This Ford service bulletin gives guidance to technicians in how to discover that a vehicle has been modified, and this may in turn lead to the denial of a warranty claim. This may cover a situation where an owner has tuned a vehicle or added hardware, had a mechanical failure, and has then removed the tune and the hardware in an attempt to get the failure covered under warranty. The bulletin says:
"This bulletin is intended to be used by technicians when servicing vehicles that have suspected aftermarket modifications. If an aftermarket modification can be associated with the need for a repair, that repair may not be warrantable."
Interestingly, the bulletin refers to an ignition counter, and uses that number as a way to determine that an after-market calibration may have been removed:
"Compare ignition counter (IGNCNTR) value to vehicle service history. If counter value is abnormally low and there is no history of a recent reflash, investigate for an unauthorized reflash and signs of aftermarket tuner connections. Low ignition counters in conjunction with any of the failure modes, symptoms, or indicators in Sections A or C suggest possible aftermarket modifications to the vehicle."
The document is quite involved, and tells them to look for things as small as a possible mount for an AP. This should be helpful for anybody who's doing modifications and assuming they can just take them off and make a warranty claim if there is a failure.
https://static.oemdtc.com/GSB/G0000128.pdf
"This bulletin is intended to be used by technicians when servicing vehicles that have suspected aftermarket modifications. If an aftermarket modification can be associated with the need for a repair, that repair may not be warrantable."
Interestingly, the bulletin refers to an ignition counter, and uses that number as a way to determine that an after-market calibration may have been removed:
"Compare ignition counter (IGNCNTR) value to vehicle service history. If counter value is abnormally low and there is no history of a recent reflash, investigate for an unauthorized reflash and signs of aftermarket tuner connections. Low ignition counters in conjunction with any of the failure modes, symptoms, or indicators in Sections A or C suggest possible aftermarket modifications to the vehicle."
The document is quite involved, and tells them to look for things as small as a possible mount for an AP. This should be helpful for anybody who's doing modifications and assuming they can just take them off and make a warranty claim if there is a failure.
https://static.oemdtc.com/GSB/G0000128.pdf
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