Are they any handheld tuners that I could use and not break warranty? Also what is the best bolt ons for my 5.3 without breaking warranty?

 

A cold air intake wont/shouldnt void your warranty unless something bad happens the dealer will use that as a excuse. Lol Everything else pretty much will void your warranty. That goes for PCM tuning as well!

 

Anything detectable as a tune if you take it in and shes broke especially a catastrophic failure and she's your's lock stock and barrel and they will put a warranty block on related components.

 

Can tuners be traced if they look for it? Yes. Will they if something happens? Who knows.

If something goes wrong, the dealership has to prove that what you added was relevant to the failure.

Magnuson <--- read up.

 

If vehicle is taken to dealership for a warranty claim for drivetrain then the pcm will be scanned for a recent flash

 

U could go through the trouble of returning to stock though. Especially a handheld tuner. Its part of it. If your that concerned about it you probably shouldnt mess with it. Or roll the dice and start ordering parts

 

Reason I'm concerned is because I had a buddy whose 5.3 blew a head gasket (bone stock) because of DOD so I didn't want to modify my truck without knowing what I could do without voiding warranty, to my understanding I can do an exhaust as long as the factory 02s are still in the factory location. And an CAI I could do because even if something broke I'd swap the factory back on. My truck runs out of warranty sept 2014 and I just don't want to wait that long before I slap some exhaust and small performance goodies on.

Also another question, has anyone had trouble on the trucks like mine with the oil pan. Seems mine is leaking around the oil pan and it was half a quart low when I got the oil changed. I'm pretty sure that its covered under warranty so hopefully it's no biggie.

 

What are the best mods for power, without a tuner

 

Nothing. Leave it alone at that point honestly not trying to be a smartass. You either want a warranty or you pop her cherry start mods and throw warranty out the window or at least don't expect it to cover anything in the event of a failure. You gotta pay to play.

Best beginning mods have been rehashed thousands of times on here depends on your goals but in this order because all mods are supporting mods for the next step.

LT's and ORY or catted Ydepending on where you live and a custom tune are your biggest adders right off the bat. After that it's torque converter, gears, cam and or forced induction.

 

I won't care much for warranty after I get my oil leak fixed honestly, apparently it's leaking around the oil pan so I want to have it serviced even though I can change it myself.. Im not really new to the game but I've never modified an truck or an LS for that matter. I've just done fox bodies. But I've never messed with anything with warranty so it changes the game for me. I heard I could do an catback without ruining the warranty.

As for racing wise, would it be weird for my 5.3 3.73 geared truck to bust an supercharged 3.8 regals *** by 4 car lengths from a 45 roll?