Pirelli stage 1 tuning

[Maverick]

have a blinkin flash again on smode. any idea wat wrong with it but my car driving well. isit becoz of stage 1 does not suit my car? wrong flash or?

Why don't you take it to an APR dealer and have them flash the car with the trial and see if the problem goes away?

[mikinoz]

R1, I believe that it is quite clear that the performance tune business is highly competitive. Releasing corporate info on a forum such as this is not very clever. If it were a VW issue, not a 3rd party tune issue, I have seen many people release information.

[R1 Crasher]

R1, I believe that it is quite clear that the performance tune business is highly competitive. Releasing corporate info on a forum such as this is not very clever. If it were a VW issue, not a 3rd party tune issue, I have seen many people release information.

I take your point,but if the problem was only for one specific tune, I could understand the secrecy,but its not.

[mikinoz]

I am also interested to know. We can only speculate, or Google for the answer really.

But understand if that information is withheld as it is obvious there is a corporate advantage in the workaround.

[Golf Houso]

Anyone have a suggestion to as why they nozsex is still having a problem?

[kryten2001]

Not having a go mods, but I wish you guys wouldn't delete so many posts.

(he says, waiting for this one to also disappear.....)

But to keep it on topic, original poster, I'd check the things that are known to be an issue - starting with the coilpacks. Then I'd have somebody with the diagnostics tool see if they can figure out what the errors are. The errors (whether they are related to the tune or not) will give you (or the tuner) an idea where to look next.

It might be misfiring, running too lean, running too rich.. Who knows. It might be anything really.

A piece of smart software will probably be able to tell you what we all can't...

[Guy_H]

Noszex - to help you diagnose the problem, if you have access to Vag Com or other diagnostic software:

If you have these fault codes: (there is another variation with a misfire on cyl 2 as well, but happens only under a certain condition).

000768 - Random/Multiple Cylinder Misfire Detected
P0300 - 001 - Upper Limit Exceeded - Intermittent - MIL ON
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 10100001
Fault Priority: 2
Fault Frequency: 3
Mileage: 1714 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2000.00.00
Time: 00:27:54

Freeze Frame:
RPM: 6657 /min
Load: 88.6 %
Speed: 131.0 km/h
Temperature: 84.0°C
Temperature: 27.0°C
Absolute Pres.: 1020.0 mbar
Voltage: 14.097 V

000771 - Cylinder 3: Misfire Detected
P0303 - 001 - Upper Limit Exceeded - Intermittent - MIL ON
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 10100001
Fault Priority: 2
Fault Frequency: 3
Mileage: 1714 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2000.00.00
Time: 00:27:54

Freeze Frame:
RPM: 6657 /min
Load: 88.6 %
Speed: 131.0 km/h
Temperature: 84.0°C
Temperature: 27.0°C
Absolute Pres.: 1020.0 mbar
Voltage: 14.097 V

This will be the problem described before - see your tuner.

To get this data you need to test the car (on a private track of course) - ESP off - sport mode & allow the car to flat shift, mostly from 2/3 & 3/4 gearshift - OR hold the car in 3rd gear from a 1500rpm slow start until forced redline shift.

These codes were pulled from a Pirelli GTI with aftermarket software on board & we have seen it a dozen times now.

[Guy_H]

P.S. - The flash of the check engine light may record the misfire - once it builds up to a certain number recorded it can hold the light on.

[PirelliAC]

hi all

I am the owner of a pirelli gti that has had the cylinder 3 misfire also. A couple of people have been making reference to my situation so I thought i might clarify my situation so that it may help others that are going through the same thing.

So I bought my pirelli gti in december last year and had the APR tuned installed at about 1000kms. From the get go I had the cylinder 3 misfire present post tuning the car. This fault was only ever present when the car is in S or D shifting from 3rd to 4th. The car would hold the gear and hesistate then shift and the engine check light would flash. I went back to my local APR dealer and he liased with APR Head Office. They looked after me changing the coil packs, and plugs but unfortunately this did not solve the problem, Awesome after sales service!

