[Kosfactor]

That escalated quickly,

Okay now its OP`s turn to provide us the full story - what was the initial diagnosis from Tata before the tune and after the tune what all bits and bobs have been replaced etc.

@Rohanf12 - How did the vehicle perform before the tune?

[rjainv]

Originally Posted by d3mon

Unless you can prove that the old ECU is still fine by plugging it into another car, the simplest explanation seems to be that something did indeed go wrong during the bench flashing procedure.

Totally agree.

From the events presented by both sides, it’s clear that car was driving fine before the tune, and was limping after the tune.
So tune did go wrong.

the debatable part is how OP was assisted by tuner after the issue happened.

[swiftLife]

Originally Posted by bil.007

This is where things take a turn.

Tuner connected the OBD II diagnosis tool and said the same errors were still showing in his device. He even accused me of lying that I never visited the service centre in the first place, I mean what even?!?!.

He then spoke to his tuning partner and decided to go ahead with the tuning.He called in his mechanic, unplugged the ECU and wired it up to his Laptop through a flash tool. This time around he did not tell me that the car can face catastrophic failures and said let’s do it we will see whatever happens in a softer voice.

...

In my case it wasn’t like I hadn’t researched enough about the tuner or tuning as a whole

Pardon my words but bil.007 you are also at fault here for lacking diligence and prudence.

From what all I have learned about tuning (from this forum), it's a task that has a fair bit of risk involved. I can see that there were 2 major red flags where the tuning process should've been abandoned.

Flag 1: Inconsistency on the error codes observed by the tuner and the ASC.

Flag 2: Lack of confidence by the tuner. Interpreting from the OP's statement "[tuner] said let’s do it we will see whatever happens in a softer voice".

If there was even an iota of doubt in the tuner's mind, the OP shouldn't have continued. Period. I also will say that OP is extremely lucky to get a complete replacement of the ECU. And even if the ECU was faulty in the first place, IMHO any ECU tuning warrants a void of warranty. For manufactures, tuning = tampering.

Originally Posted by Rohanf12

We again informed the customer of the same and mentioned the risks involved again.

About the conduct of the tuner, I'd say that he lacked professionalism too. When the tuner knew that the job was risky and things can go wrong, he should've said No outright.

My question to the tuner is. If you knew there was a risk involved, you yourself were apprehensive and it can get messed up, what did you expect if things actually went wrong.
Would the customer just accept the outcome and move on!

[pedrolourenco]

Originally Posted by wbd8779

Your ECU was fried by a tuner and TAMO changed it under warranty - wow , the title of this thread should ideally be " Great warranty coverage by TATA "

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

If they changed the ECU under warranty knowing it wasn’t a manufacturing defect, just to support a frustrated customer, kudos to them!

Originally Posted by vishy76

You are extremely lucky that Tata considered your case under warranty and fixed it.

Originally Posted by Turbohead

You're the luckiest Tata customer I ever know! I don't think you realise it completely. What Tata did is the equivalent of presidential pardon for the grave crime of changing factory settings, abhorred in all warranty terms.

Originally Posted by Engine_Roars

I am assuming here that somehow Tata Service Center did not get into the root cause of the issue which is "TUNING". Had they gotten into it, I am sure they would have saved TATA some money.

Originally Posted by AbhiJ

You willingly paid someone to modify/mess up your ECU and then got it replaced under warranty?

Originally Posted by AtheK

All I will say is respect to Tata in this case.

Well it appears that Tata didn't suspect the car was tuned so didn't bother checking. AFAIK the scanner tool used by ASC cannot detect remap's. Nonsocial work done here by Tata. Just pure luck they didn't't figure out the car was remapped.

Originally Posted by Jaggu

This is a very confusing case, maybe the ECU was indeed faulty and Tata knows about this?

Interesting point. Surprising no one else thought of it.

Originally Posted by Rohanf12

Hello everyone!
I am Rohan here from RC TUNES. Regarding the issue with the Tata Harrier, i would like to bring certain things to light for clarification.

Quite valid points from your side. But as others said you should have declined to do the tune and protected your reputation.

If the ecu was fried how would the car start? How would Tata so readily replace the ECU that too under warranty within a week time ?

Very valid point.

[wbd8779]

@pedrolourenco - The ASC can detect tampering of the ECU , in this case the owner got plain lucky.

The tuner has raised very valid points - why don't we wait for the Thread opener to reply , my only question is why did he want to tune a 6500kms run TATA , was he not aware that this is not allowed under warranty ? And all the red flags were there for the owner , as he himself admits that the Tuner refused to the the ECU in the 1st instance due to the residual codes .

[steadfast]

I think you should not have mentioned everything on the thread as Tata gave you warranty for a 3rd party goof up. Tata warranty is amongst the easiest of the manufacturers but mentioning everything on this thread can impact you. It can backfire for your later warranty approvals.

[Doonite]

Originally Posted by boniver

I doubt he told them anything, because the last time he posted about the issue on TBHP he didn't tell us either that he'd gotten the car tuned.

