will coding void your warranty ?

[Asiarush]

sorry, I did a search and couldnt find an answer.

If I code my car, will I have any issues with warranty ?

thanks

[Sean@PYSpeed.com]

Anything that you do to the car that's not factory could risk voiding warranty. Hope this helps.

[rambino]

Depends if they can find out you did it

[rye m3]

If the coding affects your computer and the computer quits,BMW won't replace it.

[JCtx]

Originally Posted by Sean@PYSpeed.com

Anything that you do to the car that's not factory could risk voiding warranty.

Well said. Tampering with the DME is irreversible since it leaves a trace. Some dealers might not catch it, but a regional tech, PUMA or Germany would know for sure. Not worth the risk during warranty IMO, but to each his own. As long as you understand the risks, you'd be doing an informed decision. I laugh at people doing crap to their cars thinking nobody would find out, and that warranty would cover anything. Fools .

[Sean@PYSpeed.com]

Originally Posted by elp_jc

Well said. Tampering with the DME is irreversible since it leaves a trace. Some dealers might not catch it, but a regional tech, PUMA or Germany would know for sure. Not worth the risk during warranty IMO, but to each his own. As long as you understand the risks, you'd be doing an informed decision. I laugh at people doing crap to their cars thinking nobody would find out, and that warranty would cover anything. Fools .

As they say, "you pay to play the game." It's just, some pay a different price compared to others.!

[Asiarush]

well, wasn't thinking of tuning the engine or anything like that, just stuff like having my mirrors fold with the key or having the windows roll up when i lock the doors.
im pretty sure if i put my car to service and my mirrors fold when they lock it, they will know I coded it so its really not worth risking my warranty for that.

i still dont get why the dealer wont do simple things like that, i mean, im sure theres no law were breaking if our mirrors are folded when we lock the car right ???

[Grail05]

I was at the dealer recently and told me that before they can diagnose i have to put the car back to stock.... All i did was replaced the tail with LCI .... I also have a straight pipe and and tecnocraft intake and was told the same thing just put everything back to stock and we will adressed the issuwe .... So i guess my dealer is reasonable enough rather than flagging ur car right away.....

[CarbonAlpine]

I coded my car to take seatbelt gong off...

I hope that doesn't raise my risk of voided warranty.

[tlp]

I think it would depend on exactly what was coded and how it was coded. Also the burden of proof is with the dealer to prove that the issue was a direct result of coding.

[stevenross]

in my honest opinion coding is much safer than installing modules.. but thats just me..

[jphughan]

The law is that a warranty claim for an issue can't be denied on the grounds of mods unless it can be shown that the mods could have caused the issue. Coding doesn't involve touching DME for things like engine tuning and it doesn't allow you to plug in whatever value you want for certain settings with no safeguard, e.g. if the car had turbos it's not like coding would allow you to plug in 30 psi for boost. Coding just gives you an interface to work with preferences that BMW has built into its software, and it only allows you to choose among the settings that BMW has made valid for that preference. There's no way to use coding to make the car perform in a way that BMW didn't intend, only arguably in a way it didn't intend for a particular market. And some options are even more benign than that -- they're simply set the way they are because BMW assumed the majority of the market would prefer it that way and chose not to create an interface for every little option in order to keep down on options clutter and avoid overwhelming people with choices. Unlocking the doors when the engine is powered off is a perfect example of this.

The only exception I can think of would be if you coded values not appropriate for the hardware you had and then complained when something failed, or if you disabled some safety check and then complained when the component monitored by that check failed and caused another problem. But beyond that, I don't really see how you could run into a warranty issue. That said, if you're really that worried about it, just make a changelog of all features you coded and reverse them before you take it in for service. You should make a changelog anyway, and removing and restoring coding only takes 5-15 minutes depending on how many options you changed and how many modules the changes span.

[kmarei]

Keep in mind coding is enabling features that BMW allow in other markets
Such as folding mirrors etc
And with folding mirrors, as an example, how different is it on the mechanism if you press the fold button, or if the mirrors fold by the remote?
Same as the auto close windows etc
I'd understand if you enabled full voltage on the angel eyes
Since that is sort of messing with the system.

[FVM3]

they can void your warranty if they find out

[tlp]

Originally Posted by christopherchenm

they can void your warranty if they find out

They can't find out if you revert your car back to the factory settings beforehand which is overkill IMHO.

Altering voltages is one thing, but activating existing functionality is totally benign. Keep in mind that most of the disabled functionality for the US market is to minimize exposure to lawsuits because out here you can have no common sense but still have legal grounds.

Who would have thought that if you spill hot coffee on your lap that you might burn you leg.

[M3tallicar]

Originally Posted by tlp

Who would have thought that if you spill hot coffee on your lap that you might burn you leg.

Comment just reminded me of this movie http://hotcoffeethemovie.com/ a friend recently told me about that is supposed to be excellent and show that the infamous hot coffee incident and other lawsuits framed as frivolous are not nec what they are made out to be

Re: coding, I'd be curious if it is t all addressed in anywhere the BMW literature- some manufacturers do state plainly not to tamper with the computer. Setting it back to stock prior to service is a good idea, avoids calling attention to the fact the software was messed with in the event there are potentially related issues ( and by potentially related i mean that they sometimes really stretch looking for a scapegoat) down the line.

[Asiarush]

well, those are all just small things of convenience and since i wasn't planning to do the coding myself, its really not easy for me to revert the coding every time I go in for service.
I guess ill do without it.

I know how bmw are, as soon as something small happens they start looking for ways to get out of repairing it so I might as well not give them reasons.

thanks for all the help though

[drchuck72]

So, would installing modules for the TPMS (macht schnell) or the EDC (KW) affect the warranty?

[LarThaL]

Originally Posted by jphughan

The law is that a warranty claim for an issue can't be denied on the grounds of mods unless it can be shown that the mods could have caused the issue.

The law is irrelavant. So what are you going to do? Hire a lawyer at $400/hr. File a suit that will take months to come to court, and could last years? The law is great in theory, but in practice, are you really going to go through this headache and expense? I doubt it.

Remember, the only reason BMW gives you 50,000 miles and 4 yrs of included maintenance is because a program like that helps to sell cars. Give them ANY excuse to not honor the warranty, however, and they will not.

[ES_TRADER]

so if my DME blows up they gonna blame it on coding the windows and mirror rollup?

[tom @ eas]

Originally Posted by drchuck72

So, would installing modules for the TPMS (macht schnell) or the EDC (KW) affect the warranty?

The Macht Schnell TPMS and DCE module are invisible to dealer scans.

Originally Posted by richpuer

so if my DME blows up they gonna blame it on coding the windows and mirror rollup?

DME's don't "blow up". All windows (and lighting) are controlled by one of 2 major control modules - the Footwell Module (FRM). This also stores the vehicle order (VO).

Essentially, any mod performed on your M3 can affect warranty, it simply depends if/how action is taken. Dealers are not on a "witch hunt" to find reasons to void your warranty at any opportunity given.

Most coding is done to simply personalize options best suited for the owner, which will not cause damage to the control modules/vehicle assuming proper procedures are followed when coding. If you brick a module doing something it wasn't originally equipped for - it's on your dime, not BMWs.

Dealers follow a certain protocol to look for certain telltale signs for common problems during the inspection process. While dealers do not have the proper tools to analyze code/detect flashes (a PUMA case must be opened for this), a trained eye can spot firewalled O2 codes on startup or incomplete readiness states.

In a nutshell, dealers cannot find what they are not looking for. Treat your SA with respect, you'll often get the same in return.