Well my asumption is you would need a friend that works for ford in the shop and could guarantee you that he could erase and reprogram the stay-alive memory, not sure but I think its located in the PCM.
It would have to be done under the ford radar, off the books. Because the stay alive memory is where its stored. Some dealerships are happy to help you hide your programmer, but you better find a solid guy before you install that programmer. After what I went through I wouldn't even put a cold air intake on. I had the chip removed and one service writer told me they had to investigate to make sure the whole problem wasn't from my cold air intake at first because if it was related in anyway it would void my warranty. He said it had nothing to do with the problems going on, but then they found traces of my chip and then I was screwed.
"Troyam", wow...I just read your last two posts and boy!...am I glad that I didn't go ahead and bought one of these programmers! ...Thanks for posting your story and I felt sorry for you and all you had to go through! ...
Now, all this makes me wonder if someday the manufacturers of these programmers will create one that would enable you to access the "stay alive memory" and erase these "stamps" for good??...THEN I might be tempted (not worried) to get one...:wink:
Also my oldest son is a mechanic at a Ford dealer but I'm not sure that they would let him do the "stay alive memory" thing to my truck especially since I didn't buy it there...and also because they really go "by the book" when it comes to warranty work...
Again, thanks,
GM supposedly also has ways of knowing if any 07.5 or newer Duramax truck has been "tuned" and if they see you've touched it kiss your warranty good bye. Some people buy a spare ECU they use for modding and then swap the stock one back in for dealer visits.
Hi my name is Bo. I own APS Automotive in Oklahoma City. I custom tune Ford and GM with SCT, HPTuners and binary editor.
I have been informed about 07.5+ GM trucks logging amounts of PCM reflashes as a counter. The way I understand this is brand new the PCM counter is at a value of 0. Tuning a GM computer is kinda of a 2 ways to do it process. When loading a tune file you can load just the engine operating parameters or you can do a complete rewrite which includes the operating system.
My employees new body 07 (07.5) truck has been tuned at least 15 times doing parameters only never rewriting the operating system. The transmission has been repaired at the dealer 5 times under warranty with no mention of the programming. The truck has been returned to stock every time before it goes back to the dealer.
The questions I would like to have answered is does only rewriting the edited parameters not show up as a reflash in the counter? Is the dealer somehow ignoring it on purpose? If the dealer is ignoring the reflash would writing the whole operating system every time zero the counter?
I know a lot of people with 6.4 liter Fords who have had no problems with them. Others however have had injector problems where the injector hangs open which hydraulics that cylinder and usually shoots that rod out the side of the block. 6.4 liters have larger head bolts than the 6.0 liters and an iron rocker box which Ford claimed would solve the head gasket problems. Now we are learning that more often than not the EGR cooler fails and the head gaskets aren't blown, or the EGR cooler failing either hydraulics a head gasket or allows the coolant to get low enough to cause hot spots and subsequent head gasket failures.
Pulling the cab off a 6.0 liter truck is not the best way to perform heavy line service on them. In my opinion pulling the engine is much easier all the way around vs. lifting the cab up with a 2 post lift. Mainly because it's still a pain in the ass to work on with the cab hanging there.
My recommendation on tuning would be moderation and don't try to pull anything heavy with too big of a tune in it. I have a 98.5 7.3 truck that has been on my dyno making 450hp at the wheels. This same truck has 219,000 miles on it and has never seen any engine damage. Even pulling a 53 foot enclosed race car trailer with a 150 horse tune in it at 90+ MPH for 250 miles at a time. I would not DARE ever do this with a 6.0L or 6.4L.
There are some ways around the PCM ever recording some parameters out of range like boost. A limiter I make for powerstrokes to keep them from storing overboost codes is one way. Basically the PCM never knows anything beyond what it sees from a sensor. 7.3's for example store a code for overboost at roughly 26 PSI. The strategy for this code is to hang the wastegate wide open until the codes clears itself in about five minutes of non-overboost condition or key off key on. This boost eliminating strategy makes the EGT's sky rocket, and if you stay in the throttle in this condition will melt the pistons down. I have forced mine into this condition before and right at the second the light comes on the EGT's shoot past 1600f. Some other parameters storing could be averted by the use of resistors but what a pain.
One thing first..... I looked into the issue of the ECM "knowing" if the thing had ever had a tuner... chip.... whatever on it..... and the stealership would "find-out" and void your warranty..... I did this research for a buddy of mine......for a Chevrolet '08 Duramax. The "work-around" is to buy a replacement ECM from the junkyard or whatever..... and use it to put your chip on..... leaving your stock ECM in the closet..... a virgin..... ready to be swapped back on the truck should you need warranty work done. Seems easy enough.... don't see why that approach wouldn't work on the Ford.
Now.... not to up on the 6.4L stuff.... but "the man" for 7.3L PSD's and 6.0L PSD's is Jody Tipton over at DP Tuner. I found this after several days of reading on message boards before I bought a chip for my '00 PSD truck. I have a little controller the size of a keyfob with a 1 digit LCD screen showing which "tune" I am running. I have 5 tunes..... each is selectable on the fly.... and instantly..... via the little button on the keyfob. I have a stock tune, high idle tune (for sitting still long periods of time idling ....to boost alternator output or A/C output), a 60 HP towing (for towing up to like 13k lbs), an 80 HP Economy tune, and a 120 HP Race Tune. Anyway.... his system is updateable via usb cable.... you can even try "tunes" out free via download....then you load them up via the usb cable..... new tunes will work for 10 key cycles..... then you got to pay for it to keep it going...
Anyway.... like I said... this was primarily for the 7.3L and 6.0L .... but I am sure... the concensus on the Ford boards was look no further than Jody Tipton. Check him out before you decide.....
I agree. Jody is a great guy and an awesome tuner. I also have owned his F5 and short of a dyno tune you won't find anything nicer than what he has to offer.
I also meant to touch on the spare PCM to swap out method of avoiding warranty issues. Some vehicles however have single write VIN files for anti-theft. I find this primarily in Chrysler products but beware. Always use your replacement PCM for your tunes and not the original.
Now to go down a more devious path. What about doing something to destroy the PCM's ability to broadcast anything in case of a warranty issue? I accidentally years ago destroyed a few Ford EEC V computers by loading tunes in it as the wrong bank tune formats. Did I really admit that? Anyway it ended up with a no start and no communication from the data link port and no data communication from the J3 port on the back of the computer either. Wouldn't that make it appear that the computer failed and took out whatever the other actual problem was to begin with? Requiring the PCM and the other problem both on the same warranty claim?
I shoulda been a criminal, or at least an attorney.
...Thanks for posting your story and I felt sorry for you and all you had to go through! 
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