I had my car bench flashed stage 1 in early 2014 at around 20k miles. All was well for about a year until the radiator fans would come on 100% even from a cold start. A tell tale sign of a faulty ECU. Shop was giving me the run around and saying it wasn't the tune and to flash it to stock and take it into the VW dealer. The dealership said it was the radiator fan module, which I knew was not the case. I called the software tuning company to explore all my options and to get alternative advice. They knew instantly what it was and said it could be fixed and to ship the ECU out. Shop begrudgingly did this as they felt I went behind their back. My ECU was repaired and back in the car and has been fine since sometime in 2015 when this happened.
After getting the ECU recall notice, I decided it was safe to go stage 2 since it was only $50 more and it needed to be reflashed after getting the update from the dealer so I could get my registration completed. All is well again and the car puts smile on my face every time I drive it.
A month ago I go on a trip, get back in the car to start it and it just stumbles and dies. Try to start again and nothing. After failing to jump start it, I have a sneaking suspicion it is the ECU as the radiator fans are coming on with the ignition. Tow it into the shop and am told three days later it's the ECU. They send me an invoice for the cost of a new ECU as they claim its a manufactures defect and they have replaced plenty stock ECU's. I know this is BS in my head because the ECU is covered under the emissions warranty why would anyone pay to have their ECU replaced if VW is able to do it under warranty? I am unfortunately at the mercy of them and they know it. I can not take my car to the dealership because it is tuned and has a downpipe and I am outside powertrain warranty. I call the software tuning company to see explore my options and they are not much help and have since closed US operations. At this point I just need my car back and I opt to have a used ECU installed.
My dilemma is I have really lost faith in this shop. The owner is difficult and not very personable, the first ECU repair they broke my cowling and denied it, just recently broke it again(I understand why it's a PIA), they had my cowl up for a week and didn't take the 2 minutes to shop vac out the clump of leaves, and while I understand they have to charge $50 every time you remove or install the software it just seems silly because it is something that I can do.
Now I have a used ECU in that is working fine and I have to deliberate if it is worth it to tune the car again. Tunes are port flashed now and my understanding was it was the bench flash process that stressed the solder joints on the ECU that caused the problem. Although there are some reports of stock ECU's failing. Also I have to get the car smog checked this summer. $100 to remove and reinstall the tune, and $50 now to install the tune until the summer. I also have a program switcher which is $100. That's $250 which is easily the depreciation value of switching to a COBB accessport which allows me to do it myself. Other option is take DP off and keep stock, or just smile and stay with shop and pay the $50 to tune it again.
If you read through this novel thank you. Please let me know your thoughts.
After getting the ECU recall notice, I decided it was safe to go stage 2 since it was only $50 more and it needed to be reflashed after getting the update from the dealer so I could get my registration completed. All is well again and the car puts smile on my face every time I drive it.
A month ago I go on a trip, get back in the car to start it and it just stumbles and dies. Try to start again and nothing. After failing to jump start it, I have a sneaking suspicion it is the ECU as the radiator fans are coming on with the ignition. Tow it into the shop and am told three days later it's the ECU. They send me an invoice for the cost of a new ECU as they claim its a manufactures defect and they have replaced plenty stock ECU's. I know this is BS in my head because the ECU is covered under the emissions warranty why would anyone pay to have their ECU replaced if VW is able to do it under warranty? I am unfortunately at the mercy of them and they know it. I can not take my car to the dealership because it is tuned and has a downpipe and I am outside powertrain warranty. I call the software tuning company to see explore my options and they are not much help and have since closed US operations. At this point I just need my car back and I opt to have a used ECU installed.
My dilemma is I have really lost faith in this shop. The owner is difficult and not very personable, the first ECU repair they broke my cowling and denied it, just recently broke it again(I understand why it's a PIA), they had my cowl up for a week and didn't take the 2 minutes to shop vac out the clump of leaves, and while I understand they have to charge $50 every time you remove or install the software it just seems silly because it is something that I can do.
Now I have a used ECU in that is working fine and I have to deliberate if it is worth it to tune the car again. Tunes are port flashed now and my understanding was it was the bench flash process that stressed the solder joints on the ECU that caused the problem. Although there are some reports of stock ECU's failing. Also I have to get the car smog checked this summer. $100 to remove and reinstall the tune, and $50 now to install the tune until the summer. I also have a program switcher which is $100. That's $250 which is easily the depreciation value of switching to a COBB accessport which allows me to do it myself. Other option is take DP off and keep stock, or just smile and stay with shop and pay the $50 to tune it again.
If you read through this novel thank you. Please let me know your thoughts.