The reality of mods and warranties

[docwyte]

I'm thinking of eventually going Stage 1+, I have emissions testing here in NH (OBD2 scan) and want to make sure I pass. I've had a car in the past I had to undo or reinstall stuff to pass. Don't want to go through that again.

Emissions wise, is anything disabled or bypassed or set to not ready for Stage 2 tunes?

Next year half the warranty is gone anyways, so decisions, decisions. I plan on keeping it for 10 yrs and it is my daily driver.

Most stage 2 tunes disable the rear O2, so you won't pass an obd2 readiness scan.

 

[HalfGerman]

OK, so I did remember correctly. Gimpster, I'm taking my time on the decision. My old '04 Passat 1.8T, 4mo was chipped for almost 125,000 miles. So those Stg 1 or 1+ tunes are what I feel are conservative enough and DD friendly.

 

[DiscusInferno]

I'm thinking of eventually going Stage 1+, I have emissions testing here in NH (OBD2 scan) and want to make sure I pass. I've had a car in the past I had to undo or reinstall stuff to pass. Don't want to go through that again.

Emissions wise, is anything disabled or bypassed or set to not ready for Stage 2 tunes?

Next year half the warranty is gone anyways, so decisions, decisions. I plan on keeping it for 10 yrs and it is my daily driver.

Even certain tunes, you'll fail emissions readiness, with the stock downpipe. So choose your tune wisely

 

[jimlloyd40]

I'm torn, as I'd love to go stage 2. It makes a certain amount of sense to do it right away, then you get to enjoy it the most amount of time. However, since I have a '19 I have a 6 year warranty and I don't really want to jeopardize that. I'm not overly concerned about a flat out powertrain failure like a blown motor/turbo/transmission. I am concerned about the thermostat/water pump tho.

Right now I have the basic OEM+ stuff like the homelink mirror etc. One of my local dealers is very mod friendly, they're an APR dealer too. I've been assured that they don't TD1 a car unless they absolutely have to but its still a risk I'm not sure I'm willing to do.

My plan has been to wait until I need a clutch, then go stage 2 as the stock clutch won't hold Stage 2 anyways...

I have a mod friendly dealer also and they fixed the thermostat housing leak under warranty and my car is FBO IS38.

 

[sijray21]

Gotta pay to play.

I'm perfectly fine paying for repairs if my warranty was voided. First off, I hate letting dealers touch my cars after taking ownership.
If it's a recall, then I would take the car back to the dealer if it's something I cannot fix on my own.

This, all of it.

Even certain tunes, you'll fail emissions readiness, with the stock downpipe. So choose your tune wisely

This as well. Emissions is something i think a lot of people overlook. If the area where you register the car doesn't do emissions than it's not a problem, but if it is then it's going to be an issue. I know where i live (Fairfax County, VA) that if you pass through one of those highway off/on ramp emissions traps that's marketed as a way to perform your emissions test without going to a shop then you can fail and they will send you a ticket. Then you'll need to followup with a shop to show that your car meets emissions. Such a PITA.

All that being said i am planning a tune down the road, but i'll do some lighter mods soon. My local dealer is mod friendly, but they won't perform powertrain work under a TD1 since they need to send every diagnostic to VWoA now (according to the techs and SAs). Part of the reason i bought the mk7.5 R was of that sweet long warranty while having a Golf R. Bought used and i still had a longer B2B warranty than almost all new cars on the market.

 

[docwyte]

So they won't fix a leaking thermostat if the car is TD1? That seems overly harsh, even if the car is TD1 that doesn't mean it caused something like the thermostat, which is a known weak spot, to fail.

New cars in Colorado have a 7 year grace period from any emissions testing. So I don't have to worry about that for another 6 years. A friend went stage 2+ APR on her Mk6 R and wasn't able to pass emissions once out of the grace period. She had to spend a ton of money to revert the exhaust and tune back to stock so she could pass.

They do the roadside emissions thing here too, but if you don't register a reading, or have a non-passing reading they don't penalize you. You just have to go to the emissions testing station at your normal time to take the test, you don't get a pass.

The other thing that's been stopping me from going Stage 2 is I don't want to spend the money to upgrade the clutch right now. Especially with all this COVID stuff going on, I haven't been able to work since mid March. Not a good time to spend a ton of cash on a Southbend Stage 3 daily setup.

