Is the dealer able to tell if the truck has had a performance box installed at any time,say like a VA box.I know they look for pump wire tapps,but are there any tell-tell signs in the ECM like codes these boxes might set that dealer can read even if there are codes showing up when you cycle the key. ??? The main reasons for this post is the dealer are saying they read the ECM and these boxes do set some code, which i can not understand how since my box plugs in at the pump not the ECM like some boxes do.Any info. on this subject would be great.

 

My understanding is that they CAN read a code if they have the proper equipment. Not all dealerships do, but that one may have it.

Up until recently only Cummins had the equipment to read the hidden code.

This is what I recall

 

Called BD performance tech line,they told me that when you have a box on the truck, the box does not set codes per say but what the dealer is looking at is ghost streams of info.What that means is they see spikes in boost,diff.fueling para.but that alone does not tell them you had a performance box.They told me if the dealer is saying they are going to void your warranty because of a box and there is no box on the truck when its in the shop,tell them to put it on paper how they can prove you had a box.Because spikes in boost,and diff.fueling para.can be caused by a number of diff. reasons so there is no way they can pen point it to having a box.So it sounds like dodge is trying scare tactics. ???

 

They way I understand it, it isn't a "code" but a "parameter".

The boxes change the fueling "parameters" and these are recorded in the ECM.
Previously only Cummins technicians knew where and how to look for these tale tale signs, now Dodge technicians have been schooled and provided with the tools to find them.

Most likely it is a bunch of 1's and 0's that were gibberish before, and stored in places most techs didn't look, but now have been decoded into something the human brain recognizes, and the techs know where to find them.


phox