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ECU tuning - is it technically legal

Ron Burgundy

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Tuner needs to be able to exhibit and certify that the vehicle still complies to the relevant ADR for tailpipe emissions after they have tuned it.
I will check this with the tuner
 

Ron Burgundy

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I'm gonna close and delete this thread cause we don't want to send our friend over the edge like his last thread about brake upgrades did.....

The only way to get it to pass an emission test is to take it to someone who is accredited to do said test, your average tuner I'd wager is not.

edit:EYY has already nailed the answer about the EPA :)

I built some resilience since then. Do your worst
 

426Cuda

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That was my concern. I am not sure how he would confirm it is legal. It would be a custom tune rather than generic though...
Not sure if he has got his own gas analyser...
Equally, How is the insurer going to confirm the car wasn't meeting emissions? If it's pranged, chances are it won't run. Even if it does what is the likelihood they'll do an emissions test on it? If it's stolen, they can't test it either. Just do it Ron.
 

Skylarking

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Fiddling with a tune simply means that the vehicle no longer complies with what the manufacture has documented with the government.

If you want to be technically correct, a tune would require recertification as has already been mentioned. A tuner sticking a sniffer up the tail pipe is not recertification as that requires a specific test process to be followed along with what I’d expect to be reams of docs and something likely being fixed to the vehicle to reflect this.

Having said that, I doubt any insurance company would care much if a claim was made unless you hit the newest performance Bugatti (around $8M I heard the other day) and what’s the probability of crashing into the one such vehicle in Aussie (if it ever comes here).

If you did slam into a Bugatti, your vehicle doesn’t need to run for the insurance company to be able to connect to the ecu and check if it is storing a non factory tune.

So, what’s the probability they’d bother with such tune checks in normal claims? Close to zero ;)
 

VS 5.0

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Immortality

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The cops won't even look at it unless it's got a big cam, loud exhaust etc.

To many what-ifs to think about in life. Live life and worry about the little things should they occur....
 

Forg

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The cops won't even look at it unless it's got a big cam, loud exhaust etc.

To many what-ifs to think about in life. Live life and worry about the little things should they occur....
I agree with this ... but I also doubt many aftermarket tunes are legal. You wouldn’t know ‘til you have it measured.
Frankly you’re most-likely doing something illegal, but you’re highly unlikely to be caught if you’re not 25.
 

426Cuda

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It raises an interesting question though. Manufacturer's are bound to comply with very strict ADR regs. But are aftermarket tuners? Surely Walkinshaw tunes don't meet ADR's and or other emissions regs. Yet, Holden dealers sell W tuned cars as new? Food for thought.
 

Forg

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There are so very few people who spend the moulah getting a tune that it doesn’t warrant a concerted effort from the authorities to stamp-out illegal tuning ... because it makes SFA difference.

But wait ‘til your Alan Joneses and Ray Hadleys get a bee in their bonnet & stir up all sorts of political crap; cops be stamping down on such antisocial behaviour quick as you can say ‘wot?’.
 
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