.:R32 -- 2000 to 3500 rpm stutter

[balkanac]

APR sounds good, please let us know how you went. I wouldn't mind getting it done on mine as well

[quozl]

I've had the APR reflash on my car since Feb 2004 when I got the car new and am very happy with it and have had no problems at all, Guy actually used my car so APR could develop the code for the Aus spec ECU. I got the full suite of programs and recently they updated the code for me to enable left foot braking without it cutting the throttle input.

Cheers Al

[thepowercosmic]

Thanks Al.

I've been in touch numerous times with both VW Australia and the VW dealer - they deny that any factory ECU updates were issued within Australia for the Mk4 R32.

My guess is the #6463 update was for the UK. They had many more cars delivered than Australia and perhaps as a result, many more people noticing the problem.

As a result of many more customers asking questions, perhaps VW felt obliged to fix their problem in that market.

I'm giving the APR trial a go this week - could be a solution (even if $1499!)

I'm sure that any ECU update will fix the stutter / flat spot that you speak of.

http://www.goapr.com.au/ states that they've got 10% off imported prices, perhaps this might include the ECU updates also.

If you find that the price is a little steep, I would suggest that you look at other alternatives.

I don't have an APR flash, I have the GIAC flash, which I'm sure is as equally good as the APR

If I recall correctly I paid about $1k, I'm almost certain that I didn't pay more than that.

And yes my car also had this flat spot in the rev range.

[VW R32]

quozl, thepowercosmic,

I'm currently on the APR trial.

The 2000 to 3500 rpm stutter is gone. Yay!

The trial is supposed to be only active for 6 driving hours - not to be confused with elapsed hours since trial upload. After those 6 hours, the trial is supposed to revert the engine management back to factory AFTER next switch off - i.e. not whilst driving.

Aside from more power and torque, APR supposedly "raise the rev-limiter".

IIRC, the factory rev-limit is normally 6500 rpm ??? (at the moment mine is currently in the red and 7000 rpm)

balkanac, your Mk4 R32 engine management is still untouched - would you be able to please confirm my recollection of 6500 rpm?

Thanks in advance.

[quozl]

Yup APR takes it to a smidge over 7000 RPM, Good tp hear it fixed the problem, wait until you get the full suite of programs and put some race fuel in and run that program

Cheers Al

[balkanac]

balkanac, your Mk4 R32 engine management is still untouched - would you be able to please confirm my recollection of 6500 rpm? Please test the rev-limiter in neutral, do it quickly and on a WARM engine.

Thanks in advance.

I can confirm that its a stock ECU, it does cou out at 6500rpm. I used to drive a Liberty B4, redline was on 7500rpm, so when i got the Golf it took me a while to get used to 6.5k redline it kept cutting out in 1st gear, every time i floored it

There is no flat spot though. So could it be that the ECU update (6463 or whatever) was already done or is it the UK cars only?

[VW R32]

I can confirm that its a stock ECU, it does cut out at 6500rpm...

There is no flat spot though. So could it be that the ECU update (6463 or whatever) was already done or is it the UK cars only?

Thankyou very much!

As far as I have been told by the horse's mouth, VW Australia, there were no updates for the Mk4 R32s.

As your cut-out is at 6500 rpm, and as you have already said, it would indeed seem definite your car hasn't already been flashed by a previous owner - that is assuming that all flashes (not just APR's) also increase the cut out.

The higher cut-out is therefore somewhat of a 'test' for a flashed ECU.

Perhaps you're one of 'the lucky ones'. I've read on foreign forums that not all cars exhibited the problem, even though they all apparently have the potential to!

[balkanac]

i guess i am lucky then! I still wanna get APR flash done sometime down the line

[Langers]

6463 update was done only for the UK cars. I had similar problems with my car. After nearly a year's investigation, it turned out that I had the luck of getting 2 faulty coolant temp sensors in a row.

If you still have the black top coolant temp sensor, I highly recommend upgrading to the green top. Order it from ECS tuning in the US, along with a few other goodies.

[VW R32]

6463 update was done only for the UK cars. I had similar problems with my car. After nearly a year's investigation, it turned out that I had the luck of getting 2 faulty coolant temp sensors in a row.

If you still have the black top coolant temp sensor, I highly recommend upgrading to the green top. Order it from ECS tuning in the US, along with a few other goodies.

Hi Langers,

After nearly a year's investigation?! -- I feel for you.

A faulty coolant temperature sensor caused this (very specific) problem for you?!

I put that question to the garage (I still use the original black top coolant temperature sensor) and they absolutely doubted it was the cause of my problem based on my very specific and detailed description (which you can read in my original post) and their subsequent driving with live VAG-COM analysis.

The garage told me that coolant temperature sensors either work or don't work - that there is nowhere inbetween.

They did mention however that the green topped model supercedes the black topped model (which had caused VW problems in some cars) but generally they only replace them if they stop working.