My wife went into the dealership to pick up the car (again) and bumped into a chap who used to own a RRS and had had it chipped. He said that his engine had blown up, and that LandRover would not repair the car under warranty and so basically he lost all his money on it.

Needless to say, this terrified the wife as I've been talking about getting mine chipped for a while now. She didn't think to ask where the guy had had his sport chipped, which is the first question I would have asked, but has any body heard of this happening? The dealership was Stratstones in Stoke.

I'm still debating whether to go for a remap, but I've already decided that if I do go for it, it will be between JE and Overfinch, as I don't imagine either would let me down if the worst happened. Am I worrying about this unnecessarily?

There's always a risk associated with it, but I'd be surprised if that chap's engine blew up because of the chipping work he had done and it was clearly an easy thing to do for the dealer to refuse a new engine under warranty if he knew it had been chipped.

Dealers have been asked to stop having cars chipped on behalf of customers to stop unnecessary warranty claims - but that's not to say there still aren't plenty of owners getting theirs done aftermarket. The chance of you having a warranty claim refused because you have a chipped engine is still very small, but something you do have to consider.... there's plenty of similar threads here, have a search about and see what others have said.

If it was me, I'd do it  

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I've had a good hunt around before and agree with what you say. The wife is a little more risk-averse than I am. It's going in again in about 1000 miles for another service. I'll see what happens then as I might get a free remap with my service.

So did the guy get the car repaired? If so, how much for a new engine?

I was considering having my car chipped but this post has worried me

What type of chip was it? Plug in box or remap?

worried me too - would feel better not getting it done...after hearing this

Sorry, have just re-read the original post...so was it Stratstones who chipped the car and refused to repair it or was it chipped somewhere else???

How did they know it was chipped if it was the latter???

I don't know.

My wife went into the dealership and met the guy, not me, so I couldn't ask him the questions. My wife didn't think to ask him the questions. I've only really got my wifes version of some story that she was told at a dealer.

It's all pretty unsubstantial, hence my asking here if anybody had heard about it?

The choice is yours to make of course but let's not forget there a plenty of people across the entire car industry that have had their engine chipped without difficulty  

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I heard all Overfinch do in buy in the chip and add the drink then sell it on to you?


I know some one that was told it would be £7k for a new 4.4l engine for his FFRR so maybe around the same for the RRS? RRS TDV6 Gone but still around
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JayMann wrote:

I heard all Overfinch do in buy in the chip and add the drink then sell it on to you?

Can't see how a chip could possibly cause the engine to "blow up". I suspect the component that "blew up" will have been the Turbo unit. Possibly the engine then inhaled bits of the Turbo and that caused cylinder head damage. Cost of a new Turbo in a RRS is circa £2,000 and a cylinder head about the same. So any risk adverse, tame types should leave their vehicle as standard. Any "what the F..., live now pay later, suck hard on the ice lolly that is life" types, go get it chipped and give it welly and revel in how much this mutha loves that type of tough love ....

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Smarticus wrote:

Any "what the F..., live now pay later, suck hard on the ice lolly that is life" types, go get it chipped and give it welly and revel in how much this mutha loves that type of tough love ....

I could not have put it better myself Smarticus.  Gone - 2008 TDV8, Stornoway Grey, ebony, zabrano trim, TV, Tasmods, mudflaps.

...maybe we should start a " post" spotting award. You know the sort. The ones that arrive after 11pm but before 3am (BST). The ones that involve slightly more "emotion", shoot from the hip language, betraying the temporary liberation of thought and words that only copious quantities of alcohol can release. There must be loads of those back in time, but can we spot them.

Oh and by the way, I had had a skin full by 11.52pm last night  RRS TDv8 HSE Rimini
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Wise words though... funny how easy the world becomes after two bottles of red  

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JayMann wrote:

I heard all Overfinch do in buy in the chip and add the drink then sell it on to you?

Overfinch buy one of the versions from Turbochip and add a very handsome profit on top  TDV6 - gone
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