it you called the dealer to verify warranty status, could they tell you if it still has warranty? or what part of the warranty may have been "voided' previously?

realjones88

Mercedes can flag your car as "status 8." Status 8 doesn't mean your warranty is gone, but that someone higher up in Mercedes has to actually approve the work before covering things under the warranty.

I don't how common this flag is (or what it takes to get flagged), but I'd assume it's a system wide code. So they aren't going to cover your ECU, but if you need a trunk latch or something you will still be covered, it just has to be approved first. A lot of people have tuned cars and have no issues. The only reason the dealership even knows is that with the OPs older tune the ECU was opened.

Wobble64

Unlikely the dealership will do anything problematic. All they will care about is that you will resolve the issue by yourself and do not need their help. If you do not file a warranty claim, that is most likely the end of it for them.
I would just tell them 'Thanks for your efforts, but I was able to find out what the previous owner did and was able to resolve the issue on my own.' End of story.

PaulE550

Thanks for the reply. Makes perfect sense. I figured MB had to have a way of globally tracking any service related history information by VIN and also flagging certain vehicles for extra scrutiny down the road.

PaulE550

PurpleHeartAMG,

I would agree with you that there is no such thing as undetectable code. Being in the computer field, I could tell you exactly how MB corporate would likely be able to verify the code integrity of a suspected ECU, if they were facing a potential $20,000 or $30,000 warranty repair bill and suspected something. After all, an ECU is nothing but a glorified computer with dedicated functionality. Obviously not a process the local MB dealership would likely be setup to do, but once an ECU was sent back to corporate the procedure could be done quickly.

Rocman8

ECU's are ordered by the dealer by VIN and they cannot be returned so now the dealer is on the hook for a useless ECU. They will not be very happy about that and can almost guarantee that if you have CPO warranty or ELW they will status the car in the system. You bought cpo from a dealer or private sale? What extended warranty do you actually have?

vitamink

I bought the extended warranty from another MB dealer while my car was under the warranty and it was the only warranty option back to then. I can't remember the name now but find it later.

CarHopper

Sorry it took me a a minute to get back in here.

Paul, it seems as though you have gotten the answers you were looking for. And yes, depending on the size of the repair, MB will indeed send off the ECU to engineers and they'll examine everything on it. Wont take those guys very long to detect the tune. In most cases/dealerships, however, the techs/service department doesn't have the capability to break down the ECU like that. If a dealer detects a tune it is likely because A) there is physical evidence like this case where a tuner bench tunes and actually physically handles the ECU or B) they have an experience AMG tech who can tell the car is tuned once they drive it.

Solekeeper -- You likely can get a VIN check from a dealer and see what work and documentation there is on certain cars. However, this will only apply to cars that have had all their service performed at a certified dealer. If you have your car worked on in an INDY shop then the records wont show.

This is why I recommend finding a good indy shop to have your work done if you have a modified car and are looking to maintain some type of warranty. Develop a strong relationship with them and if you are able to find a third party warranty then the INDY shop can also take care of those warranty needs. They wont report back to MB that the car is modified in xyz way.