CPO Car Came with Tune, Engine Failure, now Dealer won't cover, said I added tune

[2K158VA3]

Hi All,
I need some advice from the forum here. Last year in ~July I purchased a 2015 audi A3 with 17k miles from a local Audi Dealer as a CPO vehicle. Since that time, I have gone back to have replaced a defective steering rack (2 mos after I bought it), and leaking thermostat (At about the same time), which the dealer covered under warranty. Last week, my car with 22k miles on the clock, died completely at a stop light, and every time I tried to start it, it would die immediately. I had it towed to the dealer who informed me several days later that there was no compression in one of the cylinders. They also said that this does not fall within the CPE warranty because the car is tuned. I told them that I have never installed a tune to which they said they would take another look. Got a call back today saying that there is a tune on it. I told them that impossible unless they sold me the car with a tune. They said that they scanned the car when they got it, and there was no tune. They then also said that the tune being on the car showed up when they replaced the steering rack, which needs to be married to the car. How can this happen? The only thing I can think of is that when the dealer ran the initial check before they certified the vehicle the missed the tune? Is that possible? Needless to say, I'm at a loss here.. Thanks in advance for any advice/insight.

[MikTip]

Many Audi dealerships are shisters!

You might try to call several tuners...give'm your VIN...see if they have any info on said tune?

Name. Date, etc...

Ask the tuners if there is a way to tell when the tune was installed?

[LJS5]

Ha audi/vw CPO program is all BS.
VW CPO'd my Stage 2 Golf R... even had the downpipe still on the car.

Anyway, what MikTip said, your best bet is to call all tuners and try to verify the date it was tuned. If you do find a tuner who can verify the date.. you still may have to lawyer up.
Good luck man.

[2K158VA3]

Thanks for the replies.
Yes, my first course of action is to contact the companies that make tunes for our cars and try to get an idea of when this tune happened.
The funny thing is that when I picked up the car, it supposedly went through their CPO inspection and yet I found the front Grill was broken, and the headlights badly pitted. They fixed both issues, so I had to wait a few days to take actual delivery of the car. Point is, if their CPO inspection can miss these thing, what else can it miss?

[schwabo]

CPO is nothing but paperwork... You really think they do their due diligence when CPOing the car?

Well I shouldn't generalize but my tuned MK6R amd MK7R were sold as CPO if I recall correctly


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[Oneill_1952]

I just read a same scenario with a local S3 bought last year and went in for CPO work and the dealership flagged it TD1, (which the owner has never tuned the car). After doing some research he found APR had the logs for the car ranging stage 1 & 2 over the course of 2 years including dates. then the car was put back to OEM software the month before he purchased it.

If you can do the same it will put an end to the dealer claiming you tuned the car.

[Spinnetti]

Thanks for the replies.
Yes, my first course of action is to contact the companies that make tunes for our cars and try to get an idea of when this tune happened.
The funny thing is that when I picked up the car, it supposedly went through their CPO inspection and yet I found the front Grill was broken, and the headlights badly pitted. They fixed both issues, so I had to wait a few days to take actual delivery of the car. Point is, if their CPO inspection can miss these thing, what else can it miss?

My current S3 was the first experience I had with CPO. Drove it off the lot, and oil light came on. All the fluids were low and other issues. Clearly they didn't even do the minimum much less "CPO". I think "CPO" means "run it through the automatic car wash". The car biz is tough but I don't know which is worse; the customers or dealers. Never met a dealer I trust though I have liked several of the sales guys.

[2K158VA3]

So far I've contacted APR and Unitronic and neither of those have records for the car. I'll keep looking, and visit a few local shops that could have done the work.
The other thing that pisses me off is that I bought this car based partly on it's performance, if it does have a tune on it, I bought it under false pretenses. I literally drove another one back to back, and I though the other one was broken because it was noticeably slower. Never did I think, oh, this completely stock car with 17k miles on it might have a tune...

[ralphie_43]

I would contact audi usa

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[2K158VA3]

I have contacted Audi USA. They said that they have no way of telling when the tune was applied, so they deffer to the dealer and according to the dealer, the warranty is void. That is literally the extent of what they did, look at dealer comments and said not our problem...

