When the outlet reached out again to verify if the mid-muffler delete caused the emissions problem, Dodge was responded that it wasn't the mufflers, but that 'a Stellantis Calibration Engineer ran Powertrain Control Module (PCM) diagnostics and confirmed that the vehicle’s PCM was tampered with and contained non-factory software.'įlash Dodge's stock PCM with unauthorized software or swap out the PCM for a non-authorized unit, and boom, the car's warranty is vaporized.

Instead, the paperwork also appeared to show the warranty was being denied 'due to emissions tampering.' When Carscoops first reached out to Dodge with questions, the automaker confirmed emissions tampering as the issue. Regrettably, a breakdown of that $36,000 bill wasn't included. Vinet sent Carscoops paperwork about the issue, one item showing the loss of compression in cylinder seven. The refusals left Vinet with a bill for $36,000 if he wanted his car fixed. His Facebook posts show Dodge denied the warranty claim, the automaker 'alleging that altered the ECM.' He somehow got the situation escalated far enough up the chain that he said he spoke to brand CEO Tim Kuniskis and VP Steve Stander, neither one of whom reversed Dodge's position on the claim.

He said he'd never driven over 100 miles per hour, never abused the car, never had anything done to the engine, saying the only modification was the popular mid-muffler delete, which removes a set of mufflers in the middle of the exhaust piping. Vinet claimed his Hellcat engine lost compression after around 800 miles of driving and needed a new engine and transmission. The story began with the owner of a 2023 Dodge Challenger Hellcat Widebody Jailbreak, Brennon Vinet, posting on the Dodge Challenger Owner's Club page on Facebook. As this cautionary tale related by Carscoops shows, fixing a broken tune also costs proper money. While the details differed about how to structure a long-term tuning program depending on brand, a unifying theme appeared across all three interviews, especially applicable to Mopar products: Properly tuning a car costs proper money.

A year ago we spoke to three professional tuners, one specialist for each of The Big Three, about how to properly tune your car.

2022 dodge challenger srt hellcat