In reply to Toyman! :
I'll check that out when I get back into town.
Wake74, I'll definitely post an update when I get it tuned. I pretty much need to keep all the emissions on this, unless I decide to register it in Montana.
gixxeropa, I hate the dealer advertising too, so I'll be peeling that sticker off soon
Sometimes all it takes to get motivated is an easy project. I didn't feel like going out to the garage today, even though it was a nice day and I had free time. Decided to remove the dealer sticker off the hatch.
Eww, free advertising
A little adhesive cleaner and
It's gone. I also washed the car for the first time. Overall it's in good shape, some chips in the paint, mostly the front bumper. When the PPF got done they wrapped everything but tthe front bumper. Sigh. Neighbor who owns a PDR place came over and looked at the rear passenger door, said they'd all come out. Will drop it off with him in a few weeks. Also hooked up the XM radio, nice to have that again.
Ordered the tune yesterday. Decided to hold off on the TCU tune for a few reasons,
#1 I want to see how it runs with just the ECU tune.
#2 This car shifts SO much better than the Cayenne. Not sure why, but the Cayenne has significant throttle lag, I've gotta drive that one in "Sport" all the time to make it feel reasonable. The Touareg in "drive" feels better than the Cayenne in "Sport"
#3 A ClubTouareg member can flash the TCU with the pre-diesel gate tune for short cash.
#4 Malone Tuning will do a Black Friday sale. So if I want the TCU tune, I can buy it from them for the same discount as now.
In reply to docwyte :
My Touareg had a noticeable amount of throttle lag when I bought it. Not terrible, but noticeable. The Malone Stage 2 tune helped that a lot. I still had a tendency to drive it in sport mode around town. Then the throttle response is pretty much instant.
In reply to docwyte :
What stage tune are you getting? I think you mentioned towing, it looks like stage 1 is the suggested tune for towing.
I just checked Malone's website and they have the dynamic EGR for my wife's BMW, might jump on this as well.
In reply to Toyman! :
Have you noticed it running any hotter when towing with stage 2?
I am thinking of ordering stage 2, not really planning to ever towing with my wife's wagon and the extra torque seems nice.
I've been watching for it since you first mentioned it. Finally here:
In reply to Slippery :
I haven't had any heat problems and I've done a fair amount of towing with it. Even hauling 5k pounds up into the mountains it doesn't have any overheating tendencies.
The extra torque is downright amazing. It's like driving a midsize car with a big block that gets 25 mpg. All the torque at 2k rpms is as addictive as crack. If I was a little less lazy and a lot smarter I'd figure out how to stuff the 3.0 TDI and the 8 speed in my H3T.
Slippery:
I bought the stage 2 tune, that's what I had before and the credit they gave me. You can flash the lower stages for free, so if I want to put stage 1 on I can. There's only an 8hp/ft lb difference between the two. I thought about the dynamic EGR but decided to hold off for now, same with the delete tune. Malone said I can add them later if I want. So for instance if my DEF system breaks, I can add the delete tune for it, then just unplug the wiring connections to it and leave it installed, that way I'll still pass visual inspection.
Toyman!:
I'm puzzled why the Touareg feels so much better shift quality wise compared to the Cayenne. The cayenne lags very noticeably in "Drive" and even in "sport" I can still feel it some. The Touareg in "drive" feels really good, no complaints at all, sport is even better.
In reply to docwyte :
I wonder if they stiffened up the shifts for towing thinking the Touareg would be the tow machine and the Cayenne more of a night on the town vehicle.
I will say the Touareg has the best automatic I have ever driven. It's pretty much always in the right gear and if it isn't it shifts instantly and without hesitation and lands in the right gear every time.
I'm thinking about your throttle response, and wondering if perhaps this Touareg hasn't had the Diesel Emissions Fix applied to it? Every "fixed" Touareg I've driven has had the lag you describe on your Cayenne.
If you want to try out a pre-fix TCU flash, mine has been reverted by YKTreg on the forums.
In reply to Parker with too many Projects :
It's got a sticker on the rad support saying the diesel fix has been done and the date. So I'm pretty sure it happened, especially since it was sold in 2018 as a CPO car by a local VW dealer. But I still wonder if the TCU ever got flashed because it drives so much better than the Cayenne. Yep, I've contacted YKTreg about the pre diesel gate flash.
So this was waiting for me when I got home from work yesterday, Malone Tunezilla Flashzilla Pro
A little mental back and forth about waiting until the weekend vs flashing now. I tend to like to have time in case something goes wrong, but in the end, this happened...
