Stage 3 Roll Call, How Long Have You Lasted

[muffinman92]

Hey Everyone,

With plenty of scattered threads of injector issues, rocker arm failure, and general engine catastrophes, I figured it may be interesting to catalogue how long those of us are lasting with Stage 3. Please include tuner, tune, and mileage to the best of your knowledge. This is NOT to call out specific tuners, but more so to inform those that may be interested in taking the jump, and to bench mark the data out there.

2019 SQ5
Current Mileage:44,000
034 Stage 1+ E85 : 3,500 miles
034 Stage 2+ E85: 3,000 miles
034 Stage 3 TTE710 E60: 5,000 miles

[AldermanToffee]

Covered about 60k miles with a mix of a SRM GTX3582R, TTE710, and finally a full frame G35-1050. Half of that mileage or so was with running WMI.

EPL for the GTX and TTE710, custom tuner for my G35-1050.

I’m now on a built motor after finally blowing the motor at 100k (injector failure on dyno) and being tuned by Logic Street Performance.

[silvereb80]

2018 S4 034MS TTE810 running stage 3 93+ somedays on E85 covered just over 14k on the TTE810.

Tuned at 41k 034 stage 1 034MS now at 65K. Knock on wood no issues so far.

[athree20v]

2018 S5, 64,XXX miles, 034 stg 3 w/ TTE710-93 for about 15k of those. One track day on MS109 (WOW!) Only failure so far was the turbo itself. I can only chalk that up to track use and summer temps?

[richib86]

Car currently has about 52,000 miles.
Around 43,000 miles I went with IE stage 3 as it was the only tune available for the pure750(car was tuned with APR, was one of the first flashed B9’s, ran JB4 and DTUK before that). Had the IE tune and wasn’t happy with it for about 4,000 miles. Car ran super choppy and never smooth and was throwing lean codes, then I swapped in what I thought were RS injectors that were actually stock s4 injectors and ran the wrong file as a result, so that compounded my issues. Got that all sorted out finally and the car just still didn’t perform.

I then swapped to the 034 tune as soon as that came out for the pure750 and the performance felt great on the 93 file, definitely felt way more powerful than the IE setup and the draggy confirmed all of that repeatedly. Had about 1,500 miles on that setup and then decided to run ethanol one night, car was mixed to around e61, did two pulls and on the second pull, catastrophic failure occurred and melted cylinder 5.

After the blown engine, Mario put in a remanned engine from a 2021 s4 with about 20,000 miles from a car that skipped timing. He rebuilt the engine with new top end parts(stock parts). Car was then custom mapped and Dyno tuned by Mario and Jackal Motorsports. The car has since set the 1/4 mile record for pump gas and makes more power on ethanol on a lower safer e40 blend that taxes the fuel system less than the competitors. I have about 3,000 miles on my current setup.

Setup:
2019 S4
Pure 750
Jackal ECU/TCU
IE FDS intercooler
034 s34 intake with superduper inlet
OEM 4 bar map sensors
RS injectors
ECS charge pipes pre and post throttle body
CTS catless downpipe
Miltek Res Exhaust
034 engine mounts
034 trans mounts
034 subframe mounts
034 diff mounts
034 LW rotors
Jxb drive shaft carrier
LW 20” HRE wheels
KW H.A.S.

Bunch of other parts too but nothing relevant

[muffinman92]

Bumping as there have been some facebook reports of failed engines. Not sure if true or not.

2019 SQ5
Current Mileage:51,500
034 Stage 1+ E85 : 3,500 miles
034 Stage 2+ E85: 3,000 miles
034 Stage 3 TTE710 E60: 12,500 miles

[TunedB9S4]

Currently at 108,000 km, first tune at 30,000km

First tune - bench and "some Russian tune". Second and third revisions - "some Russian tune". These were running a Pure700

Fourth tune - EPL. Fifth tune - IE Stage 3+. These were running a TTE710

Currently on Logic Street Performance. First few months were on a TTE710, last several months have been APR DTR8868.

So, +- 49,000 miles tuned. Rocker arms still doing fine despite being a February 2017 production model.

IMO - many engine failures seem to be related to injector failure.

[creamys4]

Currently at 108,000 km, first tune at 30,000km

First tune - bench and "some Russian tune". Second and third revisions - "some Russian tune". These were running a Pure700

Fourth tune - EPL. Fifth tune - IE Stage 3+. These were running a TTE710

Currently on Logic Street Performance. First few months were on a TTE710, last several months have been APR DTR8868.

So, +- 49,000 miles tuned. Rocker arms still doing fine despite being a February 2017 production model.

IMO - many engine failures seem to be related to injector failure.

Can you elaborate on the injector failure hypothesis? I have the OG rockers and Stage 2. Not really worried but I like being in the know.

[GoCougs1234]

TL;DR - APR stage 3 has gone fantastically for me overall. Can't recommend it enough. The 3.0T and ZF8 seem bullet proof and the tune more than safe.

