powerchip

[Acko1991]

Hi All,

I am thinking of buying a powerchip for my Polo from germany. I just wondered if this modification voids the warranty?

cheers

Harry

[DNA Tuning]

First of all, Powerchip is an Australian company so if the product you are thinking of buying is definitely called "Powerchip" then I would look for them locally.

Secondly, it is not a good idea to buy a physical chip from overseas to try and get installed into your car when there are several good options available for all the current Polo 6R range from local tuners. Not to mention for the 6R there are many different ECU revisions and thus compatibility when purchasing a chip from overseas is questionable.

What car do you have? I can give you some specific information on what DNA Tuning can provide you.

[Greg Roles]

Any ECU modification voids warranty, but that said, the dealer has to know it's there, and that it directly attributed to any failure. A "powerchip" couldn't remove the warranty on your seats for instance, but if you blew a turbo, then it could be legitimately argued the extra performance from the chip caused it. Any form of plug in "box", which is what you describe sounds like, can be easily removed, and there is no way for a dealer to trace it. The downside is these interceptor "chips" are often crude, and trick the ECU into overfuelling, a rough solution at best. You will most certainly be wasting fuel.

The next step up is getting a handheld programmer such as the common Bluefin unit, and these allow you to write and rewrite to your computer, but again the hassle is if something goes wrong, the tune doesn't load, you are stuck with a dead car. It happens. Is the company providing a generic tune that could be identified with some investigation by the dealer. Even if they provide you a stock tune, is it your actual tune that you got with your car, or do you get "the Polo standard file" that they send to everyone. Again, I assume a dealer could work that out if they needed to.

The upper end is a company that takes YOUR actual tune and modifies it, and has an agent here load it onto your car. Shoud something go wrong, you have someone to help, and if your car is flashed at the dealer, or you want it back to stock to take it in for a service, the agent can provide this. Some tuners even provide a truly custom file to allow for any mods, so if you have an intake and an exhaust then they can write a program to suit, rather than just getting the vanilla "one size fits all" file. These have typically been the dyno tuners such as Parso, but a few overseas tuners are providing this feature, and it surely has to be the ideal.

Finally there are companies coming out now who have insurance included or optional for their tunes, and if warranty is a concern ( as it usually is, I was reluctant to tune my car under warranty ) they would have to be worth looking into.

Good luck!

[Acko1991]

Apologies, I think the German plug in chip was a different name. I was looking at different ones and i obviously remembered 'powerchip' the most.

I have a polo 77TSI 6 speed manual. I am moving to sydney in january.


Thanks a lot for your information. I definatly need to look deeper into it.

Does DNA tuning provide a warranty with there work?

Obviously the service intervals will have to change with the extra forces on the engine. What are these intervals?

regards,

Harry

[gavs]

John would have to answer regarding DNA Tuning but at this stage, the only large scale tuner that offers a warranty on their tune is Viezu, formally known as Chipped Uk. They will warrant any failure directly attributed to their tune.

[Acko1991]

cheers,

just inquired about getting my suspension and 18'' rims from volkswagen dealer....they are pretty confident that shouldn't effect warranty so thats definatly on the to do list. I think i will get them to install the wheels and the springs so that they can't have a whinge about that.

[Buller_Scott]

what suspension are you getting? if it's merely say gti springs, i'd be interested to know what price they're going to charge you, as there are many spring only (and cup kits, coilovers etc) that can be had for reasonable prices. couple with that the fact that changing springs / shocks, if done properly shouldnt produce any adverse effects that would lead to the dealer barring you if you had to claim a warranty job (unless you were to track the car, of course, but driving the car on a racetrack can produce all sorts of stresses to your car that it'd be hard to pinpoint precisely what caused what).

if you are buying suspension and wheels from a vw dealership, and having it installed with them, and they're only "pretty confident that it shouldnt affect warranty", then it's obvious they havent got a ufcking clue what they're doing. you can buy ralliart springs from mitsubishi for an evo 9 lancer and they are fully covered under warranty, it'd be hilarious to think that VW is happy to sell and install genuine vw springs and wheels, but are still unsure as to whether it will void your warranty...

if they're still unsure next time you ask them, then simply buy aftermarket - it will be cheaper, and just as good if not better (eg getting a cup kit instead of just springs - naturally a whole cup kit will cost more than springs, but im guessing VW isnt going to charge you only a few hundred bucks landed, for the springs).

and yes, as john and greg said - there are many good local options for remapping your car. i'd go local. i know you're worried about a warranty on the tune, but the big hitters (eg viezu, dna tuning etc) that have released maps for the 1.2tsi engine arent kooks at this stuff - their tunes wont blow your turbo, if that's what youre worried about.

[Acko1991]

I was planning on getting after market springs and alloys. But getting them to install them. With a written report stating that it doesn't void any of the new car warranty. I just got the standard alloys on it at the mo which driving wise they are fine but it does make the car look like my mother should be driving it.