After lots of searching on here, had some success, but I ended up sending a question to APR as the excessive vacuum remains. Since I essentially sent them a book I figured I'd share my experience in case it helps someone else searching with similar problems or if someone here has any additional ideas.
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Summary Question: I have the Stage 1 V2 update and I'm curious if you believe there could be a compatibility issue with my PCV valve I have installed?
History: I'm at ~56k, only mod is Stage 1, I'm fairly easy on the car (don't street race, don't take it to the drag strip, don't autocross - have kids instead now.. lol), but I do open her up from time to time. I've never had an oil burning issue until the last 10k miles. Burned through a quart in about 5k miles. I've had the tune update for a year now (makes me believe the SW shouldn't be related), had it done shortly after you all released it. Couple things i did notice though that was different (other than more power of course) and not noticeable with the original tune were: 1) A deep throaty sound now under acceleration that was not there before (I assumed somehow it was sucking in more air) and 2) If I went 3/4 throttle but using the full RPM band instead of flooring it sometimes the power delivery wasn't smooth (didn't notice at full throttle - so thought maybe it was me just not being able to keep the pedal exactly at 3/4 throttle). These two changes in addition to some of the info I read online which I'll explain later in the troubleshooting paragraph had me thinking maybe there is some sort of PCV/ECU SW correlation. I had the original PCV valve installed since I purchased the car (2011 in case the VIN # I provided didn't yield any results for some reason)
Problem: Floored the car (8 sp), upon downshift, the car fell on it's face and then I noticed misfiring. There was a smell shortly after, burning oil if I recall correctly. Pulled over, didn't see any smoke out of the exhaust and no oil on the ground. Limped a mile to work taking it slow, realizing if I kept the RPMs above 2 it was smoother. (also realized, when I'm in reverse the resulting misfire appeared more severe).
Troubleshooting: So I don't have anything to read codes and wasn't willing to drive it to AutoZone or something to get it read (will have something soon, debating between your dongle or a ross-tech cable) but after searching forums for a while saw a quick oil cap test that you could do to check if there was an excessive vacuum which should be remedied by replacing the PCV valve. I pulled the cap and sure enough there was a lot of suction - could almost make a whistling sound if you hold the oil cap just right hovering over the opening. I then also put my finger by the hole of the PCV and noticed it was blowing air out (didn't make sense at the time). I opted to go the cheaper and easier route of just buying the Dorman diaphragm instead of the whole assembly. I pulled the top off and noticed a small slit on the side of the diaphragm (few millimeters long) so I thought success. After replacing, the vibration due to the misfire actually appeared to be worse and the vacuum was even stronger. But the top of the PCV valve was no longer blowing air out, figured that may be why the vacuum appeared stronger. I gave in and towed it to the dealer to get codes pulled (I should have asked for a copy of the codes but never did - I plan on doing so tomorrow) and a diagnosis. They diagnosed an ignition coil and wanted to charge me an arm and a leg to replace (after already swapping two to follow the misfire and complete their diagnosis *shaking head*) so I just paid the $150 diagnosis fee, bought an ignition coil from the dealer (cause I was still skeptical about the diagnosis and didn't want to give them any additional excuses) and installed it in the parking lot. Sure enough misfire was gone, I then realized the APR dealer I went to didn't apply all the correct options in the reflash as I couldn't clear the check engine light. Didn't feel like talking to the service advisor again so figured I'd clear the check engine light later so headed back to work. During work I realized I didn't double check the oil cap test (was just happy it wasn't misfiring and took off). After work, performed the test and sure enough the vacuum was still very excessive and the car almost stalls when the oil cap is off but at this point, the service dept is closed. I plan on contacting them tomorrow to see if we can agree on a path forward. If they try to charge me more to investigate further, I'll probably continue to try to troubleshoot w/o their help.
Upon my initial visit, the service advisor mentioned some VINs are eligible for PCV valve updates that require an ECU update but after looking up my VIN realized mine was not in included in that category which is why I’m submitting this question to you.
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