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OBD Lock?

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aar1217

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Scottsdale, AZ
Does anyone know if there is any type of device you can put over your OBD port to block the dealer from scanning it? A locking mechanism perhaps? I ask because I’m debating getting an APR tune, and after talking to the shop foreman at my local dealer (who even recommended I tune the car) said if the dealer scans the car, I’m screwed. I asked if I brought the car in and requested they not scan it, they wouldn’t. For instance, if my shift knob breaks, I don’t want my car scanned. I figure the best way to ensure nothing gets scanned is to lock it.

I read in another thread that if you flash back to stock APR will set the flash counter back to the original number – which seems skeptical. I could do the APR Plus where APR takes over the warranty coverage, but I wonder how efficient that process would be.
 
bdelaney4000

bdelaney4000

Ready to race!
Location
Chester, NH
They do make them, I have seen some that lock and some that are basically a labeled cover but to apexeater10's point I think they raise a bunch of questions at least at the dealer level. Indy shops probably wouldn't care. If you want to get one of the covers a quick amazon search of OBDII covers should yield some results.
 
johnnloki

johnnloki

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Bowmanville ON
Tons of not so great info here.


Most importantly: APR can't reset the flash counter to avoid your car getting flagged. Pay to play past a certain level.


One tech at a dealer can't guarantee that you won't have your car scanned while in their possession if you say pretty please.



The purpose of the "VW mothership scan" is if something goes wrong and it's got to be covered under warranty, they might want to hook up to the car to see if they can find anything underlying that might have caused it so they can figure out how to build better cars that cost them less money on early failures. It's not specifically to catch people tuned, but if you're tuned then it's an easy out for them.



"No sense digging further into this car, really. It's operating outside of our standard parameters. The user decided they know how to program a car better than we do, so they're free to take care of it from here. There's nothing we can learn from this one."


aka JB4 for the win.
 
sterkrazzy

sterkrazzy

Autocross Champion
Location
United States
Car(s)
Turbo. Blue.
I feel like all you'd be doing is trying to delay the inevitable. You'd have to avoid the dealer any time they did any of your maintenance or even a simple sensor problem. Basically acting like you don't have a warranty to protect your warranty, which doesn't make a lot of sense because you're beyond being able to protect it.
 
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aar1217

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Scottsdale, AZ
I'm doing the maintenance on the car myself, but if the car had a catastrophic failure at say 10k miles, i would have it flashed back to stock and i think it would be easier to argue 1 non-dealer flash than having to do this every time i went back in. sure, it would super sketchy to have a lock on the OBD port - but nowhere does it say in the warranty im required to let them scan the car when i bring it in for a flat tire or non-ecu related issue. so it'll say "obd is locked we cant scan" - good luck trying to prove that i have a tune because they couldnt access the port.
 
johnnloki

johnnloki

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Bowmanville ON
Or, good luck to them getting VWOA to pay the dealership for the work without a scan, when the dealership clearly sees the obd port blocked off.

Blocked off obd port says to the dealership's service dept: "Awooogahh! Awooooogaaah! You won't get paid! This customer is risking your service department being on the hook, the dealership's reputation with VWOA and you'll almost certainly lose your job if you're not pointing stuff like this out."

Unless you believe that their business relationship with one customer who is obviously trying to skirt past the checks and balance protocols put in place on their sole product by VWOA far outweighs their business relationship with their sole supplier.

A 30k car with (I dunno) 20k max potential total lifetime service business < their entire business.

They have a solution for this exact problem. It's called a JB4, not an Amazon obd2 port blockoff.

Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk
 
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jimlloyd40

jimlloyd40

Autocross Champion
Location
Phoenix
Car(s)
2018 SE DSG
aar1217 said:
I'm doing the maintenance on the car myself, but if the car had a catastrophic failure at say 10k miles, i would have it flashed back to stock and i think it would be easier to argue 1 non-dealer flash than having to do this every time i went back in. sure, it would super sketchy to have a lock on the OBD port - but nowhere does it say in the warranty im required to let them scan the car when i bring it in for a flat tire or non-ecu related issue. so it'll say "obd is locked we cant scan" - good luck trying to prove that i have a tune because they couldnt access the port.
Click to expand...

You're in Scottsdale and it sounds like your dealer is Penske. That's my dealer and they don't do any scans if the work they're doing doesn't require it. They know that my SE is FBO and IS38 and they've done none powertrain warranty work and haven't scanned my car. A lock would just draw suspicion. I was up front with the shop foreman and he personally does all my work. He even recommended additional performance related items.
 
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aar1217

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Scottsdale, AZ
jimlloyd40 said:
You're in Scottsdale and it sounds like your dealer is Penske. That's my dealer and they don't do any scans if the work they're doing doesn't require it. They know that my SE is FBO and IS38 and they've done none powertrain warranty work and haven't scanned my car. A lock would just draw suspicion. I was up front with the shop foreman and he personally does all my work. He even recommended additional performance related items.
Click to expand...

Yes, Penske. They're awesome. They told me they dont scan cars unless there is a purpose. So if I go in with a broken door handles there is no reason for them to scan the car.

Did you talk to Brad? The guy is hilarious. He told me "I would definitely tune this car." lol.
 
VDubberinDE

VDubberinDE

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Delaware
Car(s)
2018 VW Golf R
Dealers don’t scan cars just for the sake of it. They do it if there is an issue to diagnose. No one has time to scan a car when bringing in for an oil change. Everyone is so paranoid. Also if your dealer is doing apr tunes, they should also be able to help with any warranty repairs getting approved. My dealer does since they do the tunes. APR plus is worth the little extra money if you want to be fully protected.
 
jimlloyd40

jimlloyd40

Autocross Champion
Location
Phoenix
Car(s)
2018 SE DSG
aar1217 said:
Yes, Penske. They're awesome. They told me they dont scan cars unless there is a purpose. So if I go in with a broken door handles there is no reason for them to scan the car.

Did you talk to Brad? The guy is hilarious. He told me "I would definitely tune this car." lol.
Click to expand...

Brad is great. We're lucky to have a dealer that is mod friendly. Some dealers will try to deny warranty work when it's not powertrain related but Penske is smart. They want us driving hopped up cars to help sales.
 
T

TheInstallGuy

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Manitoba, Canada
As of my visit to a dealer yesterday for some non mechanical warranty work, all cars must be scanned or the dealer is not getting approved or paid for the warranty work.
 
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