I'm picking up the Alta Access Port this week and wanted to know what everyone's experience is with cars that are still under warranty. It goes without saying that one could/should load the stock map before taking it into the dealer but I'd assume that the dealer can see that last time a map was loaded and possibly much more.

Does anyone have any real experience with a MINI under warranty and the AP?

Thanks,
Todd

 

I personally know of few cars now that have gone in for warranty and have had no issues . I've heard of a few that have gone in with it still installed and the dealer didn't seem to notice, although they may have gotten lucky I suppose.

 

I have taken my car back to the dealer with the RMW tune on the car. I have also removed the RMW tune and reverted to stock prior to bringing the car in. No issues so far.

 

I asked my dealer before I purchased my Accessport, and they said as long as I take it off before I come in then there will be no problems. I just went in for my first oil chance on the car this morning and it was still covered. They don’t even care about my dp they told me if there is any problem with it just return it to stock before they do their maintenance and their will be no problems at all, so I kept all my stock parts.

 

Wow, great dealer!

 

Some are learning the hardway........

 

This is a situation where its best to use common sense. Take it off if you can.

 

had a cylinder misfire in my mini. uninstalled the AP completely and went to get it checked out a few weeks thereafter. they printed up a report of my car and discovered that it in fact had been flashed in the past. i'm sure if you take your car in for something minor, they won't bother searching for a tune, but wanted to chime in and give everybody a heads up for my situation. cheers

 

^What happened in this situation?

 

ive had my catless downpipe for over a year, but they blamed the downpipe for my misfire saying that because i'm running the car with stock software, that the amount of gas+exhaust is not accommodating to the current software causing the misfire/running lean/carbon build up. He told me he couldn't fix it under warranty because of the printout showing my current mods (intake/downpipe) and because it showed previously that I had flashed my car and it would be hard to convince mini to cover it under warranty.

Interestingly enough, he recommended me to look for a custom tune for my car to hopefully fix this issue with the misfire and so the software could accommodate the downpipe. I have been running without the tune for a month or two now because of clutch issues so the recent misfire COULD possibly be because of this running on stock software. I'm going to reset the ecu and flash my car back to stage 2 and see if the misfire issue comes up. i'll keep you guys posted!

 

We have taken our R56s to the dealer, after uninstalling the AP and they weren't able to tell that it had ever been flashed. If the AccessPORT was completely uninstalled(not using the "stock installed" map) the dealer shouldn't be able to tell that the car was flashed, since it's running the same exact map that you had on the car before it was flashed.

I forgot to add, this isn't necessarily going to be the case with other flash tools. The AccessPORT is the only tool that we are aware of for the Mini that installs the exact same map as stock when you uninstall the AccessPORT from the vehicle.

 

I am sure the ECU stores over rev data and dates of flashes at the very least, as well probably hundreds of parameters. I know the DashHawk engine monitor in my truck has over a hundred parameters it is capable of reading. I use it mostly on one screen I set-up for exhaust gas temp with an added probe at the exhaust manifold, accurate coolant temps, digital RPM and MPH readouts. As well I have other screens set-to monitoring the diesel particulate filter regenerations, turbo boost, fuel rail psi and on and on.....

 

But are there other changes that the flash caused that might be stored and seen by the dealer? Such as higher redline and the dealer sees its being hit.

 

it appears from another thread that the dealer is able to produce a log of ECU flashes. so it's not so much that you can return the map to the exact same as stock, but more so that you can prevent it from showing up on a log, assuming a dealer is in fact able to produce such a log.

 

Yeah, not to rain on anyones parade but the accessport was completely uninstalled 110% and the tech came up to me with a printout asking if I had flashed it in the past because the printout showed that the software had been tampered with. Mind you the AP has been uninstalled from my car for months already.

 

By the way, my service manager and the tech were still cool with the fact that I had flashed it before because they tune and mod their minis as well but I'm pointing this out to the less fortunate people on this forum with not-so-lenient techs/service managers.

 

I haven't heard of any problems with with warranties yet, but we will look into it for sure. Thanks for the feedback guys!

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ini-today.html

And by the way, I found this myself through a cross post, so I expect it's spreading. See post #6 above, since maybe you missed it there. Might help you put this thread's recent direction in better context as well.

The title is innocuous, but you will see it is a really messed up situation once you get deep into the second page and then the current one.. May want to review expeditiously, since if it were me, some of the underlying posts might get edited. The net I read is that:

1. Your product and an authorized tuner are involved
2. Emotions are very high and tempers and words flying
3. Real questions about whether indirectly your product is detectible by a dealer--indirectly by whether the computer has been over written, rev limits exceeded, etc.
4. Not yet raised, but logically to me it starts to beg the question whether your product is on BMW's/Mini's radar (target) screen.
5. At least two posters indicate you have lost sales from it.

I am an owner of an AP and have posted about it favorably. Honestly, maybe those posts now need editing too. The situation also seems to involve multiple of the parties sniffing out info from postings on chat boards. This strikes me as a brush fire getting out of hand quickly. Even in the last day the rhetoric level has gone up a lot. Wonder too if you need to consider your own good will measures, diagnostic capabilities that can be offered up, etc.

 

Mp1.6T, thanks for the link, I am aware of that thread, and have read through it. Thanks for the heads up.

 

I realize this is an old thread but why is the link in the above post disabled for viewing? Seems strange.

 

i agree with this. esp since it only takes 2 min to put on and off.

 

My question exactly...


FWIW, I have a buddy that is a BMW master tech, and the same dealer sells Mini. I went to lunch a couple weeks ago with him, and one of the Mini techs, and asked this specific question.

I was told the same thing mentioned earlier - the dealer has the ability to pull a log of ECU flashes.

He said they do not do it for most any service issue, but they can do this. Essentially, he said if it comes in for service with the stock map, you have a better than average chance of warranty work being done, and no one would know or care.

If there is an ECU issue, or serious engine issue, they will probably pull all the data that the ECU logs (including any ECU flashes), and then any work that would normally be under warranty *could* be denied by Mini USA.


I also have a 135i at home, so I have spoke with my BMW MT buddy extensively about mods for it as well. Basically the same boat - ability to track ECU flash's, even if returned to stock.

Dont know if it is 100% accurate, but that is what the guys working at the shop told me, privately. I have no reason to doubt them.

 

That thread was probably deleted because it was getting pretty heated between the dealer and the customer.

 

It essentially boil down to what is posted here?

Then the side issue of dealer/owner issues?

 

Maybe.....
but there is a different explanation that seems to be more reasonable....
anyhow....anytime you flash your cars computer with a nonoem tune, you ARE playing with fire...on my r53 (different in so many ways)i waited till my warrenty was up to tune....and i have a VERY mod frendly dealer....why chance a $7000 bill, even if somebody says "they cannot tell".
With my flash tool, the software looks the same...but another mini person at a dealer told me the computer does keep track of reflashes...so if your car is under warrenty, and may never have been back to a dealer, and you are swappings maps....you go to tge dealer, and they see the computer reports 6 flashes.....you might be toast.
the tool in question here seems like a great idea, the fact it comes with canned tunes is even better, but remember, sometimes it takes $$ to play, and don't be whining about a blown piston/ring and complaing about why the warrenty did not cover it when the car was tuned/modded. Seen too many of those threads. It happens.
Make sure you are 100% confidant in your motor before you do a potentially wattenty voiding mod...and if something happens, and is coveted, consider it a gift!!