Warranty Issues when modifying the ECU

Arjuanamo

Arjuanamo

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I have a A3 2.0 TDI Sportback Black Edition and had to take my car for it's first service at Chingford Audi a couple weeks ago.

I was asking the technician if Audi can do anything about the DRL's turning off when it is still fairly bright,as i expected he said no and told me whenever any car comes in to their garage they make a full copy of the ECU and send it straight to Audi Germany and if there are any changes then head office will tell Chingford to void any warranty that is related to the ECU .

I want to know if i do change my sidelight setting to Scandinavia, can i change it back without Audi never knowing ?
 
Hi mate, I use Chingford Audi quite a bit, quite friendly with a few of the guys especially in parts.
To change your lights settings is just purely coding and if you revert back to original once you go back then they will never know, as the current coding will be identical to what they have.

I think the only real issues are with engine mods such as remaps as the coding and all sorts of digits are changed. This, they can tell even though a lot of mappers do say that theirs are untraceable but I beg to differ.

Basically, in your situation, you will be fine.
Where are from mate if you use Chingford Audi?
i too am in north London 5 mins from Chingford.
 
Cant see them ever knowing if you put it back to whatever it was, unless VCDS leaves a footprint of what you've done. Alot of people return their car to orginal standard if it has to go to the garage. I've never heard of any problems regarding this. Will be interesting to see if this has happened to anyone in the past.
 
To get Scandinavian setting on your DRL's you need to access it using VCDS, >> 09 Central Electrics >> Change Byte 18 from 2B to 2C (this is the coding for Sportback models, for 3dr A3's you change Byte 18 from 25 to 26) >> Do It! Job done. Always make a note of your original coding, so you can change it back again. This will have no bearing on warranty, you're simply adjusting the coding. :wub: xx
 
There are many tuning companies online who state that their remaps are "undetectable" and this simply isn't true. While it may not be physically apparent it is relatively easy to find out by comparing the contents of the ECU with a standard one, by verifying the checksum (a value calculated against the contents of the ECU), and by taking the vehicle for a test drive and taking some logs of the data provided by the ECU. Remapping is NOT undetectable.
 
Brodster said:
There are many tuning companies online who state that their remaps are "undetectable" and this simply isn't true. While it may not be physically apparent it is relatively easy to find out by comparing the contents of the ECU with a standard one, by verifying the checksum (a value calculated against the contents of the ECU), and by taking the vehicle for a test drive and taking some logs of the data provided by the ECU. Remapping is NOT undetectable.
Click to expand...

Totally correct. Even if the ECU has been 'returned to standard' map, if Audi sent the ECU off to to check if it had been modified, they would be able to see that the boost, fuelling etc had been altered, so as Mark says, no remap is undetectable. I have only heard of car manufacturers sending off the engine ECU to check for modification, never something like the Central Electrics ECU. Only modification to the Engine ECU would cause you warranty issues (unless you took it upon yourself to remove for instance your Central Electrics Unit ECU, open it up and then put it back in the car, causing damage to it. Then Audi wouldn't honour warranty on your car's electrics and rightly so, lol). :wub: xx
 
Asarao123 said:
I have a A3 2.0 TDI Sportback Black Edition and had to take my car for it's first service at Chingford Audi a couple weeks ago.

I was asking the technician if Audi can do anything about the DRL's turning off when it is still fairly bright,as i expected he said no and told me whenever any car comes in to their garage they make a full copy of the ECU and send it straight to Audi Germany and if there are any changes then head office will tell Chingford to void any warranty that is related to the ECU .

I want to know if i do change my sidelight setting to Scandinavia, can i change it back without Audi never knowing ?
Click to expand...

For me the bad news is... Chingford are my local dealer.
But the good news is my car is too old to be under warranty still. :arco:


:huh: :think: :sob:
 
Thanks for clearing everything up for me guys,it just bugs me when my lights turn on at 3 in the afternoon .I live in Chigwell and got my A3 in October so i just wanted to make sure i don't void my warranty in the first 6 months :sadlike: . I was thinking of doing a remap but might leave it for a while as im a relatively new driver and am happy with power so far :undwech:
 
Asarao123 said:
Thanks for clearing everything up for me guys,it just bugs me when my lights turn on at 3 in the afternoon .I live in Chigwell and got my A3 in October so i just wanted to make sure i don't void my warranty in the first 6 months :sadlike: . I was thinking of doing a remap but might leave it for a while as im a relatively new driver and am happy with power so far :undwech:
Click to expand...

You'll have to come to the next Ace Cafe meet mate, you can drive up with me if you like as I am only around the corner from you in Edmonton. Ads is only around the corner too.

Next meet is the last Tuesday of this month.
 
I changed the bit from 2B to 2C and unfortunately when i put my side lights on they are still dim and not at DRL brightness,do u know what the issue could be ?
 
Asarao123 said:
I changed the bit from 2B to 2C and unfortunately when i put my side lights on they are still dim and not at DRL brightness,do u know what the issue could be ?
Click to expand...

Is it not illegal for the DRL's to remain at full brightness when they are switched to sidelights?
 
