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Writing a thread about having my car remapped to stage 1 is in the grand scheme of things is a pretty unexceptional thing to be writing about on a forum in 2011.
However, the reason I'm bothering to write a thread is because as we've seen there have been numerous threads popping up recently where owners of facelift S3's are suffering issues once their cars are modified with code.
Scope of the test
Basically at 2,000 miles I'm content the car is running in well and has no identified issues. Its been run in very sympathetically, so I was comfortable that now was the right baseline point to be putting code on the car. The car has been run on either Tesco Momentum 99RON or Shell V-Power since day 1, and has been used predominantly for motorway mileage.
Other modifications
The only other engine mod on the car is a Forge DV hose which goes from the DV to the MAF pipe.
Tuner
The weapon of choice for this case study is (unsurprisingly!) Revo Stage 1 (V10). I decided to have it installed at the HQ so they could run some basic tests on the car and ensure:
The car was taken into the HQ and was tested on VAGCOM for misfires (Channel 015), and there was nothing to note. There were no DTC's either which was encouraging, so Carl & Kev set about getting the code loaded on the car.
2) Parked up in HQ (JonnyC's TT-RS in the background)
3) Check out those silver £46 indicator bulbs, worth almost the £3 they cost to produce in China
4) You think it's black, but it's Panther Crystal ;-)
The journey home
I'm pleased to say the journey home was incident free, and my lord what a massive difference stage 1 offers for very reasonable money. It feels so much more urgent than factory spec, and third and fourth gear are just a dream. It feels the car it should have been from factory, and having been at Stage 2+ in my last 8P2 I can confidently say that for me there are 2 optimal routes for your modification path:-
1) Go for stage 1 and stay there
2) Go 2+ with all required mods
Stage 1 delivers exceptional value for money, and maybe add a CAI and you've got a very potent piece of kit. There's no question, the DP, cats, HPFP and Stage 2+ code add a real noticeable difference, but you must leave budget for clutch and I/C to optimise the set up. I aim to get this done in April/May 2012. It gives us 4 months to see if we can replicate any of the faults experienced by other users.
As I'd run the car in so gently Kev decided to set the Boost setting to 6, the timing to 4, and the fuelling to 9, and whilst this sounds conservative our plan is to see how it runs for a couple of weeks and then dial up the settings as it beds in.
So what now?
So now we run the car and see if it starts to misfire, and if so when. I'll be keeping records of mileage / fuel / journey types / observations as we go.
If we get any issues I'll be heading straight back to Revo HQ who have kindly offered to use the car as a case study to see if there are any identifiable issues that can be pinpointed for the greater good of all, so many thanks to them for extending this offer to us.
I'll be keeping NGK UK in the loop of spark plug developments to see if they can offer any insight or guidance, which may involve trying alternative plug gaps and running with all the available plug alternatives.
So now all we can do is sit and wait, but if anyone else finds anything useful in the meantime on this subject I'm more than happy for you to post it in here (symptoms / remedies etc.).
Fingers crossed!
To go straight to the 2000 mile review post, click HERE
However, the reason I'm bothering to write a thread is because as we've seen there have been numerous threads popping up recently where owners of facelift S3's are suffering issues once their cars are modified with code.
Scope of the test
Basically at 2,000 miles I'm content the car is running in well and has no identified issues. Its been run in very sympathetically, so I was comfortable that now was the right baseline point to be putting code on the car. The car has been run on either Tesco Momentum 99RON or Shell V-Power since day 1, and has been used predominantly for motorway mileage.
Other modifications
The only other engine mod on the car is a Forge DV hose which goes from the DV to the MAF pipe.
Tuner
The weapon of choice for this case study is (unsurprisingly!) Revo Stage 1 (V10). I decided to have it installed at the HQ so they could run some basic tests on the car and ensure:
- It wasn't already logging misfires
- There weren't any error codes
- They could take the car out and do some very basic logging to ensure they were content the car left HQ in optimum condition
The car was taken into the HQ and was tested on VAGCOM for misfires (Channel 015), and there was nothing to note. There were no DTC's either which was encouraging, so Carl & Kev set about getting the code loaded on the car.
2) Parked up in HQ (JonnyC's TT-RS in the background)
3) Check out those silver £46 indicator bulbs, worth almost the £3 they cost to produce in China
4) You think it's black, but it's Panther Crystal ;-)
The journey home
I'm pleased to say the journey home was incident free, and my lord what a massive difference stage 1 offers for very reasonable money. It feels so much more urgent than factory spec, and third and fourth gear are just a dream. It feels the car it should have been from factory, and having been at Stage 2+ in my last 8P2 I can confidently say that for me there are 2 optimal routes for your modification path:-
1) Go for stage 1 and stay there
2) Go 2+ with all required mods
Stage 1 delivers exceptional value for money, and maybe add a CAI and you've got a very potent piece of kit. There's no question, the DP, cats, HPFP and Stage 2+ code add a real noticeable difference, but you must leave budget for clutch and I/C to optimise the set up. I aim to get this done in April/May 2012. It gives us 4 months to see if we can replicate any of the faults experienced by other users.
As I'd run the car in so gently Kev decided to set the Boost setting to 6, the timing to 4, and the fuelling to 9, and whilst this sounds conservative our plan is to see how it runs for a couple of weeks and then dial up the settings as it beds in.
So what now?
So now we run the car and see if it starts to misfire, and if so when. I'll be keeping records of mileage / fuel / journey types / observations as we go.
If we get any issues I'll be heading straight back to Revo HQ who have kindly offered to use the car as a case study to see if there are any identifiable issues that can be pinpointed for the greater good of all, so many thanks to them for extending this offer to us.
I'll be keeping NGK UK in the loop of spark plug developments to see if they can offer any insight or guidance, which may involve trying alternative plug gaps and running with all the available plug alternatives.
So now all we can do is sit and wait, but if anyone else finds anything useful in the meantime on this subject I'm more than happy for you to post it in here (symptoms / remedies etc.).
Fingers crossed!
To go straight to the 2000 mile review post, click HERE
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That is all.
