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Originally Posted by NGT2
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Originally Posted by Joe-BMW33
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Originally Posted by NGT2
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Originally Posted by PPMKING
Piggybacks are marketed as untraceable, but we're being naive or in denial if we think BMW doesn't data log the car operations regardless if stock parameters were changed or not. It comes across like BMW is not aware of piggybacks lol. Would they pull data logs? As mentioned earlier, probably depends on what the repair is. Injectors, sensors, fuel pump? Probably be fixed no issues. Engine replacement? I would think so. Why would anyone logically think BMW would just pay $30k without pulling data logs to determine the engine failure? Increased boost, timing - easy for BMW to point to a tune.
That being said, piggyback tunes, including Dinan are not known to cause major engine failure based on anecdotal evidence from forums.
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It's absolutely in the tune manufacturers' best interests to make sure their product doesn't cause an engine failure. If that was a regular occurrence, or even something like 10-15% occurrence, it would become hard for them to market. Especially with competition.
But of course the premise of this whole conversation is "yeah but what if I'm THE guy it happens to?"
Anecdotally, I had the chance to buy a 2016 535i before I settled on my '18 540. I probably would have bought it, but I found out through talking to the tech that it'd just had its engine replaced upon trade in. It only had around 50k miles on it. They said it had a rod knocking and no one figured it out until after the trade occurred. I have no clue if that car was ever tuned, but it shows that catastrophes do happen, even on relatively low mileage engines.
I think I'd take the risk on the engine failure, after my warranty is up. I have lots of time, but I'm thinking I could pocket the cash I'd spend on the warranty and use that for the run of the mill repair that ultimately comes up. No reason to pay for extended CPO if you're getting an ECU tune. |
I'll be buying another two years of CPO at the end of this year. There's a lot that could go wrong with these cars that isn't related to internal engine related combustion failures.
That said, another school of thought I've seen (not mine) is if you bought a third party extended warranty, you don't have to bring it to the dealer for repair as they aren't footing the bill. You could bring it to your trusted Indy who has zero motivation to report your tune to the third party company. Now would the third party company send out a forensic specialist for $30k claim, you would think so. |
Right. Another good point. I've also thought about looking into more specific warranties. For example, a warranty that covers all the electronics but not the mechanics. In my experience, things like electronics fail more often in the first 5-7 years than engine parts, outside of something like a thermostat. The two major warranty repairs done on my Tahoe were the touchscreen and stereo and the thermostat. Neither was cheap, but the screen and stereo was the biggest one.
Great point on the third party. I'll ask that Indy shop what their experience is with claims on different warranties and how a tune affects their claims for repairs. |
From my experience with bmw and 3rd party warranties, they don't go out of their way to point out a tune since they're not paying. All BMW cares about is will the 3rd party pay the claim. They'll just point out the parts failure to the 3rd party. Now the 3rd party warranty will send an adjuster out to inspect the car for major warranty claim. So obviously if you have a piggyback, you should remove it before taking car to dealer or indy.
The only exception to what I said above may be the extended warranty offered by BMW. Then I can see them having access to all info from dealer.