HILO
Member
Gone are the vehicles many of us cut our teeth on. It was so simple, run wires, add fuse blocks, drill HAW holes, add flashers for high beams and brake lights, grill lights, speakers behind the grill, remove whatever trim you like without fear of getting punched in the face. The vehicles, they are a changing. The following items can be found on vehicles that you might use as a POV for response, upfit for a customer, or as a PPV.
Active grill shutters (AGS). Grill shutters are designed to provide better air flow around the vehicle, reducing drag, and assisting with improved fuel economy. Some vehicles will use AGS to reach optimal engine temp. quicker. While AGS have been in use for over a decade, they were mostly used on exotics and high end vehicles, and are now showing up on everything from Fords, Rams, Cadillac, Chrysler, and will become more widely used in the next few years. The shutters usually stay closed (on most vehicles) but open when the engine needs additional cooling from fresh air. Installing lights, or speakers, in the grill area will disrupt air flow, and can cause the vents to open when not needed, or stay closed because they are blocked and simply can not move to open. With the latter, this can cause over heating, which will put most vehicles into a 'limp home' or reduced power mode. If you are running code when that happens, you are not getting where you need to be any time soon. With a new vehicle, if there are engine issues, the manufacture will cry quickly and loud about blockage from aftermarket items, and can use that as an escape from having to perform warranty work. If a customer is asking you to instal grill lights, have them sign a waiver, or simply explain the concerns and suggest an alternative.
Turbo. A great part to give more power with less engine, providing better fuel economy. And more power! Turbos have to have a lot of fresh cool air in order to work. Again there is a concern with equipment mounted in the grill area. Turbos are fed cool air from an inter cooler, which looks like a radiator or condenser, and is mounted behind the grill, in front of the condenser and radiator. Most common is a liquid cooled inter cooler, where like a radiator, liquid flows through fins and is cooled by the fresh air flowing over the fins. A light head or speaker can disrupt the air flow, not only directly behind the item, but areas surrounding it. This reduces or takes away fresh air flowing through the fins, and caused the liquid (or air if air cooled) to flow un-cooled, affecting the rest of the liquid, and can cause turbo lag, or failure. Again, the manufactures can deny warranty from blocking the grill area. More turbos are showing up on passenger cars, they are no longer limited to trucks.
Computer controls. Power, body, and light control modules (PCM/BCM/LCM) or can bus. As we learned with the 2006 Charger, these systems are goofy and prone to freaking out. And they have only gotten more delicate and difficult to work with. We run into liability and warranty issues when attempting to add flashers, LED light heads, or anything, to the vehicles system. Some manufactures, like GM, make us send the vehicle to the dealer, the dealer has to get a program and password that is VIN specific, just to change the turn signal flash rate. (look at recent GM trucks with utility body, or box, 1 out of 6 will have fast flashing turn signals) When going into control model areas on PPV's, use proven equipment from a reputable manufacture, they will have tested and consulted with the vehicle manufacture. For retail vehicles, simply do not mess with it. Control modules and computers are expensive, and any alterations will void manufacture warranty.
Air bags. When air bags first became mainstream, we had to worry about mounting weapon racks, and vertical stack systems in the path of the passenger air bag. Now we have them in the seats, headliner, under the dash, around the back seats, the B-post, and wherever else a manufacture can think of. For the most part, working around air bags is easy, you just need be careful. Disconnect the battery. Carefully remove trim, and you will be able to do what you need to do. Most equipment we install is designed for various air bags. Break away shields for partitions, mounting templates for drilling trim and posts, and special brackets for equipment are designed for PPV and some fleet use. Never try and adapt PPV specific equipment for use on retail vehicles when air bags are in play. The manufacture of the vehicle might have made special adjustments for the PPV and the air bag components on the retail version could be where you would drill in a PPV.
While not a upfitting issue, many new vehicles require synthetic engine oil. Since 2011, GM retail vehicles have called for Dexous or an equally compatible synthetic oil. The new GM trucks are down to 0w20! Follow what the manufacture lists for oil. Using conventional or syn blend in a full synthetic engine will cause sludge, valve issues, and oil temp and flow issues, and voids the warranty.