[Dubstro]

Wow that really sucks. Email Eurodyne, GIAC, and Revo. I think contacting the major tuning companies is your best bet as mentioned by others. They take vin and ECU codes and should have a record. Do you have the Carfax? Should show original dealer and registration location so you can confirm what area the car was in before visiting local shops.

[XMetal]

Can you try another dealer for help, other than your selling dealer? There's got to be a timestamp of the last flash somewhere. There's absolutely no incentives for your selling dealer to help you - if anything, they will try to bury this.

[theweebabyseamus]

Id contact the tuners and get the timeline as others have stated and go to AoA.

[R.Cade]

I would not mention the blown engine when contacting tuners. I would think it unlikely any would want to admit their tune was on the car.

[2K158VA3]

So I've contacted pretty much every company there is for tuners and not one has records of the VIN for this car. Which means that this tune most likely came from a flash/home/handheld tuner. Unfortunately those are not registered by VIN Number, so I may need to track down the previous owner of the car. There was only one owner before me, and it's a local car, sold new and maintained at the dealership I purchased it from as a CPO car.

I would not mention the blown engine when contacting tuners. I would think it unlikely any would want to admit their tune was on the car.

I simply said the dealer told me there was a tune, and I want to find out when/where it originated.

[lastig21]

I've accidentally received previous owner information from CPO cars I've purchased, so I think this should be easy to find since you actually want to find it. I've had left over service print outs in the Owner's Manual books that come with the car, and have gotten full contact info when requesting a full print out of vehicle maintenance history from the dealer.

Although the tune at home options are assigned to the tuning device, that device is married to the VIN of the car. Even tune at home options should have record of the VIN. I don't know how willing they are to part with that info, but they will have it. Good Luck!

[Chaoscreature]

My CPO A3 came with pretty significant quarter panel damage. I didn't notice it until a couple of weeks after I bought the car and washed/waxed it. I was pretty disappointed to say the least.
You really have to do your due diligence when you buy a CPO vehicle, once it leaves the lot they can deny just about anything.

[2K158VA3]

I've accidentally received previous owner information from CPO cars I've purchased, so I think this should be easy to find since you actually want to find it. I've had left over service print outs in the Owner's Manual books that come with the car, and have gotten full contact info when requesting a full print out of vehicle maintenance history from the dealer.

Although the tune at home options are assigned to the tuning device, that device is married to the VIN of the car. Even tune at home options should have record of the VIN. I don't know how willing they are to part with that info, but they will have it. Good Luck!

I checked the car, and there is nothing to indicate the previous owner in the car or in the owners manual.
Yeah, I've reached out to Neuspeed and Burger Tuning on this. Received reply from Neuspeed that they had no records of the car. Still waiting on a response from Burger tuning.
I'm trying to exhaust all avenues here.

My CPO A3 came with pretty significant quarter panel damage. I didn't notice it until a couple of weeks after I bought the car and washed/waxed it. I was pretty disappointed to say the least.
You really have to do your due diligence when you buy a CPO vehicle, once it leaves the lot they can deny just about anything.

I agree, and I looked over this car very thoroughly. That's why I had them address the broken Grill, damaged headlights, and brake squeal before I agreed to take delivery of the car. The tune is something that I had no way of seeing or knowing about...

[richpike]

Have you checked the Nav’s “home”? Mine wasn’t cleared when I bought the car. Found out all kinds of info on the original owner from their address LOL.

-Rich

[2K158VA3]

Have you checked the Nav’s “home”? Mine wasn’t cleared when I bought the car. Found out all kinds of info on the original owner from their address LOL.

-Rich

No Nav on this one. :(

[richpike]

No Nav on this one. :(

Bummer. Ask the dealer to print out all the service records. Half the time they forget to black out the original owner’s name.

-Rich

[Oneill_1952]

[QUOTE=Oneill_1952;13791412]

I checked the car, and there is nothing to indicate the previous owner in the car or in the owners manual.
Yeah, I've reached out to Neuspeed and Burger Tuning on this. Received reply from Neuspeed that they had no records of the car. Still waiting on a response from Burger tuning.
I'm trying to exhaust all avenues here.

With those tuners it should have a plug in module sitting beside the battery? also check with 034 Motorsports if you haven't already.

[2K158VA3]

[QUOTE=Oneill_1952;13791412]

With those tuners it should have a plug in module sitting beside the battery? also check with 034 Motorsports if you haven't already.

