What are my tuning options for IS38 on a 1.8?

[tigeo]

I may be overthinking it, but I've had to go through the pain of getting other cars through smog before, and it's even worse now with the ECU tune checking. A lot of smog stations will use mirrors to look around heat shields and parts to see what you're running.

I also don't want some crappy tune that will make my car run like garbage or worse cause my car to blow up. Not calling Uni crappy but the gas we get in California is crappy and may not play nice with a lot of tunes.

We've talked about APR and the having to go to an APR dealer to flash back seemed to be the sticking point. Have you talked to Ian with Reflect?

 

[Raguvian]

I get it for sure. Folks in CA drive tuned cars so there has to be a solution for you on all of this.

I know a lot of people "hot" smog (aka illegal smog) or just plan on getting rid of the car when smog checks start.

I should just register in South Dakota and run whatever the fuck I want.

 

[tigeo]

I know a lot of people "hot" smog (aka illegal smog) or just plan on getting rid of the car when smog checks start.

I should just register in South Dakota and run whatever the fuck I want.

I really don't think the check for a tune thing is an issue - all the articles I've read on it say that it's the day of the test the ECU can't be flashed, there is no way they can go back like the deep dive VW does for "TD1" flagging as they wouldnt' have that level of sophsisitication for 100% of all cars/brands plus this would have the potential to retroacively cause so much trouble it's not realistic. His comment above would be the only issue in terms of if the stock ECU flash is really "stock" or not. We have no emissions in the part of VA I am in so thank goodness!

 

[Raguvian]

I really don't think the check for a tune thing is an issue - all the articles I've read on it say that it's the day of the test the ECU can't be flashed, there is no way they can go back like the deep dive VW does for "TD1" flagging as they wouldnt' have that level of sophsisitication for 100% of all cars/brands plus this would have the potential to retroacively cause so much trouble it's not realistic. His comment above would be the only issue in terms of if the stock ECU flash is really "stock" or not. We have no emissions in the part of VA I am in so thank goodness!

Yeah, they can't go check your history, only what's on the ECU at the time.

 

[zwalk]

So what are my options for in-home flashing, My dealer is mod friendly but I dont want to set all the alarms off as soon as my car is plugged in if i need something like a fuel pump done.

I'm talking IS38

 

[ZuMBLe]

So what are my options for in-home flashing, My dealer is mod friendly but I dont want to set all the alarms off as soon as my car is plugged in if i need something like a fuel pump done.

I'm talking IS38

Not sure how in-home or dealer flashing would make a difference when it comes to a dealer detecting it. Should be the same.

 

[zwalk]

Removal before taking in the car. Maybe its just because its been a while, but I dont recall getting TD1 flagged for a flash count or high boost log, it was only because the tune was still on the car. I just like the idea of there being some digging involved for me to get flagged. My '12 GTI from years ago got flagged by accident by a new tech at the mod friendly dealer I went to. It was a bad time.

 

[MeltedSolid]

TD1 is because of flash count for the mk7.

 

[jimlloyd40]

Yeah, they can't go check your history, only what's on the ECU at the time.

They can absolutely check the history. VWOA knows exactly how many times the ECU has been flashed. The ECU logs that.

 

[StorableComa]

As Others have said, they look at flash count and if it doesn't add up to what they have on file back on the servers in Germany it can be TD1 flagged. They are not reading what is currently on the ECU, and flash count is something you can look up with VagCom or ODB11 currently. The ability to check flash count may have not been present on previous gen VWs, but the MK7 ECU is pretty high tech.

If you still want the ability to flash at home. IE and Unitronic I believe are the only two that offer at home flashes for the 1.8T. If TD1 is a concern, a piggy back tune is about the best you can hope for with Neuspeed or JB4.

Edit: IE Doesn't offer IS38 tunes on the 1.8T yet. So Uni may be your only option if you want at home flash. You can run bigger turbo with a JB4 though, it just takes time to setup the maps and may not give you as much power as a true flash tune.

 

[Raguvian]

They can absolutely check the history. VWOA knows exactly how many times the ECU has been flashed. The ECU logs that.

What? Did you even read the post I was quoting? I was talking about California not being able to go back into ECU flash history for smog checks, not VW TD1'ing your car (which has been known forever now).

 

[jimlloyd40]

What? Did you even read the post I was quoting? I was talking about California not being able to go back into ECU flash history for smog checks, not VW TD1'ing your car (which has been known forever now).

I stand corrected. Thank you.

 

[MonkeyMD]

As Others have said, they look at flash count and if it doesn't add up to what they have on file back on the servers in Germany it can be TD1 flagged. They are not reading what is currently on the ECU, and flash count is something you can look up with VagCom or ODB11 currently. The ability to check flash count may have not been present on previous gen VWs, but the MK7 ECU is pretty high tech.

If you still want the ability to flash at home. IE and Unitronic I believe are the only two that offer at home flashes for the 1.8T. If TD1 is a concern, a piggy back tune is about the best you can hope for with Neuspeed or JB4.

Edit: IE Doesn't offer IS38 tunes on the 1.8T yet. So Uni may be your only option if you want at home flash. You can run bigger turbo with a JB4 though, it just takes time to setup the maps and may not give you as much power as a true flash tune.

Although lesser known, Reflect also has a home flashing solution

 

[StorableComa]

Although lesser known, Reflect also has a home flashing solution

Forgot about Reflect. They offer quite a few other add ons too that would be worth the look if you're looking for things like Flex fuel or MPI down the road.

 

[zwalk]

Thanks for the insight gentlemen. I didn't know the MK7 was flagged for flash count, my last VW was a '12 GTi. So im pretty SOL as far as getting immediately flagged then. Liked the idea of the JB4, but IS38 on it doesnt seem ideal on it. Since I can get a 38 for just a few hundred more I figured I might as well do that.

JB4 - IS20 - Downpipe was a thought too just because it wouldnt be immediate trouble until they started digging around and realized the turbo was a bit bigger (I'm not doing a loud exhaust or anything)

And FWIW I'm not trying to be tricky about shit with the dealer, I have just had dealers try to deny warranty work that is commonplace for the car because of tuning so if I can make the red flags smaller I prefer it (case in point I almost got trouble with a fuel pump when I was TD1 flagged on my MK6 despite the fact that almost every MK6 I knew of had one take a shit).

That said ~ TCU tune seems necessary with any power upgrades so that makes the JB4 route substantially less 'low profile'