johnz

I have to disagree. The car has an APR tune. Why is it becoming so common in the U.S. to blame someone else and not take responsibility for your own actions. "Almost certainly"? This is why Audi is doing TD1's. Back in the day, owners were bringing in their modded B5 twin turbo S4's and wanting them fixed under warranty. Pay to play. I don't understand how someone can complain about Audi not covering this under warranty when the ECU has been modded. It wasn't a wiper failure.

thelionsden

I agree with you to a point. Fairly, they should not have to warranty something that has been stressed beyond its anticipated stock load requirement.

Before I decided that his issue is a legitimate rejection in coverage, I would want to know if the tune increases the stress/pressure on the specific o ring in question.

Granted, fighting it could be a tough row to hoe even with Magnusson/Moss. Engineers could be required as expert witnesses to demonstrate the actual functions and stresses that are increased by tuning the car.

But in fairness to the vehicle owner too, I am sure there are many non-engineers that make these warranty decisions that wrongly reject warranty claims due to their lack of knowledge of the true specifics.

Just changing an unrelated thing on the car should not void claims offhand unless it truly has created the problem.

mwar99

It was not the tune that caused the leak. My car and several others without a tune have had the same leak. My opinion is that the dealership wants to make more money without a warranty claim.

thelionsden

And then again, there are many untuned cars that have not had the problem at all. You don't really know if the tune caused it on your car or not. maybe it would not have happened if you weren't tuned.

Even tho it was caused by something unknown on untuned cars, perhaps defective parts or design, the question is, does the tune increase the pressure on that point to a place where it could reasonably be considered the likely, or even possible, cause in your specific case?

If the tune does not change the stress that the part/system endures, then you should be grouped in with the untuned cars that for some reason had the problem occur and have your claim allowed.

I am just talking about in an ideal world where these facts could be know without question. There is too much uncertainty as to the truth, making the resolution much more difficult, and the non-engineer mouth breathing warranty adjustor has decided to err on the side of the company, armed with the evidence of a "tune".

Imagine that! :-)

mwar99

I have a feeling you are going to see a lot of the early delivery S6/7's have the leak issue. They may have subsequently fixed it. Just a hunch, no hard facts to back it up.

Vijay

If there is a problem unique to tuned cars, then absolutely, one should take responsibility. However, if a particular problem is happening to stock vehicles, where is the proof or even the likelihood that the tune caused the issue?

Boost Addiction

If the pressure hoses were popping off, then it would be easy to believe that a tune was a factor- maybe even the cause.

But if the leaks were coolant or oil-related, it's hard for me to understand how any tune could cause that, or have any contributory effect.

I completely agree with the other poster that people should take responsibility for their actions. It just seems to me that this is a clear case of the tune having no possible-- as far as I can see-- role in the failure the OP described.

BTW, I had a B5 S4 for 14 years, and had an APR tune for most of that time. Never had an engine-related problem, though I understood that if the turbos blew, or a headgasket started to leak, I'd be entirely on my own re the factory warranty.

txgriz

Isn't the question readily answered by studying the statistics? Assuming there are enough tuned vehicles to generate a statistically valid sample size, the probability of failure of tune and non-tuned vehicles can be compared. If the probability of failure is the same for both sets, it can be concluded that the failure is not correlated with the tune. There should be no need for expert witness testimony. Just discovery on their failure stats.

ellisinA4

Those turbos were defective from the factory. Oil inlets where too small = not enough oil supply.

ellisinA4

See my post on Audizine:

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php/607942-Hesitation-between-1000-and-3000-rpm-amp-coolant-pipe-leak…