ECU needs replacing after APR 2.1 update

[DarianBx3]

I guess I am adding "please let me ECU be resealed properly" to my annual prayers....

 

[loopless1]

I guess I am adding "please let me ECU be resealed properly" to my annual prayers....

My bench flashed ECU failed 30k miles after the flash. It is nothing to do with the recent tune. If your ECU was opened it can fail at a later date - those things don't like to be opened. It's not APRs responsibility. It cost me nearly $2k in the end. APR did offer to help find a new ECU at maybe a discount from an OEM parts supplier but I had already authorized the dealer. I bear no ill feelings towards APR. As soon as port flashing was available I flashed the new ECU.

 

[SnailPower]

You don't have another dealer to take it to for a second opinion that does flashing? Just a thought...

 

[kennega]

You can also grab a spare ECU from a yard and have it programmed. Mine cost me around $125. Always handy to have a spare kicking around.

 

[Uberryan]

You can always throw down for an extended warranty as well that covers bumper to bumper. The actual cost is about the same as a new ECU, but dealer won't likely release info about the ECU being tuned to the EW provider. You pay your $50 co-pay and you can rest easy about everything else on the car too.

 

[damagi123]

Sounds like the dealership who updated your tune may have a made a mistake somewhere with the flash. I would think if something happened with the software causing the ECU to fry they would contact APR immediately. Instead their telling you a new ECU is needed. Sounds fishy.

This dealer was an APR dealer, they cracked and flashed me the 1st 2 times with the stg1 and stg2 V1, then just recently dropped their APR partner status so I had to get flashed to V2.1 at another shop. Now the dealer all the sudden is acting like they have no idea what to do in a situation like this.

 

[damagi123]

You can always throw down for an extended warranty as well that covers bumper to bumper. The actual cost is about the same as a new ECU, but dealer won't likely release info about the ECU being tuned to the EW provider. You pay your $50 co-pay and you can rest easy about everything else on the car too.

no im still under warranty they just wont cover it saying the tune is at fault. Again, this dealer was who flashed me in the first place!

 

[Uberryan]

Sounds like there is a reason that they lost their APR status. You're also not under the bumper to bumper warranty (3yr/36k). P/T warranty doesn't cover anything electrical. But if you did have an extended warranty through a third party, they would pay for the repairs and be none the wiser is what I'm saying. Obviously the measure is purely preventative. Not something you can do now.

 

[Jaber]

Sounds like there is a reason that they lost their APR status. You're also not under the bumper to bumper warranty (3yr/36k). P/T warranty doesn't cover anything electrical. But if you did have an extended warranty through a third party, they would pay for the repairs and be none the wiser is what I'm saying. Obviously the measure is purely preventative. Not something you can do now.

3rd party warranty companies don't always shell out a sizable amount of cash, without having someone come out and check it out.

My in-laws have a 3rd party warranty and they came out twice, to approve a claim.

I had Ford ESP on my Jeep, they approved about $2k worth of repairs, without questioning the shop much other than diagnostic information.

So YMMV. Read the contract.

 

[Dans GTI]

Third party warranty is going to be useless for this car in this current situation. At least going off of my quote i got when i bought my GTI. My credit union offers mechanical break down insurance. They quoted me like 3- 4k for 4 years of warranty, which is a lot for a extended warranty. It did not cover items like the clutch, TOB, water pump was parts only no labor, timing tensioners, turbo, oil leaks. Pretty much everything and anything known to fail on a GTI. So i passed it up. My Mercedes E350 was only $1100 for 3 years and i've already cashed out 3k in claims on that. So it was a bit surprising. Also with a extended warranty some companies have a period of anywhere from 14-30 days where you cannot use the warranty until that period of time passes.

Assuming OP does get warranty it depends on even IF the company will honor his claim. Regardless he's in a shitty situation. Sounds like the dealership that did this for him messed up somewhere.

 

[Dans GTI]

3rd party warranty companies don't always shell out a sizable amount of cash, without having someone come out and check it out.