I believe there is nothing to be gained from this thread, just a lot of finger pointing with nobody admitting any fault.

I do doubt OP though, for his initial post as shared above in which he did not mention the remap anywhere. While, it's nice to see the Tuner come here and defend himself as well, not sharing the full information with respect to how the work went when the car was left with him and only showing a single whatsapp screenshot hardly counts as proof to anything.

The only takeaway for me is that Tata did a commendable job (very rare) and OP got his car back. Since the car was running well as per OP before the attempted remap, i doubt there is anything sinister going on at Tata with respect to replacing the ECU.

Mistakes happened, probably on both sides, but in the end, the car got fixed and is back on the road, and got the damaged part replaced under warranty luckily without pinching the wallet. I say, put the matter to rest and move on.

[Harsha89]

Always go to a reputed company such as Pete’s, Wolf, Quantum tuning etc. I’ve never heard of RC tuners before. You should be happy that things ended in a good manner. Like another user suggested, OBD port tuning is the safer option and you might consider the same if you’re planning again in the future.

[maddyg]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

This is a very confusing case, maybe the ECU was indeed faulty and Tata knows about this? Tuner may have messed up playing with an already faulty ECU.

.

Similar thoughts. And there were errors during the scan before tune for ECU, PEPS etc

[n_pathak]

Slightly off-topic, what is the legality of aftermarket custom ECU tuning in India?

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by bil.007

He told me the tuning was not possible as the car had too many errors, if he proceeded the car could have issues.

If I were you, I would have stopped right there, and walked (drove) back. I will only let a knowledgeable tuner remap my car. Sorry, I won't engage any ready-made map flashers.

Originally Posted by bil.007

After almost a week of diagnosing the fuel line, fuel tank pipes, sensors, and gearbox grounding and calling in 2 senior Tata Engineers, they stumbled upon the ECU.

Surprising - why did they first start fiddling with all the hardware, if they knew that it was a remap attempt gone bad?

Originally Posted by bil.007

They ordered a replacement ECU and fixed the issue under warranty.

Wow! Great customer service by TATA! Replacing an ECU under warranty, that got damaged while a third party attempted a remap! You better remove this part of your post before Tata Motors notices it.

[vellatechie]

Originally Posted by bil.007

Tuner connected the OBD II diagnosis tool and said the same errors were still showing in his device. He even accused me of lying that I never visited the service centre in the first place, I mean what even?!?!.

I don't want to blame the victim but really it's your fault to move past this point.

How can you trust someone with your 20L vehicle when he doesn't trust you at all and behaves like this?

[pranavt]

Originally Posted by bil.007

This time around he did not tell me that the car can face catastrophic failures and said let’s do it we will see whatever happens in a softer voice.

You're getting the ECU flashed by a third party who, in your own words, performs the service out of their residence. Either it mattered to you, in which case you should not have gone forward with the service, or it doesn't matter to you, and should not be a concern.

The tuner is at fault for actually performing the tune even with multiple errors, but how can you say that you were unaware of the pitfalls of getting an ECU retuned/flashed? If you indeed were, then you have been incredibly lucky to have not ended up with a ruined wire harness, ruined electronics and/or a ruined engine. Please be informed of the possible outcomes before you take the jump. Not every tuner will be forthcoming, lest they lose potential customers.

Originally Posted by Rohanf12

We again informed the customer of the same and mentioned the risks involved again. He still agreed to go ahead with the tune. Upon his knowledge and discretion we went ahead.

That's not what the OP said; so there's OP's version of the story, your version and a third version (truth). It would be prudent to get the customer to sign a disclaimer waiving you of responsibility for performing the tune if issues exist with the car's electronics.

Originally Posted by Doonite

I believe there is nothing to be gained from this thread, just a lot of finger pointing with nobody admitting any fault.

Hit the nail on the head.

[padmrajravi]

Originally Posted by clevermax

Surprising - why did they first start fiddling with all the hardware, if they knew that it was a remap attempt gone bad?

Only explanation is that OP never told them about the remap, and they investigated the problem starting from a clean slate. So they did everything they do when a Harrier comes to them with a check engine light, reduced performance, and a frustrated owner who claimed ignorance of anything external happening to the car.

[VW2010]

The OP knew the risk. I am going out of the way to say that based on the number of errors, it appears there are some hidden facts including a potential attempt to tune or play with the internal coding either at another place(tuner) or a DIY. The number of errors is just painful to see for any car owner and any sane owner would first want to see a clear scan report before destroying the car further or making it a Ferrari Enzo.

If Tata backtracks on Warranty after reading these confessions, I will take the side of Tata.

@RohanF12

Did the OP sign an NDA or a waiver agreement? It will be interesting to see these details from you.

The Tuner in the end is running a business. If the OP insisted in spite of all these warnings and errors for a remap and decided to go ahead, any tuner will take that business as the owner knows the risk.

In my heart of hearts, I am hoping Tata cancels the warranty and makes the op pay for this. It is extremely unfair on Tata to take this cost considering the OP has been doing something or other with the stock car.