Yup, I've already contacted every Tuning company that has a tune for the 8v A3 and not one of them has records for the VIN of this car..
Companies I've contacted:
034Motorsports - Has not gotten back to me
APR - No records
Burger Tuning - Has not gotten back to me
EuroDyne - No records
GIAC - No records
Integrated Engineering - No records
Neuspeed - No records
Unitronic - No records

[rbish56]

[QUOTE=2K158VA3;13791415]

Yup, I've already contacted every Tuning company that has a tune for the 8v A3 and not one of them has records for the VIN of this car..
Companies I've contacted:
034Motorsports - Has not gotten back to me
APR - No records
Burger Tuning - Has not gotten back to me
EuroDyne - No records
GIAC - No records
Integrated Engineering - No records
Neuspeed - No records
Unitronic - No records

try revo and cobb

[Dubstro]

[QUOTE=rbish56;13791418]

try revo and cobb

Cobb doesn't offer tunes for Audi. Wish they did though.

[Oneill_1952]

[QUOTE=2K158VA3;13791415]

Yup, I've already contacted every Tuning company that has a tune for the 8v A3 and not one of them has records for the VIN of this car..
Companies I've contacted:
034Motorsports - Has not gotten back to me
APR - No records
Burger Tuning - Has not gotten back to me
EuroDyne - No records
GIAC - No records
Integrated Engineering - No records
Neuspeed - No records
Unitronic - No records

United Motorsports?

[firemanjust1]

Burger isn't going to much help since it is not vin locked they would have no record of your vin#. If it does have a piggyback tune on it still that should be pretty visible Burger motorsports usually is a black box next to the battery tray. Also does it have a transmission tune as well ? You would be able to notice if your gear indicators have D1-D6 or in dynamic mode is would show S1-S6 rather than just D or S. That would help us to determine if is a flash or piggyback as well.

[hec666]

Have you tried registering in myAudi and see if there is a primary driver registered ; that may have their name.

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[2K158VA3]

Have you tried registering in myAudi and see if there is a primary driver registered ; that may have their name.

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I don't believe that will show up. If I register a new MyAudi account, it should be a separate account based on my information, despite the same VIN.

[a4000]

I don't believe that will show up. If I register a new MyAudi account, it should be a separate account based on my information, despite the same VIN.

It is possible. Co-worker found previous owner of his 18 a4 this way. But that person had registered as a key user. Add the vin to your myaudi and see.

[hec666]

I don't believe that will show up. If I register a new MyAudi account, it should be a separate account based on my information, despite the same VIN.

I recently bought my S3 as CPO and the previous owners name appeared as primary user. I had to register as a key user myself as current there is no way of deleting a primary user unless that person unregisters from the VIN.

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[WhiteS315]

Had the same thing happen to me except it was a transmission issue. Was in contact with Audi USA who ultimately were the ones who denied the warranty. Your only option is to go after the dealer who sold you the car. Audi refused to do anything. Was hit with a $12k bill and only owned the car for 4 months.

[2K158VA3]

I recently bought my S3 as CPO and the previous owners name appeared as primary user. I had to register as a key user myself as current there is no way of deleting a primary user unless that person unregisters from the VIN.

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Registered for MyAudi and nothing there, just shows me as the Primary Driver. Thanks for the idea though!

[2K158VA3]

Still trying to sort this out with the Audi Dealer and AudiUSA. The interesting part of this was that my car was not flagged with a TD1 warranty key code but rather a T23 warranty key code. Every time I've talked to the dealer they referred to it as a TD1. When I brought it up to the dealer, they said it was the same thing, TD1 and T23 are the same and are interchangeable based on model. I've done some research in the last two weeks that I have been dealing with this, and from what I can tell the TD1 code is something that gets flagged automatically by the Audi Scan that runs in the background every time it gets plugged in at the dealer. The TD1 code can only be added by the scan, can not be added manually by someone. The T23 code on the other hand may be able to be added manually. I have no confirmation of this at this point because when I posed this question to AudiUSA on the phone, they were not familiar with the code. I also e-mailed the same question to AudiUSA at the beginning of the week and have not received a response. So I'm waiting for confirmation. Outisde of this vehicle having a tune on it when I bought it from the Audi Dealer, the only other scenario that makes sense is that this T23 warranty key code was added manually by someone, either at the dealer or at Audi. Now 2 weeks without my car or a loaner (Audi dealer did not have a loaner available).