 

[HalfGerman]

Even certain tunes, you'll fail emissions readiness, with the stock downpipe. So choose your tune wisely

Is there a list or thread that has them listed? Which are the known ones to fail? Did a quick search and didn't find much. Looked like Unitronic was one of the ones to fail ( was leaning towards them, had it on my old Passat).

Here in NH you get inspected on your birthday month. You can get inspected up to 4 months before that. Somebody once asked me, why inspect early? I told them if you fail you would have time to either do the repair yourself or schedule to get it fixed.

 

[JC_451]

Many people have reported getting warranty work done after being tuned.

Things like the thermostat housing and water pump are well known failure points. That kind of stuff will always be covered so that has nothing to do with a mod friendly dealer.

If you pop the turbo and the car comes up TD1, you're eating the cost, even if the turbo death was from a factory defect.

 

[jimlloyd40]

So they won't fix a leaking thermostat if the car is TD1? That seems overly harsh, even if the car is TD1 that doesn't mean it caused something like the thermostat, which is a known weak spot, to fail.

New cars in Colorado have a 7 year grace period from any emissions testing. So I don't have to worry about that for another 6 years. A friend went stage 2+ APR on her Mk6 R and wasn't able to pass emissions once out of the grace period. She had to spend a ton of money to revert the exhaust and tune back to stock so she could pass.

They do the roadside emissions thing here too, but if you don't register a reading, or have a non-passing reading they don't penalize you. You just have to go to the emissions testing station at your normal time to take the test, you don't get a pass.

The other thing that's been stopping me from going Stage 2 is I don't want to spend the money to upgrade the clutch right now. Especially with all this COVID stuff going on, I haven't been able to work since mid March. Not a good time to spend a ton of cash on a Southbend Stage 3 daily setup.

As I just mentioned my thermostat housing was replaced under warranty in spite of TD1.

 

[MonkeyMD]

Most stage 2 tunes disable the rear O2, so you won't pass an obd2 readiness scan.

Even certain tunes, you'll fail emissions readiness, with the stock downpipe. So choose your tune wisely

Is there a list or thread that has them listed? Which are the known ones to fail? Did a quick search and didn't find much. Looked like Unitronic was one of the ones to fail ( was leaning towards them, had it on my old Passat).

Found out recently you can ask the tuner for a Non testpipe tune. Like docwyte & discusinferno mentioned, a normal tune other than stage 1 disables the rear O2 sensor so readiness is never achieved and you will always fail OBD scan. Keep in mind if they do emissions as well, you will still need a downpipe with a decent Cat like GESI / HJS to pass.

Other than APR, I really don't know who else does this, but can't be hard to do

 

[DiscusInferno]

Found out recently you can ask the tuner for a Non testpipe tune. Like docwyte & discusinferno mentioned, a normal tune other than stage 1 disables the rear O2 sensor so readiness is never achieved and you will always fail OBD scan. Keep in mind if they do emissions as well, you will still need a downpipe with a decent Cat like GESI / HJS to pass.

Other than APR, I really don't know who else does this, but can't be hard to do

Unitronic Stage 1 fails emissions readiness, from what I have been told on this forum.

 

[MonkeyMD]

Unitronic Stage 1 fails emissions readiness, from what I have been told on this forum.

That's interesting. Don't know why that tune would disable sensors when it's meant for stock downpipe.

I haven't had to do emissions/ obd readiness scan yet on mine to test APR tune

 

[mk7gti2.0]

Just had my dsg transmission approved for replacement on my 16 R engine and transmission were both tuned. But I think it was more so likely due to it being the extended warranty that made this possible. Since it's through a different company then vw, but as far as I know dealership didn't td1 me either.

 

[JC_451]

Just had my dsg transmission approved for replacement on my 16 R engine and transmission were both tuned. But I think it was more so likely due to it being the extended warranty that made this possible. Since it's through a different company then vw, but as far as I know dealership didn't td1 me either.

After market warranty joy and VW covering a tuned vehicle aren't the same thing.

If you're using an aftermarket warranty the TD1 doesn't even exist anymore. Unless you're trying to get work done on VW's dime they aren't going to look at anything.

What warranty company are you using now?

 

[BTD37]

Just had my dsg transmission approved for replacement on my 16 R engine and transmission were both tuned. But I think it was more so likely due to it being the extended warranty that made this possible. Since it's through a different company then vw, but as far as I know dealership didn't td1 me either.

So is tuning then buying an aftermarket warranty the way to go? I also read one time about someone adding mechanical breakdown insurance through Geico. Not sure how viable that option is though.