Happy to say it went well, no issues. A quick drive around the neighborhood confirmed that no lights were on, it still drove fine and the difference is noticeable. It'll throw you back into the seat if you punch it now.
Enjoy it.
If you really want to be thrown back in the seat, power brake it just long enough to get the turbocharger spooled up. It will launch hard enough to spin all 4 tires on concrete. Exhilarating, to say the least.
In reply to Toyman! :
Might try that later, sounds fun! Think I'll take it to my sons soccer practice this afternoon to see how it drives. It definitely felt more powerful, +80hp/ft lbs? Hard to say with the little drive I did, plus I'm sure the more I drive it the more the ECU will learn the new map and run better
Sounds awesome! That was just the stage 1 tune, correct?
In reply to Parker with too many Projects :
I flashed the Stage 2 tune. Although there's barely a difference HP/ft lbs wise between the two, like +8 for the Stage 2...
Forgot to mention that initially there was a CEL and ESC light on after the flash, but it was because I hadn't key cycled the ECU. Once I did that they both went away
Went thru a full tank of diesel with the tune. Mostly commute driving, so 9-10 miles each way, maybe 50% of that is freeway. Ie, not enough freeway driving to really get good gas mileage. I did take 1 drive to Ft Collins and back to take my dog up to CSU Vet school to meet his girlfriend. With that I went 515 miles and used 22 gallons of diesel, so a 23.3 mpg average. When I do more freeway driving my average mpg is more like 24.5-25mpg. My wife gets 27mpg in her cayenne but it's not tuned, she has a much longer freeway drive and she drives like a great grandma.
So I'm pretty happy with the fuel economy, although it looks like the tune is costing me ~10% in mpg's...
That's interesting, most anecdotes from the tuned owners show similar increases in fuel economy. Perhaps because you're not deleted, the extra fuel burned is creating more EMAP than what a stage 2-deleted tune would see...
In reply to Parker with too many Projects :
Yeah, all those people have deleted the DPF, SCR and DEF. Some have also deleted the cats. It looks like the tune is costing me -20-25% fuel mileage. I used to get 200 miles on the first quarter tank and now I get 150. I took a long freeway drive this weekend and got ~30mpg. Our untuned cayenne would've easily gotten 35mpg, maybe more.
I can't do the deletes where I live. They don't OBD2 scan the car but they do a visual check to make sure everything is in place.
The tune is noticeable but honestly I'm not sure it's worth this big of a hit in gas mileage. I'll probably put more miles on it, change the fuel filter at the next oil change and then see how it does.
In reply to docwyte :
Where do you normally go for inspection? My shop plugs it in, runs the opacity, charges my card lol
In reply to Parker with too many Projects :
Branch Automotive. They told me there's no OBD2 scan for diesels in Colorado, it's just a visual check to see if the emissions stuff is there and an opacity check.
When I bought the car the drivers door arm rest had a small tear in it. Kinda bugs me, I see it everyday and my elbow rests there. Been looking on eBay for a used one, but there are never any front drivers door ones for sale. I don't really feel like buying the entire door panel, plus the price of a used door panel is almost the same as a brand new arm rest.
Called a VW/Audi junkyard I know in New Hampshire and happily he was able to find me one. It was in good shape, but dirty, so I gave it a quick clean.
To remove it, use a plastic interior trim tool, insert it at the very back of the arm rest, then pull up. Damaged vs "new" one
To get the window switches out, turn the arm rest over, then use a small screwdriver on either side of the controls to release the tabs and pull it out. Time to clean the switches up too, since they're out. Then it snaps right back into place. Pull the blue tab out on the window switch harness and plug it in. Line up the armrest and snap it down into place. Done!
Last thing I want to do is replace the hvac head unit, the screen in mine has a crack in it. It works fine, so isn't a huge priority, but I still want to replace it.
Did my first oil change on it. Same as the cayenne, changed the oil filter first so the oil in the canister would drain into the oil pan, then sucked all the oil out of the pan through the dipstick tube. Used a FCP Euro oil kit, so Liqui Moly this time vs the M1 ESP I've been running in the Cayenne. Very nice having a dipstick, don't have to wait for the oil to warm up to check it via the on board sensor.
In reply to docwyte :
Mine started throwing a DPF code a couple of weeks ago. I'm pretty sure these diesel emission systems work best when the engines are worked hard. I'm afraid my wife drives too easily for it. Too much time idling in traffic and putting along to the grocery store.
After talking it over with my repair shop, it's going to get some replacement parts that are less likely to get clogged. That's on the agenda for this weekend assuming I can lay my hands on my flash tool. I'll let you know how it works out. I've read that the fuel economy jumps 3-5 mpg.
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