[grizzy]

I literally just bought a 2018 S3 last weekend. It wasn't CPO as I bought it from a Mazda dealership but I had a pre-purchase inspection done by the Audi dealership down the street.

That dealership told me everything is okay except for after market wheel spacers and a GFF G608 Brake Vacuum/Pressure Implausible Signal code but they assured me that would be covered for free under warranty.

I took the car in to my local dealership for it's 20k service as the previous owner never did it and they tell me the car is tuned and that all 4 rims are bent as well. Warranty voided. WTF.

How the eff do they miss 4 bent wheels and a tune? I am trying to get the wheels repaired under a rim/tire warranty I bought through the Mazda dealership. My local Audi dealership told me they can reset my S3 to stock and reactivate the warranty to repair the brake vacuum issue but it would take time, whatever that means. I'm not sure how serious of an issue that G608 brake vacuum is and I was thinking of tuning the car a year from now anyway as the warranty would be close to expiring so I'm not sure what to do.

[Makersmark]

I literally just bought a 2018 S3 last weekend. It wasn't CPO as I bought it from a Mazda dealership but I had a pre-purchase inspection done by the Audi dealership down the street.

That dealership told me everything is okay except for after market wheel spacers and a GFF G608 Brake Vacuum/Pressure Implausible Signal code but they assured me that would be covered for free under warranty.

I took the car in to my local dealership for it's 20k service as the previous owner never did it and they tell me the car is tuned and that all 4 rims are bent as well. Warranty voided. WTF.

How the eff do they miss 4 bent wheels and a tune? I am trying to get the wheels repaired under a rim/tire warranty I bought through the Mazda dealership. My local Audi dealership told me they can reset my S3 to stock and reactivate the warranty to repair the brake vacuum issue but it would take time, whatever that means. I'm not sure how serious of an issue that G608 brake vacuum is and I was thinking of tuning the car a year from now anyway as the warranty would be close to expiring so I'm not sure what to do.

This dealership is fucking you. First off, no one can void your warranty for a tune (magnuson-moss warranty act). I really wish people would stop spreading this ridiculous rumor. Second, if they could could void it, how would they reinstate it just by removing the tune? If tunes are so lethal to engines, how could they ensure damage had not already been caused?

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[XMetal]

This dealership is fucking you. First off, no one can void your warranty for a tune (magnuson-moss warranty act). I really wish people would stop spreading this ridiculous rumor. Second, if they could could void it, how would they reinstate it just by removing the tune? If tunes are so lethal to engines, how could they ensure damage had not already been caused?

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Obviously, they can't void the entire warranty (stuffs unrelated to the drivetrain will still be under warranty). However, they CAN void the warranty on the drivetrain if you have a tune on it IF they can prove the failure is due to the tune. But I'm sure AoA will point to the tune first in attempts to get out of the warranty and let the owner prove otherwise. Lawyer up time in either case.

[lastig21]

I've been following the thread hoping for a solid outcome. Do you have service records of the car... do you know if it was maintained at the Audi dealership you bought the car from? You've only put 5k miles on the car, and a cylinder failure at 22k miles is too early even with a tune. I wonder how much the repair will cost, and if Audi would be willing to split the cost with you as good faith. I would try amicable resolution before throwing around threats to get a lawyer. That will get expensive and put the dealership on the defensive.

[2K158VA3]

I've been following the thread hoping for a solid outcome. Do you have service records of the car... do you know if it was maintained at the Audi dealership you bought the car from? You've only put 5k miles on the car, and a cylinder failure at 22k miles is too early even with a tune. I wonder how much the repair will cost, and if Audi would be willing to split the cost with you as good faith. I would try amicable resolution before throwing around threats to get a lawyer. That will get expensive and put the dealership on the defensive.

Yes, I have all service records and yes, only this specific Audi dealership has services the car. I've even just had the 45k mile service (Based on time not mileage) performed at 22k miles just 2 months ago, so all service is more than up to date. I have been cordial with the dealer thus far, I would like to work this out in a positive way if at all possible.

[MkUrMark]

I can't help but to chuckle when I hear comments like 'lawyer up'... like if lawyers are inexpensive