I took the car back to the dealer who tried to diagnose the problem and basically to cut a long story short( cause this is gonna be long enough) said that I had tuned/chipped/flashed the car which was the problem, they changed my computer and charged me about 1000 dollars and said that it was fixed!???? As you can imagine I was ****en pissed off!! What the ****? i mean i just paid 2000 for a tune and have been told by some ignorant tech at the dealer that its the cause of my problem, without even considering any other possible causes at all, I got another 1000 dollar bill for an ECU and told to go away. Not happy. So I debated for a while whether to or not to reflash the car? As I didnt believe that it was the cause. APR for the record did offer me a refund but I declined as i wanted the car tuned as i sold a MK5 R32 to buy the pirelli and had plans to modify it extensively for weekend use. So with the help of guy harding we tried several different versons of the software but unfortunately the fault was still present.

I drove around for about 7000 - 9000kms putting up with the fault untill canberras second VW dealer opened. I was told that they had a group of good techs that would help me out. So my car is completely stock no mods except for eibach suspension and I book into the new dealer on the 12th of october to have a second opinion. They tried several things from injectors to sensors to coils and plugs again etc, and then they said we doing a leak down test of the engine. What they discovered it that the engine had some compression issues and something to do with the exhaust valves not being any good in cylinder 3. So VW Australia had advised them to carry out several more tests to remove data out of my car. I think VW australia thought it was because my car was moddified that it was having these issues, but as I said when I took the car to the dealer it was stock. Then after about 10 days VW Aus advised the dealer to remove the engine from my car. The report says that they found problems with the cylinder head, that carbon had built up on the exhaust valves in cylinder 3? I dont yet have the report from the dealer so I dont yet have the exact details of the work carried out. I picked my car up from the dealer on the 9th of November!! almost a month later..... I was told to take it easy for 1000kms and see how I go and to let the dealer know.

SO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I took the car out for a run last night. Guess what happened???? Yeah you got it I opened it up and sure enough the same problem is present! Full throttle shifting from 3rd to 4th the car misfires still. Out of about 10 - 12 runs it did it twice. I will be taking the car back to the dealer on monday, and calling my solicitor shortly after as this saga has been going on since brand new and I will be pursing legal avenues. I suggested to VW Aus that i would be a much easier fix to send an replacement engine, and as it turns out it looks like I may be right. The dealer here has been great support and APR's support was comprehensive, I was called personally several times by Guy Harding in the early stages, but this is not a tuning issue, this is a VW product issue. I am certain that my pirelli is not the only one as I have recieved PM's and emails from owners with the same problem.


I actually think they don't know what is the problem with my car. I can say that it just not acceptable for a 50k car to have these sorts of issues on going for 12months, and I think a replacement car or refund from VW Aus would be almost the only outcome i would be satisfied with from this point.

The most disappointing aspect of this whole thing is that I have personally purchased 4 VW's in the last 5 years, I had the first ACT delivered MK5 GTI back in april 05 since i have had a Polo GTI, and MK5 R32 and Jetta and now the Pirelli, my family has purchased approx 15 cars from VW since 2000. And even after all this I was not given alternative transport(i went for a month without a car) and the only correspondence I get is a customer service rep from VW Australia. Just thought I would have recieved a little special treatment because of my purchase history with VW, and I didnt think that it would be unreasonalble to expect it. My mate has an R8 clubbie and had a knock in the engine after 21000kms and got a new engine in 7 days.

I let you guys know what happens from her on if interested. If anyone wants to talk specifics pm me and i'll sling u my number

[Big Yellow]

good luck with getting it fixed!!

seems like a common issue on these cars.

[tinto]

Good luck mate, that is a sad journey with some bad luck thrown in!
I'm definitely interested in the outcome once it is wrapped up for you.
Probably best for you not to post specifics in public if there are legal proceedings underway (as you've alluded to).

[Maverick]

good luck with getting it fixed!!

seems like a common issue on these cars.

There's only one car with this problem?

The ones where the tune was the problem didn't have the problem in stock mode.

[Big Yellow]

There's only one car with this problem?

The ones where the tune was the problem didn't have the problem in stock mode.

edit: i get what you saying, so this guy throwing codes even stock??

[Maverick]

edit: i get what you saying, so this guy throwing codes even stock??

Yep so it can't be attributed to the tune. Sounds like they haven't actually pulled the engine apart but rather just taken the top off it.

[Big Yellow]

Yep so it can't be attributed to the tune. Sounds like they haven't actually pulled the engine apart but rather just taken the top off it.

well it was said all along that it was not tune brand related. it is possible that the extra power from the tune highlights a pre-existing condition with some cars being worse than others. so what did Guy fix in PirelliAC's car in the first place if the problem is still there in stock form??

its been a bit hit and miss so far.