Warranty vs. Mods on 2021 Diesel?

[Stephen21]

Hello Everyone,

As I sit here patiently (yeah right) waiting for my new Gladiator to arrive, I am coming up with a bunch of questions.

Several are "what will this do to my warranty?" questions.

I would like to get a lift, wheels & tires, tune and delete ASAP.

I have NO idea how tolerant the dealers are of mods when doing warranty work.

As far as the deletes, is it likely that I could get away with an electric exhaust cutout and a "removable" tune??

Any issues with lift & tires?

Any tips or suggestions?

Thanks!!

S.

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[Josh00333]

Simply if you change something, that item is no longer warrantied. You change suspension and 3 weeks late a u-joint goes out; it's reasonable that the deal will not warranty a u-joint.

That has nothing to do with a bad Uconnect unit.

Now you are doing a lot, and will be effectively voiding the entire suspension and power train. You tune a diesel eng expect any power train item to be on you. Again none of that would have anything to do with an alternator failing for example.

Every dealer has a different lvl of tolerance.

To add; you will not find a delete tune in the US. EPA has just hammered programmers here. In Canada there are.

You can get performance tunes.

 

[Clv22p]

Tune and delete and the entire powertrain warranty will be voided. Best case you would have a massive uphill battle to get anything covered.

Based on what I see from the eco diesel threads, id try and keep the warranty as long as possible.

 

[punk'n]

On another forum I'm on, a member had his MY 2021 power train warranty voided simply for a CAI (he posted copies of the service notes after he went in for his first oil change).

Note too that states are probably going to fail vehicle inspections simply for an ECU tune, even if you technically pass emissions standards. California has already implemented this and I'm sure other states will follow:

https://www.thedrive.com/news/41606...own-on-non-approved-ecu-tunes-today-heres-why

Based on what I've read on this forum so far, I'm not changing much on this vehicle. Its not worth any warranty issues for me.

 

[downtroddengoat]

While I know the thought of having the dealership do the lift, wheels & tire work may cause physical pain, anxiety, and even death in some members, if maintaining the warranty is something that you want protect against, it may be worth it to have the dealership do the work to ensure coverage.

 

[WXman]

Keep in mind that one of the more common repairs on these diesels in the injection system. That can easily run $10,000. So if you do mods that will knowingly void warranty, just make sure you've got deep pockets or a good insurance policy.

 

[staying_tuned]

Yeah man I’m a tuning freak and 100% planned on waiting for GDE (or going banks) but after 1k miles on my Willys diesel, now on 35” tires with a rack and 200lb hard shell RTT and still being able to easily blow the rear tires off from a dig and overpass as needed easily at highway speeds, I’ll likely not touch it. 5-year/100k is not a trivial amount of coverage. HEMI Ram pulled out from behind me into the next lane at a light, as to not wait for yet another slow jeep, and full send on his a$$. Gapped him by a truck length by 50mph.

If I had another bulletproof pentastar, I wouldn’t care. An entire reman long block can be had for 2 or 3k. With the Gen 3 diesel though, I’ll likely just keep the tuning stock outside of the procal speedo update for the 35s.

 

[Stephen21]

Thanks Everyone!

I have a question regarding the above. If I have a lift installed will it void the entire suspension warranty? Or just the pieces I install?

As far as the tune, we don't have vehicle inspections or emissions testing where i live and I have no problem with a Canadian tune. aay....

Do the Canadian tunes reset the program counter?

Thanks again.

S.

 

[Stephen21]

Will I avoid warranty issues if I have the Jeep dealer install tires & suspension pieces?

I certainly am not going to tune unless I have a solid path to remove it for dealer service.

 

[WXman]

Regarding suspension, I have not found that in writing anywhere so it's still risky, but from what many people have said a lift of 2" or less does not void warranty, because Mopar offers a 2" lift themselves. If you go above 2" of lift you may or may not run into issues, depending on your dealership.

I think Jeep understands that the Wrangler/Gladiator are the #1 most modified vehicles in the nation, and they are more laid back about mods, but there's a limit to everything.

I've had my Jeeps worked on at the dealership with a 2" lift, 35s, air intakes, exhaust, etc. on them and they never said a word to me about it. But they're a good dealership.

I've had another dealer deny coverage on a faulty driveshaft because he saw "scratches on the skid plates". I haven't been back to that one since.

 

[PyrPatriot]

No matter what, always do mods with the expectation of you having to pay for repairs yourself or having to file a lawsuit to prove that the mod didnt affect the warrantied part.

 

[Mr._Bill]

Will I avoid warranty issues if I have the Jeep dealer install tires & suspension pieces?

I certainly am not going to tune unless I have a solid path to remove it for dealer service.

It's very difficult for a Dealer to justify denying warranty coverage on parts they installed on the vehicle, especially if they are Mopar parts.

There is a 2" Mopar lift kit available specifically for the Diesel models.

 

[Stephen21]

Looks like a dealer installed Mopar 2" lift is in my future.....

 

[2TH MVR]

Looks like a dealer installed Mopar 2" lift is in my future.....

I had this done for my new JTRD. 3/4 leveling spacer up front. all done by the dealership. I also (for the 1st time in my car/truck buying life) purchased an extended warranty mostly because I want to keep this JT for a long time and peace of mind with a new 3rd gen diesel with all the eco stuff. The point is that the mopar lift is listed on the extended warranty also.

As for your other plans: delete, tune, etc. Your Jeep. Your money. As long as you have the time to deal with any future issues. I personally do not have time for that crap. Just don't be naive in thinking the dealerships will be nice about mods.

Hell. The dealerships are being assholes on warranty work on STOCK JTs if you peruse some of these threads.

Tread lightly.

 

[dcmdon]

Simply if you change something, that item is no longer warrantied. You change suspension and 3 weeks late a u-joint goes out; it's reasonable that the deal will not warranty a u-joint.

That has nothing to do with a bad Uconnect unit.

Now you are doing a lot, and will be effectively voiding the entire suspension and power train. You tune a diesel eng expect any power train item to be on you. Again none of that would have anything to do with an alternator failing for example.

Every dealer has a different lvl of tolerance.

To add; you will not find a delete tune in the US. EPA has just hammered programmers here. In Canada there are.

You can get performance tunes.

This is exactly right. Its amazing how many people think that if you modify the engine that the entire warranty is "voided".

One thought re lift is to get a Mopar lift and have the dealer install it. That will preserve the warranty.

I have tuned 3 cars in the last few years. A Subaru STi, a VW Passat, and a Volvo XC70 3.0Turbo. The Passat could be reflashed to stock with no way for the dealer to tell if anything had changed.

The Subaru required new hardware for what I wanted to do. So you could always plug the stock ECU back in. I have no idea about. the Volvo since it was a Volvo approved reflash so no issues.

I would say that unless the company that makes the software offers their own powertrain warranty, which is not uncommon, then leave it stock unless you are sure it can be reflashed to stock without anyone being able to tell.

Banks claims that they don't make any more soot than stock so it won't ruin your DPF and that they are 49 state legal. They also claim that their tune does not reflash ECM or leave any traces behind.

YMMV.

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