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Originally Posted by NGT2
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe-BMW33
Quote:
Originally Posted by NGT2
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe-BMW33
Fortunately, there really isn't a great sample of your scenario and may not be one at all. The reality is that our engines are very reliable from a catastrophic failure perspective. It just doesn't happen much if at all while under warranty. The piggy backs are so mild that there is no way they are going to be the cause of an engine replacement. I'd argue that even the custom, BM3's etc ECU aggressive tunes aren't pushing the N63TU2/3 over the edge. Will they shorten the life from say 200k mikes to 150k miles? Impossible to tell at the moment and none of us will have our cars to compile data anyway.
But I hear what you are asking. Could they find piggyback evidence while under warranty and use it against you in the event of an engine failure? It's my understanding that nothing is logged with the Dinan. All the parameters are tweaked post ECU instructions.
For what it's worth, I've taken my car to the dealer 3-4 times for warranty work. I've never removed the V2 piggyback. If I lost oil pressure and broke down, I'd have it towed to my Dinan shop, they would remove the V2 and then a tow to the dealer. But I would have to highly suspect my engine was gone. Something like replacing turbo coolant lines a few months ago where I knew they would have their heads in my engine, nope, and it's not like they noted it on my account.
As I mentioned, I was someone who chose Dinan because of the warranty a year ago and if I did it again, I don't think I'd be as paranoid about going with something else, even a custom ECU flash.
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I know you've done all the homework so interested to get your reaction to this. The shop I talked to about the exhaust is a BMW only shop. He was a Dinan dealer at one point, but gave it up because the market here just isn't big enough to consistently support it. His opinion was that he wouldn't use a piggyback. He said on his own cars he would do (and I'm blanking on correct lingo here) a regular tune where they actually make changes is the computer. He was adamant that if done right it would not contribute to problems or an engine failure. He was totally up front about it's getting flagged at the dealer. He said the dealer will be cool about little things but a catastrophic failure would definitely be a denied claim. He basically said the tune isn't going to cause the damage, but if a freak thing happened, the tune would screw the warranty regardless.
If Dinan warranty matched with the CPO, I think I would do the Dinan stage 1 tune this year. Since they don't, and my factory warranty is up this fall, I'm leaning toward doing the axle back exhaust this year and reevaluating the tune and how much longer I'll have the car next year. |
I agree with everything he told you. I'm fine with my 60-70 hp bump by the piggy back, but it wasn't cheap and in hindsight for all the statements I've made already, I'd go with a custom ECU ("computer") tune. I paid a lot of money for a 9 month warranty which is what I had left on the factory. I'm now in CPO. All this said, whether I like it or not, I could tow it to the Dinan shop and remove without a trace in the very unlikely event I have a catastrophic engine failure. It's easy to say it will never happen when it hasn't, both by me and your guy. I didn't see the part where he said a piggy back is traceable after being removed, so I'll assume he confirmed this. Probably not being helpful, but yes, I agree with your guy. |
That actually is helpful.
And to clarify - he didn't comment at all on the dealer seeing piggyback tunes. I may have implied that on accident. He was talking about the ECU.
I have definitely read elsewhere that if they look hard enough, they will find evidence of the piggyback. Which makes sense. But I don't know that for a fact.
I have also read, and this would make sense given what the guy I talked to said, that dealers used to have some discretion on flagging a tune. But now apparently it's not up to them, and it gets flagged automatically when they are running any diagnostic or updates on the car. Again, makes sense but I don't know that to be a fact. |
Yeah, I was just confirming he didn't say the piggy back was traceable. Like he said, dealers aren't going out of their way to put a scarlet letter on you for having a tune. I'm actually curious if any of the techs that have had their head under my hood even noticed mine. It was installed very nice and clean.