Chip tuning and servicing

[LeebzP]

Hi guys, I'm sorry if this question has been posted somewhere else. I searched the entire forum and couldn't find anything.

I currently own the detuned 1.0tsi engine with 70KW/175NM. I am considering doing a stage 1 chiptune which will give similar performance to the 85KW/200NM version of the engine. My question is, can VW refuse to service the car if it's under a service/maintenance plan should they detect that you have previously chiptuned the car?
The other question is, would you guys recommend such a tune considering that I don't often push my car to the max, but I would like a little more "oomph" especially when it comes to accelerating away from slower corners or speed bumps(especially in 2nd gear). VW's 5 speed transmission is reaaaaaaaly badly designed with it's long ratios.

[monkeyhanger]

Yep, it's been done to death. Some claim you can't detect a tuning box, others (myself included) think they can be detected on the newer Bosch ECUs that the new Polo uses.

Whatever side you choose, if VW have a reason to not fulfil warranty obligations on something potentially affected by a modification, they will say no.

It could be a moot point if your Polo is as reliable as it should be. VW dealership won't refuse to service your car - they will always look to relieve a customer of their money. If you take your tuning box off before every visit and you never have any drivetrain issues, they may never know.

It used to be a given that tuning boxes were undetectable, until the newer wave of ECUs came in for new VWs built around mid-late 2016 and beyond.

I used to have tuning boxes when I had no worries about putting my warranty in jeopardy, I'll be waiting until the warranty runs out on mine.

[Rosinfield]

I have always, with 4 cars now, been transparant about it and my dealer won't stand in the way with no reason. In case i.e. the turbo crashes, it will be different because the importer will be involved. The odds of such a thing happening however are very low, when you drive the car properly and tuning is done by a reliable company.
The reason for doing it is (for me) faster acceleration when it's convenient and greater driveability with more torque.

[monkeyhanger]

I have always, with 4 cars now, been transparant about it and my dealer won't stand in the way with no reason. In case i.e. the turbo crashes, it will be different because the importer will be involved. The odds of such a thing happening however are very low, when you drive the car properly and tuning is done by a reliable company.
The reason for doing it is (for me) faster acceleration when it's convenient and greater driveability with more torque.

The probability of the car failing isn't that low. The probability of the remap/tuning box causing the failure is probably very low. Unfortunately, if you have a failure that VW could pin on the modified state of the car, they will almost certainly try.

To give examples of drivetrain failures I've had on 11 VAGs I've had from new are:-

1. Turbo failure on a 2001 Polo 1.9TDI. The failure was at 6 months old/5k miles. It was an actuator failure rather than catastrophic disintegration.

2. Turbo failure on a 2015 Golf R. Failure as above at 5 months/5k miles - actuator failure.

3. Clutch slip on the Golf R above, on the 2 coldest days of the year in 2017.(23k miles) and 2018 (29k miles).

I'd hope that actuator failure would be considered as nothing to do with remapping if anyone with a remap suffered it.

Those were stock cars. VW clutches fitted to nanual petrol cars seem to be crap lately. Everyone on the Golf GTI forum who've chipped or added a tuning box to their manual GTI to get to R levels of output have suffered clutch slip and had to buy an uprated clutch (Sachs Organuc seems popular). Plenty of other R owners seen clutch slip without modification. The GTD's manual clutch seems hard as nails though - I had a DTUK box on my GTD without issue.

I'm mechanically sympathetic with my cars, but VW reliability in the short term isn't as good as we'd all hope.

It's a calculated risk to mod a car in warranty - how risk averse is the would-be modder?

Don't forget insurance considerations. It might have a small impact to the premiums of an older and experienced driver, or a huge one on a lad or lass under 25.

[LeebzP]

Thank you guys for your responses

[Rosinfield]

Calculated risk indeed; still very small compared to the risk of getting involved in an accident. So far so good for me up 'till now. Driving my fourth chipped VAG car without having had any problem at all. But that's just as anecdotical evidence and as such of no relevance for risk assessing purposes

[OomStu_ZA]

Thank you guys for your responses

imho dont do it boet

[OomStu_ZA]

Interesting read over here:

https://www.autobild.de/artikel/chiptun ... 94627.html

*enable auto tranlate since its in German.

Chip tuning to me is like a bit of rough the mrs dont know about Just wont do it myself.

[monkeyhanger]

I'd like to see the differences between the 1.0TSI variants before I'd question longevity of having a 95ps 1.0 bumped up to 115ps with a tuning box or remap.

If the fuel pump, injectors, turbo, spark plugs/coil packs, clutch etc were the same for both variants, I'd have no longevity concerns.

Similarly, for the Polo GTI - I know the turbo is the same as the MK7.5 GTI 245 Performance, the DSG 6 box is the same as all pre-facelift performance Golfs were using (even the R), but the intercooler is smaller/less efficient. I'd like to know whether the injectors, spark plugs/coil packs, timing chain etc are the same.

In warranty, you've the gamble of something from the drivetrain failing that could've failed without modification and arguing with VW about it.

[steeve]

If you can just buy the power level vehicle you want.

[OomStu_ZA]

Just posted in a similar topic in anothre discussion but if you've modded your Vee Dub vehicle:
https://youtu.be/tzlwDedI2QM