How to tell my car is tuned or not??

[B8ESFOUR]

I am getting ready to pull the trigger on GIAC stage 1 tune. I purchased the car around january. I was wondering what if the car currently has a stage 1 tune installed and i do not know about it. What is the easiest way to tell if the car has a tune or not. I dont have any stock s4s in my area to compare so that is out of question. I hate to install another stage 1 tune on a car that already has one.

[riseabv]

Call the tuning companies give them your vin# and or whatever else they may need like previous owners name and find out if there was a registered product key for the car. 3 or 4 phone calls would be the most effortless means of researching IMO.

[F40LM]

If your 0-60 in reverse is 4.5 seconds it's tuned.

[IanCH]

APR no longer stores any Vins of customers. I called about my car when I got it and got jack shit from either of the major tuners.

[infinkc]

Logs, or get a boost gauge

[B8ESFOUR]

What about redline?

[saxon]

APR no longer stores any Vins of customers. I called about my car when I got it and got jack shit from either of the major tuners.

That's odd, in the past six months they both took my vin and confirmed no tune.

Of course that was after waiting on hold for over ten minutes with apr's sales line

Edit: why would they want to tell you if your car had a tune on it when if you bought the car used they could make money twice and sell you the tune anyways

[IanCH]

This was like 2 months ago.

[riseabv]

For expeditious reasons try calling first. If not use f40s recommended diagnostic lol.



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[B8ESFOUR]

I was thinking about doing a 0-100 pull. I saw on the forum stage 1 cars doing it around 10 seconds. If I am over that by a second or 2 I will definitely feel more confident that I am not tuned.

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[F40LM]

Have you ever had a similar car to compare the pulling to? My S4 just pulled barely harder than my STi. If it had stage 2 it would have pulled a lot harder.

[raudiace4]

Take it to the dealer, if they tag it Td1 you're tuned.

[schirm]

What about redline?

This might work.

[SeaBassHWD]

Get it dyno'd?

[riseabv]

Run e85 in your tank for a month.


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[LakeShow]

Did you press the pedal furthest to the right?

[RReddington]

Have you ever had a similar car to compare the pulling to? My S4 just pulled barely harder than my STi. If it had stage 2 it would have pulled a lot harder.

LMAO what? I'm sorry, but an S4, in higher speeds would literally WALK an STi.

[afig367]

IMO, call a dealer you don't take your car to, tell them you're considering buying one in a private sale, you want to make sure it's not TD1, etc., and have them run the VIN.

[RudyH]

APR no longer stores any Vins of customers. I called about my car when I got it and got jack shit from either of the major tuners.

That's interesting, and false, did you call the right APR?
Last week I called and had them verify my car has Stage II+ and all the 4 tunes it has. The previous owner returned it to stock likely when they traded it in.

They have a warranty on their product...which goes by VIN and not owner...I think it was a $150 to transfer to my name.

I was tipped off by the APR CPS to make the phone call though, OP, check for any clues of aftermarket modifications that might help you.

[IanCH]

That's interesting, and false, did you call the right APR?
Last week I called and had them verify my car has Stage II+ and all the 4 tunes it has. The previous owner returned it to stock likely when they traded it in.

They have a warranty on their product...which goes by VIN and not owner...I think it was a $150 to transfer to my name.

I was tipped off by the APR CPS to make the phone call though, OP, check for any clues of aftermarket modifications that might help you.

Lol, yes I called the right APR. They must have thought I was a dealer or not the owner of the car trying to pull some shenanigans. Oh well, I found out after that my car was owned by a 60 y/o doctor who did nothing but commute halfway across mass every day in his S4.

[F40LM]

LMAO what? I'm sorry, but an S4, in higher speeds would literally WALK an STi.

Lol. Maybe you didn't understand me correctly because I didn't specify my STi was Stage 2 protuned. My STi was about just as fast as my S4 is stock. I was saying if I had a stage 2 S4, it would be a lot faster than my STi was, therefore, my question asking if he has a reference car to base his power off of. My STi dyno'd at 300whp/335wtq and it weighed 400lb less than the S4. Get off your high horse the S4 isn't that beastly. People do the same stock 1/4 mi in the B8 S4 as a stock STi.

[RudyH]

Lol, yes I called the right APR. They must have thought I was a dealer or not the owner of the car trying to pull some shenanigans. Oh well, I found out after that my car was owned by a 60 y/o doctor who did nothing but commute halfway across mass every day in his S4.

A bit of me wishes that was what my previous owner was...
The free parts I got with the car that I was going to do are nice and saved me even more money unexpectedly, but I'm sure the car has seen a track or two already in it's day.

[IanCH]

A bit of me wishes that was what my previous owner was...
The free parts I got with the car that I was going to do are nice and saved me even more money unexpectedly, but I'm sure the car has seen a track or two already in it's day.

