None of the guys here that has gotten their ECU tuned has actually stepped up to the plate and had their cars "tested" by the dealership service and verified that it is in fact undetectable. That's the reason why I'm leery about it.

Can, I hear you...peer pressure, gotta love it. I used to be the first on the plate before but now I'd rather sit back and watch others instead.

 

Austin, I think all Jason meant is that with any ECU tune, not just GIAC, the potential problem is that Porsche could use it as an excuse to deny other unrelated warranty claims.

There is a thread on rennlist's GT3 forum where owner was denied RMS fix because he had an after-market muffler bypass.

 

Exactly my point. Can hit the nail on its head.

 

I have had my car hooked up to the PIWIS at the dealership. The flash itself was not detected. It displays the number of times the ECU has been flashed and it only counted the orginal flash from the factory(according to the master tech). However, if I had a catastrophic engine failure or something, it wouldn't be too hard for PCNA to figure out that my car had an aftermarket ECU flash.

 

I can speak to this issue from personal experience - but generalizing should be done cautiously. From speaking to a friend who was a Porsche mechanic for many years, it is very likely the dealer can detect anything that suggests and ECU flash. And if your car has a bunch of other mods they are going to check for it. Now if you claim your ECU has never been touched and it is you are putting yourself at risk for fraudulant claims - or at least destroying your relationship with your dealer.

I recently had a OEM part fault (unrelated to ECU flash) and my dealer made it clear that because of my mods my warranty was toast. They can also decline to even work on your car. Sure it sucks, but if you read your warranty carefully they are fully in their rights to do this - although they can exercise their discretion and some may in your favour (depending upon your relationship with them, how much $ you spend with them, how upfront you are, etc.) When you start flashing your ECU you best be prepared for the consequences. Have a talk with your dealer, be up front, and see how they want to proceed when the time comes.

I flash my ECU back to the "stock mode" and tell the dealer for their diagnostic purposes. It's a handy option and I'm able to maintain a good relationship with them.

Anyone who thinks they can flash their ECU and enjoy full warranty should rethink this carefully and include this in your budget planning. People don't like it when they think a dealer is overcharging or misleading them, so why would we do this to them?

I suspect some may disagree with me, so be it.
K.

 

How do you flash you ECU back to stock? Once you flash it with an aftermarket tuner, it is no longer stock. I think even GIAC's program refers to it as "stock like" and not actual stock program.

 

By stock mode I don't in any way mean OEM stock but the "stock" button on the hand held flashloader (vs. pump mode, or valet mode, or race mode, etc.) and the dealer is well aware of this. While there is some debate about this (which I don't want to add to - use "search" for this debate), I agree it can be described as "stock-like" in that its parameters for all intensive purposes run "just like" stock but perhaps there are very minor software variances - not that I can notice them.

In addition to work being done by my dealer's mechanics and their diagnositic tools, the ability to change modes is very handy at other times. For instance, awhile ago I was registering for a PCA driving event and was having difficulty being placed in any of the stock-street categories because of my modifications (and would therefore have had to buy new seats for a 5 point harness). It was suggested I return the ECU to stock (like mode) to reduce my mod points thereby be able to register in the event (and run in this mode of course).

There you have it. No disrespect to other products intended.
K.

 

What an incredible thread!! Just read the whole thing cover to cover.

Austin/Mike,

Can you explain the quote above a bit more? Is the 7000 rev limit version or 7200 rev limit version more desired for minimizing minor overrevs? I assume the 7000 rev limit version is desired for this purpose as it is farther from the stock (recorded) overrev ranges.

As far as throttle travel mapping, is the GIAC similar to the stock (non-overboost) throttle map? I ask this because, although I like my stock 'Sport' overboost setting, I really dislike the stock throttle map that goes along with it. I don't like the increased throttle sensitivity because it effects my throttle blips and track predictability (i.e. I like to modulate the throttle more carefully). So, is there any throttle map change between the GIAC non-sport mode and GIAC sport mode?

As far as the possibility of giving up the Porsche engine warranty, that part still concerns me...... But, I might be able to overcome it.

 

Here's a pretty good discussion...read the last few posts regarding PIWIS:

https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...-warranty.html

 

I flashed mine a yr ago at 25k, 37k miles now, been to the dealer numerous times, nothing ever showed when hooked up, warranty work never denied. In ~10 k miles my warranty is gone anyway, wtf.

 

I think an important question to ask is if the flash will pass the PIWIS "checksum" test. Not all will.

 

Sorry...What does this mean?

 

I just got done reading the thread linked to in Post 129. You might want to give it a read, too, as it might answer your question (especially the stuff posted by Scott (Softronics)).

 

The PIWIS is the factory scan tool that can test if an ECU has been been tampered with. A good question to ask your tuner is if your ECU is flashed back to "stock", will it pass the PIWIS checksum test. Ask them to put it in writing.

 

Important question, but not really relevant. If the checksum is not right then you will get checksum specific codes. If it is correct, then you are fine.