How to check for Tune

Is there a way to tell if I have a tune or not? Would an OBD scanner be able to tell me? Just curious

 

Well the Tune pros always say that the dealer cannot see that your vehicle has a tune, so I am not sure how you would be able to see it? But then again, what the hell do I know!

 

KD max verified on a 3rd gen facebook page. That the dealer can see if the truck is tuned but only if they exactly what value to look for.

 

So if the guy bought a truck hat has the OTT tune, would tune installers have a list of Vin numbers that have been tuned?

 

I’ve had 3 tunes and never had them take my VIN

 

I guess my concern is, I don't want to potentially have a warranty claim denied because I may have a Tune that I didn't know about in the first place.

 

could be hit or miss but I would believe that OTT or KD would be able to detect it

I would reach out one of the guys that tunes here and ask for their thoughts,

 

Plug into the OBD II port, and you will know immediately.

The dealer will know as well because they plug into it to diagnose your vehicle.

If you live someplace like California, you will not pass smog with a tune. I don’t know what the story is in Georgia where they do something similar.

 

That's not true at all.

 

I cannot confirm, but the general consensus is that this is not accurate…on either account.

 

Trust me, unless the tune is made specifically with the intent to deceive diagnostic software, they know.

 

@tonered

 

Nope. Nor will you fail smog in CA.

Dealer can see if it's tuned but 99% of users have no idea how to tell.

 

California just rolled out modified software checks, you should probably look into it.

The diesel guys are particularly upset about it.

 

You can check the CVN / checksum to see if it matches the stock code. But in the end, I don't recall a post here or otherwise where it was noted to be an issue.

 

CA is one of the biggest aftermarkets consumers when it comes to Toyota. People get tuned all the time in CA. Not one peep about people failing emissions due to a tune on a Tacoma. We would have heard something by now. We've also never heard about a dealer finding out either.

Diesel guys are getting in trouble because they "tune out" emission control systems. Like DPF deletes and cat converter deletes. Simple OBD scanners can see this. Different when it comes to a tune on a Toyota as 99% of users aren't trying to delete emission systems.

 

The third generation came out as a 2016 model year, which means it was eligible for smog in 2022, which means very few, if any, have yet been affected by the regulation.

 

I don’t trust you on either point lol

There would be numerous posts and/or threads from Cali people on here if you were correct about this failed emissions test you’re saying. Additionally I’m nearly 100% confident that a scanner isn’t going to come up with any code for a tune either. I actually had an ECU fuse blow and went into limp mode (unrelated to my tune) and there was no indication, code or anything from the OBD2 before or after that would have shown (or even been able to tell) I had a tune.

If you come with an example or a link a thread from here exemplifying your points (OBD2 can detect tune and/or a cali failed emission due to a OTT, KDMaxx tune) then I would be open to believing you, but far more people have posted the exact opposite of what you’ve posted, which leads me to believe your post is inaccurate/misleading at best and blatantly wrong at worst

 

See post #16

 

I can actually weigh in a little bit here, granted I'm in CO and not CA.

I just purchased a 2016 TRDOR in August of this year. I traveled to the Midwest to pick it up and drove it all the way back to Colorado. The very first thing I did to the truck when I got back was the OTT tune. I was a little dumb and did it before even registering the vehicle. When it came time to register the vehicle I had to get an emissions test due to the fact that my model year is now required for the state emission testing.

I did my research on the OTT tune and was confident that my truck would pass the emissions test with flying colors. You can imagine my surprise when I was handed the paper saying my truck failed and I could not get it registered.

This started a long process of many hoops to jump through to get the truck to pass. In CO once you fail an emissions test, your VIN is blacklisted at all locations preventing you from getting another test, until you make an appointment with a state's emissions tech. To keep it short, CO now tests your ECU for literally any modification or alteration. What the test is doing is looking at the CVN/checksum and if the number doesn't match what is stock, then it is an automatic fail.

This is what the emissions testing tech told me during my appointment. He was nice to explain all this info to me but basically told me I was SOL and my only real option was a new ECU. I immediately contacted my tuner and told him what happened. He said he hadn't seen this problem before which makes sense as my 2016 truck just became eligible for testing in 2022. He wanted to try to reflash the ECU back to stock so we did. Unfortunately, it still did not work. With our diagnostic tool, the CVN/checksum still did not match a stock, unmodified, ECU. I ended up buying an ECU from a junkyard and threw that in my truck, my tuner coded the ECU to my VIN so it would start and then took it for testing. It passed.

This is all because a few years ago CO passed updated emissions testing which now checked for this CVN/Checksum modification. They did this because CA did it first and is setting the standard for emissions laws. More and more states are adopting CAs emissions rules so I would imagine that if CO is doing this then so is CA.

I went ahead and uploaded some of my documents so you could see that this is a very real thing that they are checking for and will fail you for if your state has it in their books.



I'm happy to answer any questions for anyone if you have any.

EDIT:
In case anyone wants some more evidence or information here are some links with a bit more info.

CA SMOG Test Rule Change now checking CAL ID & CVN 2020
How modifying your ECU in any way will change your CVN
Other CO Resident who ran into the same issue with a different vehicle