Currently have 91,000 miles. APR stage 1 91 octane from 36,000 - 75,000 miles and APR stage 3 from 75,000 miles till now. Daily WOT plus 300+ launches (most of which were stage 1, which is a vastly harder launch than stage 3, at least for APR). No track duty but I do lots of multi-day road trips and such road trips on stage 3 I'd say are at least the equivalent to 10-15 track days, at least for the power/drive train: 12+ hours of driving/day, loaded up with 400+ lbs of gear + bikes on a bike rack + high temp (90F+) + elevation (7,000-8,000 ft) + mountain passes (6% grade up) + tons of WOT bursts and lots of sustained somewhat high speeds (speed limit of 85 mph with the left lane running 90 - 100 mph). Not a single problem with durability, performance or overheating or the like with the vehicle itself. I did just have the turbo replaced however (noisy bearings) but APR and my tuner immediately replaced under warranty with zero hassle (the turbo didn't fail per se nor did it harm the engine).

The only powertrain problems I've had are are the PCV issue x 2 (easy/cheap fix TBH I did myself) and I'm getting cooling system DTCs (but no visible signs of failure yet) but all indications are that most Audi 3.0T-powered vehicles will have these two issues prematurely, tuned or not tuned.

[ontunerow]

2021 SQ5

Current Mileage: 20,000

034 Stage 1 when I hit 4,000 miles

034 Stage 2 when I hit about 6,000 miles

034 Stage 3 TTE810 on 93 when I reached ~14, 000 miles (to my best memory)

Only issue I had is the APR HPFP, failed twice. Then rebuild the OEM pump with 034 HPFP rebuild kit.

[dustinpmitchell]

I guess I got a lemon lol! 034 stage 1 and it lasted 2 weeks! 2020 with 38,000 kms. Cracked piston and heavily scored cylinder wall... my goal was stage 3 by the summer but I guess that isn't happening now with an $18k bill. I knew the risk going in though...

[Auditude437]

I no longer have the car but below is what I used to have:

2018 S5 Sportback - Tuned by EPL, SRM GTX3582r turbo from 30k miles to 95k miles... Daily driven with no issues at all other than the fuel tank sensor going out.

[034Motorsport]

Posting as myself (Nick@034):

2018 SQ5

Current Mileage: 101,781 miles on 034 Stage 3 TTE710 E60

Bought New: December 2017
First WOT Pull: 7 miles
First Launch: 100 miles

034 Stage 1 (used to develop the tune in-house right when these ECUs were unlocked, then moved to production file): 30,000 miles (30k miles spent on Stage 1/1+)

034 Stage 2 (used to develop the tune in-house, then moved to production file): 60,000 miles (20k miles spent on Stage 2/2+)

034 Stage 3 TTE710 (used to develop the tune in-house, then moved to production file): 80,000 miles (~21k+ miles spent on Stage 3 E60 primarily with stints of 91 and 93 as of today)

91, 93, E85, and for effectively the last 40,000 miles across Stage 2 and 3 E60.

Other datapoints:

450+ launches (as recorded by dragy runs, likely more when just having fun)
100+ dyno pulls with varying setup conditions (high temp, high rolling resistance)
6+ road course track events at Laguna Seca, Thunderhill, Willow Springs, and Barber Motorsports Park
Over 40k miles spent towing a combined 5500lb race trailer & track car
3 concurrent 13-14k mile oil change intervals on E85 the entire time for Engine oil testing at high load (oil temps exceeding 282F in testing regularly)
Almost never let the car warm up before going WOT (in the name of testing our safety protocols for less-than-ideal treatment)
Daily driven and abused in the name of testing

Part Failures/Maintenance:
OEM Engine mounts failed at 59k, Replaced with 034 Street Density
OEM PCV Failed at 68k miles, replaced with new OEM followed by 034 Upgrade
OEM Front Control Arm bushings failed at 69k miles, replaced with 034 Density Control Arms
The OEM Water pump failed at 101k miles and was replaced with OEM.
Oil Changed generally every 10-12k miles (outside of the latest testing regiment)
Transmission fluid changed every 40k miles

100% stock engine and drivetrain
Still on OEM thermostat
Still on old revision Rocker Arms

Achievements:
1st 11 second 1/4 mile for an SQ5 on Stage 1 E85 (also first to bring AMAX shifting to SQ5s)
1st 10 second 1/4 mile for an SQ5 on Stage 3 E60
(Unofficial) Likely the most abused and least maintained SQ5/ B9 3.0T in the name of science and testing

I spend pretty much every day attempting to destroy this car, and yet it holds on every time with hilarious performance capabilities in every scenario I throw at it. We treat every dev car this way when testing, but I've taken the task of torture testing a bit farther than normal given this is my daily, and it continues to keep on going without a hiccup.

-Nick@034