Reflash and Warranty

[claytonsdad]

I have seen a great deal of discussion here about the advantages of reflashing the electronics on the S10 to be more like it should have been when it left the factory. Does anyone know how this is viewed by Yamaha? I think I probably already know the answer. The gains sure sound impressive, but I would hate for some joker at a dealership to void my warranty for "unauthorized modifications." I'm not trying to start any arguments, I'm just curious. Thanks.

 

[avc8130]

I have seen a great deal of discussion here about the advantages of reflashing the electronics on the S10 to be more like it should have been when it left the factory. Does anyone know how this is viewed by Yamaha? I think I probably already know the answer. The gains sure sound impressive, but I would hate for some joker at a dealership to void my warranty for "unauthorized modifications." I'm not trying to start any arguments, I'm just curious. Thanks.

Mag Moss, look it up and decide for yourself. Unless you get a lawyer involved, anything you read here is pure conjecture.

Any flash should be reversible if you had a real warranty concern.

Has anyone even had an engine related warranty concern?

ac

 

[snakebitten]

I'm not stalking you, I promise. But I do seem to be chillin on the forum at the same time you are.

In response to flashing.......
First thing I would mention is that the earliest flash on the market was done by Diapson in Italy. If I remember correctly it actually had the blessing of Yamaha.
Second, a few of us have actually asked our dealers and received responses that ranged from indifference to outright verbal approval.
And finally, there really is no way for a dealer to even know your bike has been flashed. They are not equipped to test for it. And it is not something they are looking for.

Oh, there is one more thing that we have going for us in the USA. By law we are protected to some extent. (probably not in California)
Yamaha would be burdened to prove the flash led to the malady.

 

[avc8130]

And finally, there really is no way for a dealer to even know your bike has been flashed. They are not equipped to test for it.

If that's the case...you've got the wrong flash! 1 test ride and they should KNOW it isn't stock.

ac

 

[claytonsdad]

Gee, Snake, guess neither of us has anything better to do tonight. I didn't know that the dealers couldn't tell if a module had been flashed. In the automotive world, they claim they can, and it's led to voided warranties for some people (see Ford Taurus Ecoboost or 5.0L Coyote for examples). Right now, it's a moot point for me anyway as all the dealers in my area have S10s on sales hold until the headlight harness recall is completed. All say they have parts on order, but have no idea when they will receive them. Pricing on '13 models is now what I consider attractive.

 

[rotortech71]

By law we are protected to some extent. (probably not in California)

So by that logic the flash can cause cancer in California too. Glad I'm one state north.

I've spoken to my dealer a few times about the flash, and they've never recoiled in horror about voiding warranties. They just give the thumbs up and say, "nice!"

 

[snakebitten]

Lol
My dealer is one of those that struggled to sell Teneres. And nobody that works there bought one. And thus no one could do a mental A-B comparison.

Nope. They couldn't tell.

 

[Karson]

The easiest way to tell would be if you kept the "off road use only" sticker on your ECU (I believe some outfits put that on) Take that off. Don't give the dealer an easy out for your issue. Mine from ECUnleashed didn't come with one, but i've heard that Flash-Tune out of Cali does put that on on there.

My riding time and the associated enjoyment factor of having the flash is too valuable to worry about it, honestly. If I couldn't figure out the culprit in my garage, or at least a general area of concern, I'd ship it off and have it reverted to stock before bringing it in. The money spent on that "revert to stock flash" at that point would be far less than what it'd cost to risk having the bike not be fixed under warranty.

With that in mind, I don't lose any sleep over it.

 

[avc8130]

The easiest way to tell would be if you kept the "off road use only" sticker on your ECU (I believe some outfits put that on) Take that off. Don't give the dealer an easy out for your issue. Mine from ECUnleashed didn't come with one, but i've heard that Flash-Tune out of Cali does put that on on there.

My riding time and the associated enjoyment factor of having the flash is too valuable to worry about it, honestly. If I couldn't figure out the culprit in my garage, or at least a general area of concern, I'd ship it off and have it reverted to stock before bringing it in. The money spent on that "revert to stock flash" at that point would be far less than what it'd cost to risk having the bike not be fixed under warranty.

With that in mind, I don't lose any sleep over it.

My ECU was flashed by Flash Tune (first Tenere they hacked), no sticker. I bet they do that for California customers since CA is so crazy with their CARB and all.

Either way, I agree. Pull the physical evidence in general. If you are really concerned and/or you actually have the first real Tenere engine problem, flash the ECU back to stock.

Yamaha dealers don't have equipment like auto dealers to read the ECU. That would have to be done at the mother ship. Highly unlikely, but not totally impossible.

Realistically speaking, the flash SHOULDN'T cause an issue. It really depends exactly what the flasher does.

ac

 

[snakebitten]

Besides, what warranty claim?
Gotta be one somewhere in the world. But we are still waiting to hear about it. And this is no longer a young and brand new fleet. So it's really rather remarkable and rendering the concern warrantless.

 

[Millsy_666]

I had the same questions and concerns i asked the company that provide flashes here in AU and this was the response.
"Well, my point of view (and experience) is that its very hard to get the dealer to honour their warranty even when everything is legit. So you may as well enjoy the product (your bike) to its full extent and not let them hold you over a barrel of fear, making you ride it in a poor state of tune until the warranty time period elapses.
Having said that, I've never heard of any engine failures being caused by a reputable remap. So the odds are very much on your side. We can even remap your ECU back stock should such an unlikely event occur. And I very much doubt there are any Yamaha techs in our global region who could read then compare and interpret the ECU tunefile should they bother to analyses it.
The choice is yours, but I’d say you're pretty safe."
So Basically worsts case after suffering a catastrophic failure of some description around possible ecu issues, you can simply send the ecu to be flashed back to stock then get the repairs done. this will take a few extra days but any failure that would warrent this action would most likely put your bike off the road several weeks anyway (or more)
My dealer also specified "I don't wanna know about it, it'll void your warranty" but he also said they do not posses the equipment to check ECU's at all. so if you read between the lines it should also be fine as long as it's a secrete. at least here in AU.