So . . . I’ve been dealing with a lingering issue on my car the past few months, which has now finally been resolved. Thought I would share my experience in case any other B8s (especially tuned B8s) have similar issues.
Around the end of February, my car began having problems starting. When pressing the ignition button, all of the electronics engaged per usual, but there was no connection to the engine. See, e.g., this crappy iPhone video: https://vidd.me/nFn
However, after about an hour or so, the car would revert back to normal, with no issues starting. I had my local Audi dealer look at the car on two separate occasions, and both times they could not diagnose the issue (nor even replicate it). The car was throwing no fault codes, and they were at a loss. Since I am tuned, though, they told me that any further diagnosis would require an ECU replacement, which of course would not be covered by warranty. Rather than pay $2000 for a new ECU, I had mine shipped to APR for inspection, and APR’s technicians found nothing wrong with it. Consequently, I took the chance that perhaps this was just a fluke issue and had the dealer reinstall the ECU.
It wasn’t a fluke. The problem occurred yet again last month after I had driven out to the suburbs to have my summer tires installed. This time, however, I noticed a pattern. The problem seemed to arise only after the car was driven for ~ 30 minutes or longer. Short trips around Chicago didn’t trigger the issue. So I took the car to the suburban Audi dealer and told them to keep it until they fixed the problem.
As I feared, this dealer as well told me that, to diagnose the issue, they needed to rule out the possibility that my ECU was at fault. I even had the ECU flashed back to stock, and that was not sufficient. Audi simply would not work with the dealer any further until the ECU was replaced. The dealer did note that once the ECU was replaced (on my dime), my warranty would kick in again.
At that point, I spoke to CountVohn, and we basically concluded that replacing the ECU was the least bad option. Even if, for example, CountVohn was able to properly diagnose the issue (which he did not think was ECU-related), I would still have to pay the dealer for the repair. On the other hand, by replacing the ECU, all further diagnosis and repair would be warrantied. So I decided to go that route, mostly in an effort to just bring this ordeal to a close.
As expected, the problem had nothing to do with my ECU. Here’s the dealer’s diagnosis:
http://i.imgur.com/ThCfig0.jpg
So the starter was at fault, and it was replaced under warranty. I am now back to the stock tune, and I’ve decided to keep it that way until my warranty expires later this year. Costly process for sure, and obviously very, very frustrating.
I do want to thank CountVohn, sakimano, primetime, and Jake@JHM for all of their insight. This forum truly has tremendous resources, and I appreciate all of the help they provided. Arin@APR was also very responsive to all of my questions.
Hopefully no one else has this happen to them.