I will add more as I come across the new things showing up on the new vehicles. And if you have anything to add, feel free. And always ask questions i you are not 100% sure about something. Jut because you see someone do something, and suffer no il effects, does not mean you will be immune to the same action.
Active grill shutters (AGS). Grill shutters are designed to provide better air flow around the vehicle, reducing drag, and assisting with improved fuel economy. Some vehicles will use AGS to reach optimal engine temp. quicker. While AGS have been in use for over a decade, they were mostly used on exotics and high end vehicles, and are now showing up on everything from Fords, Rams, Cadillac, Chrysler, and will become more widely used in the next few years. The shutters usually stay closed (on most vehicles) but open when the engine needs additional cooling from fresh air. Installing lights, or speakers, in the grill area will disrupt air flow, and can cause the vents to open when not needed, or stay closed because they are blocked and simply can not move to open. With the latter, this can cause over heating, which will put most vehicles into a 'limp home' or reduced power mode. If you are running code when that happens, you are not getting where you need to be any time soon. With a new vehicle, if there are engine issues, the manufacture will cry quickly and loud about blockage from aftermarket items, and can use that as an escape from having to perform warranty work. If a customer is asking you to instal grill lights, have them sign a waiver, or simply explain the concerns and suggest an alternative.
Turbo. A great part to give more power with less engine, providing better fuel economy. And more power! Turbos have to have a lot of fresh cool air in order to work. Again there is a concern with equipment mounted in the grill area. Turbos are fed cool air from an inter cooler, which looks like a radiator or condenser, and is mounted behind the grill, in front of the condenser and radiator. Most common is a liquid cooled inter cooler, where like a radiator, liquid flows through fins and is cooled by the fresh air flowing over the fins. A light head or speaker can disrupt the air flow, not only directly behind the item, but areas surrounding it. This reduces or takes away fresh air flowing through the fins, and caused the liquid (or air if air cooled) to flow un-cooled, affecting the rest of the liquid, and can cause turbo lag, or failure. Again, the manufactures can deny warranty from blocking the grill area. More turbos are showing up on passenger cars, they are no longer limited to trucks.
Computer controls. Power, body, and light control modules (PCM/BCM/LCM) or can bus. As we learned with the 2006 Charger, these systems are goofy and prone to freaking out. And they have only gotten more delicate and difficult to work with. We run into liability and warranty issues when attempting to add flashers, LED light heads, or anything, to the vehicles system. Some manufactures, like GM, make us send the vehicle to the dealer, the dealer has to get a program and password that is VIN specific, just to change the turn signal flash rate. (look at recent GM trucks with utility body, or box, 1 out of 6 will have fast flashing turn signals) When going into control model areas on PPV's, use proven equipment from a reputable manufacture, they will have tested and consulted with the vehicle manufacture. For retail vehicles, simply do not mess with it. Control modules and computers are expensive, and any alterations will void manufacture warranty.
Air bags. When air bags first became mainstream, we had to worry about mounting weapon racks, and vertical stack systems in the path of the passenger air bag. Now we have them in the seats, headliner, under the dash, around the back seats, the B-post, and wherever else a manufacture can think of. For the most part, working around air bags is easy, you just need be careful. Disconnect the battery. Carefully remove trim, and you will be able to do what you need to do. Most equipment we install is designed for various air bags. Break away shields for partitions, mounting templates for drilling trim and posts, and special brackets for equipment are designed for PPV and some fleet use. Never try and adapt PPV specific equipment for use on retail vehicles when air bags are in play. The manufacture of the vehicle might have made special adjustments for the PPV and the air bag components on the retail version could be where you would drill in a PPV.
While not a upfitting issue, many new vehicles require synthetic engine oil. Since 2011, GM retail vehicles have called for Dexous or an equally compatible synthetic oil. The new GM trucks are down to 0w20! Follow what the manufacture lists for oil. Using conventional or syn blend in a full synthetic engine will cause sludge, valve issues, and oil temp and flow issues, and voids the warranty.
I will add more as I come across the new things showing up on the new vehicles. And if you have anything to add, feel free. And always ask questions i you are not 100% sure about something. Jut because you see someone do something, and suffer no il effects, does not mean you will be immune to the same action.