My in-laws have a 3rd party warranty and they came out twice, to approve a claim.

I had Ford ESP on my Jeep, they approved about $2k worth of repairs, without questioning the shop much other than diagnostic information.

So YMMV. Read the contract.

Agreed, it depends. My 3rd party warranty awarded 2k to replace my Mercedes control arms without even questioning it or coming out.

But they came out to check out my blower motor repair for $500.

 

[XGC75]

Man there's a lot of fluff in this thread so far.

if you mean changing from like 93 to stock yes.

Stock mode is not a stock tune. There are still many, many blocks that have been changed in order to 1) enable tune switching and 2) enable other features like NLS, Anti-theft, etc. Even if you don't have those "enabled" they're still there in the software.

your understanding of the situation is correct. not that they can't communicate with it, simply that it's not communicating with sensors correctly. Thanks for the interest man.

Sounds like a low-level driver issue. No hardware changed. The chances that fate met your ECU at the same time as a new version flash are very, very low. This sounds like a SW issue through and through.

they dont seem to think thatll do anything to help

Because they're dipshits. Make them do it, pay them for their time and then drive your car to another dealership.

Alternatively, have Arin put you in touch with Engineering. They need to see things like this. At best, you can exchange ECU's with them. At worst they could read out what's on the ECU and try and determine the failure mode. Needless to say these things aren't common but considering the very first objective of diagnosing a failure is to reproduce the symptoms, the ECU in your car is very valuable to them.

I had trouble with my tune also. It took a year for it to make itself known, but my guess is that mine was not properly sealed. Water had made its way in and caused some corrosion. My tuner wasn't exactly looking to step up to correcting the issue.

If you are unable to get anyone to commit to fixing the issue, send me a PM. I found a guy in NY that fixes these things and sells remanufactured units. He's developed his own equipment to put them through rigorous tests after fixing them as well. Mine's just been fixed and coming back to me tomorrow. It's not cheap, but definitely cheaper than the alternatives.

This is interesting. So he buys customers' old ECU's to fix up and sells ECU's that he's fixed? What's his charge?

 

[damagi123]

UPDATE-----------------------------------
ok so the Service Manager gave me my car back. They fixed a PCV which was causing the SURGING so that was unrelated but he said still something wrong with the ECU and a CEL is on with sensor errors.
It feels like it runs great but im getting bad gas mileage because the ECU's not communicating with sensors and is on it's default RICH programming. Service manager said to go get it APR flashed again thinks it was somehow a corrupt flash and to try that before bothering to source a new ECU.

 

[XGC75]

not bad. Explain the surging in more detail please. Part throttle? Full throttle? When does it happen? How much boost does it produce over how long?

 

[damagi123]

Stock mode is not a stock tune. There are still many, many blocks that have been changed in order to 1) enable tune switching and 2) enable other features like NLS, Anti-theft, etc. Even if you don't have those "enabled" they're still there in the software.

understood

Sounds like a low-level driver issue. No hardware changed. The chances that fate met your ECU at the same time as a new version flash are very, very low. This sounds like a SW issue through and through.

agreed. after doing all kinds of reading last couple days

Because they're dipshits. Make them do it, pay them for their time and then drive your car to another dealership.

he really didnt want to lol I cannot understand it. I ended up just taking the car back because it drives its just defaulting to very rich settings so im getting like 22mpgs.
tbh its fast as fuck compared to before. The PCV they changed musta been blown since before I got the V2.1 tune

Alternatively, have Arin put you in touch with Engineering. They need to see things like this. At best, you can exchange ECU's with them. At worst they could read out what's on the ECU and try and determine the failure mode. Needless to say these things aren't common but considering the very first objective of diagnosing a failure is to reproduce the symptoms, the ECU in your car is very valuable to them.

I would love that. I'm surprised he hasn't checked in on the thread. APR just said mail us the ECU and we'll see what we can do, no promises. I dont have the ability to give up the car for how long that would take but would be more than willing to do something like a swap so they can study it.