Unitronic Big Turbo Tune.

[Steve Chicago]

Does anyone know why Unitronic requires the ECM to be sent in for Big Turbo tunes? Is there something that needs to be done that can't be done via an OBDII flash in the vehicle at the local tuner? Do they need to access Boot Mode or something? Do they replace or add some hardware?

I'm asking because I've been waiting over two months for Unitronic to process my ECM and send it back. The shop doing this build is a Unitronic dealer and has been calling Unitronic asking for status updates all along. I've started calling Unitronic myself. What we get for our efforts is a polite promise that the matter will be looked into and progress be made in the next few days. Days go by and... nothing. Another call to them gets the same carrot-on-a-stick response. This has been going on for several months now. August is about to start. This summer is passing by. My car is sitting there waiting.

Build thread and pictures on PassatWorld... http://www.passatworld.com/forums/42-volkswagen-passat-b5-discussion/358506-not-another-build-thread-yawn-post3432297.html#post3432297
1999 B5 Passat FWD
Upgraded rods in a new 1.8t
Engine management upgraded from AEB to AWM.
GT2871R

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5071/14262374643_ec058f8658_z.jpg

[John@Unitronic]

Hi Steve,

All of our ME7 Big Turbo Software required the ECU to be sent to our Headquarters, as many of the files are developed specific for the setup that's configured and installed on the vehicle. Lead time is typically 4-6 weeks minimum during the spring/summer months with the demand/load during this time. This approx. time frame is made available within our Big Turbo Shipping form (http://www.unitronic-chipped.com/files/shippingformunitronic.pdf) on our website, which we advise everyone to include with each Big Turbo ME7 ECU that is sent in to us. We'll continue to work to get the ECU returned to you as quickly as possible. Thanks for continued patience. Feel free to email me directly if you have any further questions or concerns!

[Steve Chicago]

Another week has passed and no indication from Unitronic as to when I should expect to receive the ECU.

Am I a day out? Another week? Another few months? Does Unitronic offer Christmas wrapping?

[Packy]

at over 9 weeks, Id request the ecu be returned and send it to someone else.

[Steve Chicago]

I spoke with John at Unitronic today. There may soon be light at the end of the tunnel. One part of the holdup has to do with how Illinois has recently changed the way they do emissions testing. I'll keep you posted as events unfold.

[Steve Chicago]

The ECM showed up at the shop yesterday. They dynoed 300 hp at the wheels at 17psi running on the old winter gas still in the tank and not pulling any timing yet. The tune isn't dialed-in and finalized yet.

[Steve Chicago]

The car is finally on the road and I'm putting miles on it to flush out the old gas and break in the engine. I fixed a major rain water leak Sunday (rear drivers side door regulator seal). Next I've got to dive into the CCM harness and get any corroded splices sorted out. I've got a Greddy EBC on order.

Idle is sometimes stable and sometimes surging up and down. Even when idle is stable, vacuum is high teens when it should be low 20's. Those might be due to the engine needing to break in and the rings needing to seat? Last night after a drive it was idling mostly stable at about 20 in/hg.

There is little room on the passenger side of the engine compartment to plumb in 3" turbo intake hose, a MAF and an air filter. The turbo is larger then the stocker and located higher and further forward. I'm trying different ways to plumb this together with good flow. As it is, the air filter is fitted directly to the intake end of the MAF and I think that might be causing a problem. There should be several inches of straight pipe proceeding the MAF so that airflow entering the MAF is not turbulent. Right now the car runs better with the MAF disconnected and I'm guessing this could be because of the way the MAF is plumbed and the way the air flows through it. This is supposed to be a MAF tune.

Boost is currently controlled by a MBC set about 17 psi. When you get on it and it spools up, it pulls like it just got rear ended by a big truck. :O

My electric oil pressure gauge has gone bonkers. The sender got damaged in the engine swap so it was replaced. Now sometimes it shows what I would expect to be normal pressures then suddenly it will shoot up past the scale to a place on the gauge face that would be over 150 psi if it had calibration markings on it. Most recently it has dropped down to almost nothing or zero. The engine sounds fine with no lifter or CCT noise so I doubt pressure is actually zero. I inspected the wires going to the sender and found a section cooked so bad the insulation was crumbling off and the conductors were touching. I tried separating and taping them but no joy. I've given up on this one and ordered a mechanical oil pressure gauge.

The Bailey DV is not plumbed back into the intake path so it's effectively a BOV right now. At idle and part throttle it's open and creating a large intake leak. I've added a 1" PVC check valve on the end of it to stop that from happening. It's not an elegant solution. I need to find a better check valve or find a way to plumb it back into the intake path. Plumbing it back in will need to wait till I finalize an intake design.

If I'm at steady cruise and give it some throttle, air/fuel swings lean. It should go the other way. I tried using Unisettings and adjusting "Channel 2: fuel enrichment based on increasing loads". I started by adding 1% then 2% then 5% then 10% then 20% then 50% and finally 75% with no apparent change.

It's not pulling any timing except for when it first jump on the throttle it will blip some pull. I think this is due to the AFR swinging lean for an instant before it goes rich where it belongs. Once the AFR problem is sorted I should be able to add more timing advance (because of the water/meth) and still not have any pull. This will give me better response, better low end and more power overall.

So the current plan is to drive through a couple tanks of gas to allow time for break in. By then I'll hopefully have put together an intake setup that is functional for accurate MAF readings. Install the EBC. Then get it back to the shop and have them dial it in for the most aggressive boost and timing I can safely run.