Its nice, knock on wood but I have one of the highest mileage DSG's in this forum and it works perfectly - might have something to do with the fact that the launch counter at 75k miles when I bought it was zero and currently it's 2

[bgm130]

Its a 2010 dsg? try launch control? its not available unless tuned on 2010 i believe

[Schadenfreude]

Overly simplistic but the stock 3.0T power falls off very rapidly after around 5300rpm and it is a very noticeable sensation of the car sort of falling on its face. I'm not tuned and the most noticeable feeling I've remembered of a few short bursts in stage 1 cars is that the car keeps pulling strongly. A few pulls to redline might answer your question

[B8ESFOUR]

Overly simplistic but the stock 3.0T power falls off very rapidly after around 5300rpm and it is a very noticeable sensation of the car sort of falling on its face. I'm not tuned and the most noticeable feeling I've remembered of a few short bursts in stage 1 cars is that the car keeps pulling strongly. A few pulls to redline might answer your question

How high does your car rev before it hits the rev limiter?

[PsYkHoTiK]

Easiest way is to just log the boost and bypass valve on your car using VCDS (I'm sure you can find someone close by with it)

[B8ESFOUR]

Easiest way is to just log the boost and bypass valve on your car using VCDS (I'm sure you can find someone close by with it)

I think i found someone in my area to log the boost and bypass. Hopefully we will get together sometime to take a look at it.

Another thing i am having difficulty to understand is i found a wire hiding behind my sun visor on the driver side. The end of the wire has a plug that looks like a telephone plug. Anybody has any idea what could be the use for this. It seems pretty well hidden.

[PsYkHoTiK]

Perhaps a laser detector?

Be sure to do a 3rd gear pull when doing the log.

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[drob23]

I think i found someone in my area to log the boost and bypass. Hopefully we will get together sometime to take a look at it.

Another thing i am having difficulty to understand is i found a wire hiding behind my sun visor on the driver side. The end of the wire has a plug that looks like a telephone plug. Anybody has any idea what could be the use for this. It seems pretty well hidden.

That's most likely a power plug for a radar detector. Pull out the cable or pop the driver side fusebox, chances are you'll see it hooked to a tap-a-fuse in there.

[MrFunk]

If your car is out of warranty then just go to the dealership and ask them to check for you if it's tuned.
If it is in warranty then try and see if you can get the previous owner's contact information - where and how did you buy it?
If someone (dealership or someone who knows what to look for) physically inspect the ECU you should be able to tell if it's been removed and cracked.

Or - just go straight to stage 2 and don't even worry about it.

[Schadenfreude]

How high does your car rev before it hits the rev limiter?

7k but I'm not talking about the red line being changed. You should feel power level out above around 5300 as boost is bled off. If you are stage 1, the waste gate will not open and you'll keep making power. You will feel it for sure

[bombdiggity]

APR no longer stores any Vins of customers. I called about my car when I got it and got jack shit from either of the major tuners.

Actually, that was not true. My 2010 S4 was previously tuned by the original owner. When I took it in to Audi for an inspection they deleted my tune. I emailed APR to ask if my car had a tune and they replied back letting me know that it did (when I gave them the VIN). I paid for a half hour of labor and a transfer of ownership fee and was retuned with APR.

[F40LM]

Actually, that was not true. My 2010 S4 was previously tuned by the original owner. When I took it in to Audi for an inspection they deleted my tune. I emailed APR to ask if my car had a tune and they replied back letting me know that it did (when I gave them the VIN). I paid for a half hour of labor and a transfer of ownership fee and was retuned with APR.

How much is the transfer of ownership fee?

[bombdiggity]

I think the transfer fee was either 100 or 150$ plus an hour of labor. So it came out to around a little over 225$.

I want stage 2 and the CPS kit now though. It never ends.

[John@APR]

From goapr.com/support/terms.html

Each APR ECU Upgrade is licensed to a single VIN and customer. An APR ECU Upgrade is non-transferable between multiple VINs. However, an APR ECU Upgrade warranty is transferable between new and old owners of the VIN for a fee of $149.

Shop labor rates though our dealer network are not controlled by APR, as labor rates very per region. The only fee on top of the $149 would be local tax, and labor determined by our dealers.

[F40LM]

I think the transfer fee was either 100 or 150$ plus an hour of labor. So it came out to around a little over 225$.

I want stage 2 and the CPS kit now though. It never ends.

That's pretty reasonable. I thought you'd get charged for like half of the tune since you are a brand new customer, but an existing car.

[schirm]

That's pretty reasonable. I thought you'd get charged for like half of the tune since you are a brand new customer, but an existing car.

My transfer fee was 89$ installed after taxes.

[Dominick's S4]

APR no longer stores any Vins of customers. I called about my car when I got it and got jack shit from either of the major tuners.

That's not correct.. APR assigns the flash to the cars VIN #..

[B8ESFOUR]

Got a pm from John At APR, car definitely does not have an APR tune. He checked my vin. Thanks john!!