Lets say that I go buy a new Ford truck.
And after having it for a month, or so - I decide I don’t like how the transmission works, so I go find a cobbled-together, shade-tree, transmission and install it myself (right tools, or maybe not). The transmission doesn’t bolt up directly, but is close - and the gear ratios are way out of wack... my speedometer no longer works, it gets 3mpg going down hill, and the engine is running WAY hot (and I think I see some blue smoke starting to come out of the exhaust pipe).
So I go back to the Ford dealer and thow a tantrum and threaten to sue because of this piece of crap truck they sold me...that they now refuse to honor the powertrain warranty on...
Or - to use a bit more relevant illustration (though still with the truck):
Brand new truck - check
Go buy an aftermarket computer tuner
Connect the computer tuner that adjusts the transmission shift-points, engine timing, and a few other controls.
The tune apparently over-does it and causes the engine to rev way higher than designed and/or causes really heavy slamming shifts.
But I drive the heck out of it - ignoring the rattling growing louder under the hood...
Ford now can deny my powertrain warranty because the modifications I installed caused the damage.
Now -some will argue that this would be more like buying a new truck, and after the warranty has expired, Ford issues a recall to change the computer programming. I take the truck in, they flash the computer - and as I drive off, I notice that I cannot get it past 25mph. The engine runs very badly - transmission shifts poorly, and something is just wrong - it really isn’t drivable (this would be similar to how the 3G updated to iOS4 went).
So - Instead of getting Ford to fix the truck, I find some guy hanging out on the corner that claims to be a mechanic. He fiddles with it and gets it to kind of work... Then, when things are not quite how I want them, I cry to the dealership and sue them to fix my truck. Little did I know in all that wasted time and kicking and screaming... Ford had issued a fixed code that they had available at the same time I had the corner mechanic tinker with the truck.
Now, the dealer won’t fix it because the “work” done by the shadetree guy... well, he spliced wires, overrode settings, and jerry-rigged the truck -
As someone who, since the late 60's, has bought things and taken them apart, modified them, screwed around with the features and functions, and when small computers emerged in the mid-70's, went nuts with homebrew and modified hardware and software, I understand where you're coming from.
But even more, as the present owner of a 1995 Ford F150 pickup I bought last year for snowplowing, in which the previous owner had retrofitted a Windsor 351 engine and modified the powertrain, and then not bothered to tell me that the oil pump was going bad...
... I can relate to your Ford truck parables! :)
Ah, well, old pickup trucks... you clearly know what that's about.