[BionicChimp]

That’s how I break in a new engine. Sideways out of the dealership and drive them hard. No leaks, no issues, no oil consumption.

Turn and burn

 

[BionicChimp]

Break-in is still fairly important, but today's engines are made to such close tolerances that break in is not really all that essential. Nobody these days pays attention to break in like we did in the 70s and 80s.
I used to work at a major American motorcar maker's engine facility that built an "old-school" V8 engine design that had been around since the late '50s and a second manufacturing line producing modern V8s.
The allowable tolerances on the "old" line were all loose enough that they'd be considered scrap parts on the new line (where things like the tolerance for deck and head flatness, for instance) were less than 6 microns.

Anyway, I think Stellantis was right in denying the warranty. And I'm impressed they had the mechanisms in place to detect ECM tampering.
That said, I firmly believe it's everyone's right to tamper if they so choose.

Let me guess the plant. GM St. Catherine's??