Asarao123 said:
I changed the bit from 2B to 2C and unfortunately when i put my side lights on they are still dim and not at DRL brightness,do u know what the issue could be ?
Click to expand...
Have you got auto-lights, buddy?
 
Yes i have auto lights ,thats the main reason i want to turn my Sidelights into standard brightness DRL's .Today my lights came on when it was so bright and there was no need for xenons at all :(
 
This is a TD1 flag. It applies to ECU modification, Short shifter, Intake, aftermarket turbo or supercharger, suspension and some minor other issues. This test is not automatic. The scanner, if used, will ask the technician if he wants to run the specific test. The test is NOT run by default. I am not familiar with how technicians are paid in Europe. In the US, the technicians currently are not paid to run this test unless an issue exists which may need to be addressed by running the specific test on the ECU. The test takes time to run and since they are not paid for that time , they do not run the test. With that said, I know over a dozen technicians in California and none have run the test so far. My warranty claims buddy does not support routinely running the test at his dealership. Once the test is run, it cannot be stopped unless the scanner is unplugged and the result cannot be changed from my conversation with a tech. The result from my conversation is that the information is available wordwide to any dealer. Dealers can get around warranty issues in so many ways. It's up to the dealer to decide what risk benefit ratio exists with each specific customer. I will not speak for APR, GIAC or REVO but when attending AUDI shows, none of these companies have run into a situation where a problem was caused by their software. I'm no expert and I have always said if you want to pay then you may have to pay. Audi of America is tightening the reins a bit and understandable given that they are running a business and want to decrease their loses. Just my 0.02
 
Asarao123 said:
Yes i have auto lights ,thats the main reason i want to turn my Sidelights into standard brightness DRL's .Today my lights came on when it was so bright and there was no need for xenons at all :(
Click to expand...
This is the thing that annoys me most about my auto lights! I guess next time I'll just spec without them, and use the vcds coding.. I've been trying to sort this with my vcds, but so far am having no joy - but I possibly might know a man who can.. If I find a workaround I'll post it on this thread.
 
Argh is there no way at all of me turning my sidelights LED lights to normal DRL level ? I upgraded my fogs to Phillips Diamond Vision and i recommend everyone to upgrade :)
 
I had to pull the grill really hard to get it out,there is a small ident on the underside of the fog grill fins.Once that is off you just undo two screws on the lamp bracket and then twist the old bulb out and replace the new one.When i first installed mine the right one was angled up and looked like a high beam so i found a screw on the underside of the lamp what lets you adjust the angle of the fog lights.I noticed that the fog lights only turn on when the engine is on ,is that the same for all the 8P's ?

IMG_0352 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! - Original Osram's
IMG_0350 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! - Phillips Diamond Vision
IMG_0348 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! - Removed Fog Grill
IMG_0344 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! - Fog Grills

If anyone finds out how to get the sidelight LED's at Full DRL brightness than can they post it here,im guessing this problem only apples for people with Auto lights as i tried Changing the Coding using VCDS and it didn't work :crying:
 
I left my car in to fix a leaking roof seal and have just had a call from the Audi dealership to say that they have found an unusual code in the ecu programme!!! and have now flagged the car as being tuned! Apparently the Isaac Agnew Audi dealership in Northern Ireland undertakes checks on all cars that have people have chosen not to purchase from them – very kind! Not the sort of people you want to be going to for warranty work if your car is tuned.
Comments welcome.

user_offline.gif
 
themac said:
I left my car in to fix a leaking roof seal and have just had a call from the Audi dealership to say that they have found an unusual code in the ecu programme!!! and have now flagged the car as being tuned! Apparently the Isaac Agnew Audi dealership in Northern Ireland undertakes checks on all cars that have people have chosen not to purchase from them – very kind! Not the sort of people you want to be going to for warranty work if your car is tuned.
Comments welcome.

user_offline.gif
Click to expand...

My car came from Issac Agnew!
 
Then your car probably won't be tested. It looks like the dealership or one of its mechanics is just being ****** minded because you saved a load of money buying your car elsewhere.
 
As a rider to the above the chap that rang me up said that he had recognised my name and he suggested that he was giving me a heads up that my car had been tagged. You may be in the position that your car may already be tagged but that you have not been informed. Wait until you try to get some warranty work undertaken or you try to sell it and they volunteer the information to the next purchaser that it was previously tuned.
 
Last edited:
quattro81 said:
This is the thing that annoys me most about my auto lights! I guess next time I'll just spec without them, and use the vcds coding.. I've been trying to sort this with my vcds, but so far am having no joy - but I possibly might know a man who can.. If I find a workaround I'll post it on this thread.
Click to expand...
How did you go? Have you tried this method? - AudiEnthusiasts Vag Com
 
Keep LED's at Full Brightness with Parking Lights
This will stop the LED's from dimming when the parking lights are turned on.
[09 – Cent. Elect.]
[Coding - 07] -> [Long Coding Helper] -> Byte 3: Bit 2 - Change 0 to 1

I tried this and byte 3 has nothing about lights ,bit 2 refers to the sunroof -_-
 
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