[Steve Chicago]

Four months later and...

A while back, the shop did some dyno logging and sent that data to Unitronic to help sort this. The tune has yet to be altered from what was originally delivered. The car still routinely has trouble keeping a stable idle. It runs terrible with the MAF plugged in so I've been driving it with the MAF unplugged. I'll soon be due for emissions and there are some emissions hurdles to surmount. I'm hoping Unitronic will come up with a revision that's more satisfactory then what I now have.

[Seerlah]

Ouch!

[B6a418t]

Ouch!

Very ouch

[Steve Chicago]

Now two weeks into February, phone calls to Unitronic have earned me promises, excuses... and little else.

[Seerlah]

Report them to the BBB. Bet you that would grant an incentive. Or leave negative feedback for them in the feedback section. Sad, but sometimes they need that nudge. Because by the looks of it, I don't think they give two f*cks.

[Steve Chicago]

I decided to do a big turbo build on my 1999 1.8t Passat. Starting with a brand new from VW, AEB crate engine, the go-fast goodies include IE rods, Garrett GT-2871r turbo, TiAL stainless steel exhaust snail, TiAL external wastegate, ATP log style exhaust manifold, custom 3” down pipe, all V-band connections, water/meth, FMIC, engine management upgrade to the newer DBW style with wide-band feedback. The list goes on and on. For the tune I chose the Unitronic 630cc file. The shop doing this build is Mobile One Inc in Glenview Illinois (an authorized Unitronic Dealer).

If you’ve followed any of my build threads, you’ll know it took Unitronic months to deliver a tune. When I asked why it was taking most of the summer, I was told it was because this is a specialty tune, custom written for my specific application. Delay, delay, delay. I was told, It’s summer and this is our busy season. Waterfest is here and most of the staff is at the show. It’s the winter holiday season and staff is off. There were too many excuses to remember. I wish I had kept a log of the entire excuse parade. No matter what time of year I called, Unitronic provided only excuses and promises.

With fall fast approaching, I had a driving trip planned with a group of VW/Audi enthusiasts to tour the winding roads of the Appellation Mountains. I tell John at Unitronic that I’m going to miss this trip because Unitronic hasn’t finished the ECM. John says the holdup has to do with emissions and offers this solution… They’ll ship the tuned ECM so the car will be back on the road, then later on come up with revisions that Mobile One Inc can flash at the shop.

The tune that did finally show up didn’t work so well. When I hit the throttle hard, air/fuel ratios would swing lean, then after a bit, sweep rich where they should be for full throttle full boost. At full throttle, it pulled hard most of the time. On some occasions, it’d break up badly and the car would go nowhere. “Break up” as in excessive misfiring. It sounded and felt like an engine capped by the rev limiter but this was going on at 3000 rpm. This was supposed to be a MAF tune and it was barely drivable with the MAF plugged in. I had to run it with the MAF unplugged. A good deal of the time the idle was unstable and wondered around like the engine was struggling.

In an effort to solve these problems, the shop did some data logging and sent that info on to Unitronic. The shop also requested from Unitronic a list of every specific thing the car needed in order to run this tune properly, and made sure those items were addressed correctly. Every so often the shop or I would call Unitronic and ask about a revision status update. Never a solid answer. Always an excuse and a promise.

January arrives and the car is now due for emissions inspection. If the car doesn’t pass, the plates expire. Expired plates makes the car both un-drivable and un-parkable. I don’t have a garage I can hide it in and the car will collect tickets parked on the street. Unitronic comes up with the usual… nothing but excuses. Mobile One Inc takes it upon themselves to take a spare ECU and write a tune specific to passing emissions. With this, the car passes emissions. We’re finally over that hurdle, no thanks to the internationally renown tuning experts at Unitronic.

I call Unitronic to check status of the promised revision and all John can talk about is how the car now passes emissions and aren’t I happy about that. I tell him not to re-direct the topic and not to take credit for something they had nothing to do with. I’ve now been strung along for three quarters of a year. I’m sick of this. I’m done with this. I want out of this nightmare. I want a refund.

All through this ordeal, John at Unitronic made it clear that he’d rather this story doesn’t get posted in the automotive forums. He brought this up several times in several different conversations with both myself and the shop. If someone doesn’t want a problem to generate bad press, they should solve the problem. This is basic old-school customer service. A teen working a fast-food window has the business acumen to know this.

After asking for a refund I’m rewarded with… you guessed it… more excuses and promises. Several conversations transpire over the next several weeks. I’m fed up with this situation and it appears there is no uncomplicated way out. I start shopping attorneys in the Laval, Quebec, Canada area.

Friday, after yet another week of being strung along and having my ears filled with warm sales-excrement, I reach my limit. I tell John there is no good reason it had to come to this, but I’m shopping attorneys and from here on will pursue this matter through legal means. John calls me back a short while later and informs me he was suddenly able to “pull some strings” and provide a refund. He says he has to make just one final call to Mobile One Inc and then he will call me back directly. The rest of the day passes and I never hear from him.

At the end of the day I call Mobile One Inc to see if they have any news. They tell me Unitronic called to arrange a refund through the shop. They also tell me Unitronic (John, I’m guessing?) said I called them 19 times that day. Nineteen times! I may have called 19 times throughout the entire three quarters of a year of this ordeal, but I assure you that day I called only once and was called back only once.

I did eventually get the promised call from John, the next day. More excuses and more conversation regarding not writing about this fiasco on the internet.

[demonmk2]

well, you could try unitedmotorsports

[WrenchTT]

go eurodyne, and tune it yourself.