Quote:
Originally Posted by TheUltimateDriver
Unfortunately it will void the warranty. Once the flash has been piggybacked onto the ECU any BMW Center will see it and automatically report it to BMW NA. Best to hope for the new BMW Performance line to offer a SW update. That will be the only way around it.
See here: http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...rmance+Catalog
BMW AG and NA were tired of losing money to aftermarket tuners so they have decided to tap into the market. Supposedly more tuning products for additional models will be offered. |
I believe a turbo charged car can make a tuner out of a 70 year old retired librarian. Especially since she will be able to get a good extra 20~30HP without any mechanical modification. It really is so tempting.
Which leads me to predict that once this thing's out, this forum will flooded with posts titled "Will a reflash void my warranty?" Ok, maybe not flooded, but I bet we'll see a lot of those for the first couple of years.
And the answer will of course be yes, in practice. Although one can get technical and claim that nothing short of taking your car out of the country will actually VOID the warranty, or that the burden of proof lies on the dealership, in reality if your dealer knows that you had a reflash, you just lost your powertrain warranty. Just hope that they would fix your window regulator without a fight.
Having said that, I have had my reflash for three years now on my WRX and my dealer does not know about it. This of course is largely due to the fact that I had a conservative reflash and therefore my motor's been running like a champ, but I am not sure if there is an easy way for the dealer to detect the kind of reflash that I have.
What I have is not a piggy back, but a little hand held device that loads up different target parameters to the ECU by plugging into the diagnostic port underneath the steering column. When done, you unplug it and keep it in your house. So you can't find anything under the hood. I know there is a way to detect it by running a check on the ECU, but not all dealers can/will do this.
But I digress. The bottom line is, you pay to play. :biggrin: