Subaru Can Tell If You Have Tuned Your Subaru WRX... [Cobb AP & JB4] 

When i was a Honda technician the Honda HDS is a master scanner for Honda. I remember scanning at the time my cammed 2008 Civic Si with the HDS and it definitely showed race my race Calibration on the scanner lol. Master scanners reads EVERYTHING so yes dealerships can see your tune.

I was going to go with a JB4 but upon further research I think a Cobb is the way to go. I'm coming up on 15k miles. I wanted to make sure I didn't have any strange mechanical issues pop up but my VB has been solid.

Currently got the AP had the JB4 and ive got a handful more than 20 subscribers that have had transmissions and turbos replaced under warranty with the JB4. You can't prove it because it never leaves a trace on the ecu, so as far as im concerned it could be chalked up to a malfunction Im rolling the dice now with my current power levels

We receive lots of complaints for Subaru engine issues. In many cases, Subaru will do the right thing and cover the problem. But, if your vehicle is running an aftermarket tune, you are at the mercy of the dealership. Our recommendation is to always keep the engine stock while still under warranty. After the warranty expires, then yes, go ahead and have fun with custom tuning.

Moral of the story: always return to stock when going in for any warranty work

Yeah, they can tell.I'm from Sydney Australia there use to be MRT in Sydney if you had it turned by them, the warranty would still be valid. It usually consisted of tune,exhaust, air filter, and e85. But if done elsewhere the warranty would be void. Cheers brother

Mitsubishi did almost the same thing. Where the tracked the max RPM through the ECU and they could see if it ever went over their threshold set by the factory, which usually ment it was tuned at some point in it's life.

This will be fun I just bought a 22 RS and didn't realise the car had a cat back exhaust or tune until after I signed the papers. It was a Holden dealership. They told me it had unlimited km factory warranty. Lucky i took photos because there was a cobb flash tuner in the back seat but i had no idea what it was until after i got home and opened it

can they tell if your car idles at 4000 RPMS for 6 minutes when you start in on a warm day . must be the GREEN THING .

I can confirm that even if you remove the cobb accessport software from your ECU the max PSI value is still there. Butttt, I put 1 gallon of e85 in my tank down here in Florida at 0 Ft above sea level and I did boost to 17 PSI when getting onto the highway. So idk if that would be enough to void a warranty. Meaning a mild tune also produces this amount of PSI for boost. Like another commentor said, depending on your elevation and ambient temperature this boost value will go up or down that would very hard to argue in court.

Thanks for this video

Easy way to check as a tech is ecu calibration ID. If its different than stock then theres modification. If you really wanted to go out of your way, then yea you can check the RoB to confirm.

I have va wrx never modified 8 years and I will not mod my va but if I get vb wrx ı will definitely get mod and I don't care dealership know or don't know. Fa24 lots of potential

i might wait until my 22 is out of warranty to install a JB4

Subaru cannot or did not see the JB4 on my Blown CVT 2022 OBW, ....it was installed by good guys with limited knowledge, my fault not theirs....Subaru replaced my CVT @$12k!! ... however, they made me return my OBW to stock, removed Ironman lift and re-installed OEM Tires, not my 245/60/18 (all back on BTW!)......gonna try again with shop with ALOT of experience in NJ, ..OOOH it was soo fast (for 3 months, was over 300hp, probably 310-330 HP estimate, wouldn't go over 290 next time....

What is the maximum factory boost? I thought it was in the 12 pound range. I’ve already been into mid 13 pounds going uphill.

No they can’t , this is what they will tell people because they have to in reality a piggyback does not rewrite or change any parameters within the ECU and so there is no way for them to be able to find out about that, they can only find out if the ECU was flashed

I was under the impression that with the jb4, the signal it sends to the ECU is the stock boost values.

What if the battery dies?

Hearsay until we see Subaru documentation confirming that they have these capabilities. Anyone can rent the services manual for 72 hours. Shouldn’t be hard to find in that amount of time if it exists.

me getting warranty denied with a max of 15psi stock

Buys back up ECU

I wonder if getting an ecu from a crashed unit (assuming that one wasn't modified) lol and swapping it would work? Maybe not if there is data to match it to the car. Just a thought

This is assuming those log tables are not rewritten with flashing whether using cobb or something else. Not sure how jb4 would be logged as its trucking ecu. Either way i have 19k miles on e50 with just ets intake and not one problem. Anyone not havinf a proper tune done is losing out big time.

Excellent vidéo

Of course they can! Do not believe the JB4 propaganda. First, JB4 IS a good product, I'm not saying that. But if your car fails to the point where your dealer is going to have to fork over $1k-$5k in engine repairs, they will scan the ECU and send it to Subaru. If they see that the timing was being pulled back furiously, at the same time boost, fueling were recorded as NORMAL (the JB4 fools the ECU) and the EGT temps are through the roof, you were running a tune! Another giveaway is that everything in an engine bay gets dirty. Fingerprints and cleaned plugs everywhere a JB4 plugs into, and you were undoing things and reconnecting things under the hood. Torn tape, popped wire hold downs, many people don't notice they have done. JB4 is only invisible if they don't suspect it. Worn clutch at 34k? Probably won't suspect, just think you are a bad driver. BTW, I tuned mine. I've run JB4 on three past cars. But it is NOT INVISIBLE.

Very uneducated video. JB4 is undetectable because the car doesn’t data log the higher boost because it thinks it was running lower boost. If you are under warranty then play it smart and run Jb4

Your ECU is a computer. It is data logging... it will know if you missed a shift and over revved so it will damn sure know if its been tuned. Your kidding yourself if you think you are going tune back to stock for a service appointment or warranty issue and theybarent going to see.

Question I have a max boost of 21 psi on bone stock 21 wrx how is this possible ?

What of you bought a stock ecu and flashed one of them and not the original, then switched them out when going to Subaru, would they know??

What is a normal peak boost value on these cars? I know overboost is certainly a thing stock. I can't seem to hit it anymore, but my peak in a VA wrx is 22 psi. Better yet, what is a tuned peak boost value to expect?

I thought this was a given

I bought my 2023 WRX... looked the car saleman and said... this car will not be staying stock so we don't neeed to talk warranties XD lololol But to be fair I went into buying a WRX knowing well ahead the risks and planned accordingly. New Channel coming up soon!

100% agree. A warranty is for the car as you bought it, not for anything that is not OEM.. You want to play with your car and add stuff.. YOU are voiding your warranty PERIOD. i was a BMW Mechanic for 20+ years, the voided warranties for wheel and tire changes. As an example, a customer bought and M3 and BMW installed a aftermarket set of 19' rims and tires with the new car. they shipped the car to Washington state and the dealership in WA Voided the warranty for the car. after 3 months of back and forth they reinstated the warranty

Subaru is not trying to create a narative.. they have a right to deny warranty if you alter the vehicle. This is not complicated. Why in the world should they be responsible for ANY warranty issues if you take this car outside of the factory perameters. Tuners and enthusiast who tune are more than aware if this. Subaru is completely justified to not warranty a tuned vehicle.

Ok so what? What's the point of having a car like this if your not willing to modify it and enjoy it.....every one with a sports car, jeep wrangler or jacked up truck modifies it.....that's why you bought it