Guys, I have a 02 tt. The guy I bought it from wasn't a huge Porsche guy. His brother convinced him to buy it and honestly he never drove it. It sat parked in a hanger most of the time. The first owner had done some modification to it (springs, headers, tint, possible exhaust, wheels). There isn't however a tune on the car as far as I can tell. However, my APR tuned Audi would be the same way if you unhooked the battery. It would go back to stock mode by default and you would have to select 93 mode. What I'm getting at, is unless I told you, it would have been impossible to tell there was a tune on that car if the battery went down. Is there a possibility of the same thing with my turbo. Is there a chance it's tuned and the tune program is just not selected? Does anyone other than APR do that with these cars? I'm not sure how else to find out as most tunes are invisible to diagnostic computers for obvious reasons. Thanks guy.

 

My epl tune is all the time. Dead battery or not. The computer is changed permanently until you the owner decide to go back to the stock file.

 

"possible" exhaust - does that mean you don't know if the exhaust is aftermarket or not?

To tell if it's tuned - pull up the boost gauge in the multi-function display. Drive at 60 mph in 5th gear. Floor the throttle without downshifting. Do you see 1.0 (or higher) bar? If yes - it's tuned. If not, it's probably the stock ECU file.

 

It's the stock muffler but I believe it may have been modified. I know that a tune will reflect higher boost. My thought is that there might be an unselected file.

 

wheelman, Im in the same boat as you are. Previous owner gave me a receipt for a flash, with no specific info. My car has a 7200 redline, so I know something is there, but I only see .7 bar. I had a local shop scan the ecu, specifically for an APR flash, which is what the tuner thought might be, but no luck. I even called the previous 2 owners and nobody knows nothing.

I have also called all of the big flash guys and no one has my vin on file. Champion installed mine, and Tom, went out of his way to look into it, but could not come up with a name, only an assumption of apr or renntech. Renntech told me they dont mess with the revlimiter so I dont thinks its theirs, however, apr does and also resorts back to stock file when batt is disconnected.

Not sure where to turn from here, so if you figure yours out, please post it

 

I never thought of calling the big tuners and checking via VIN

 

No, your ECU will NOT revert back to a "stock file" when your power is disconnected. There are no "files" to choose from in the ECU. What you have is, what you have, until YOU have someone re-flash it.

If you don't know what you have, and can't find out - simply purchase a new flash from a vendor and problem solved!

Congrats and enjoy the cars!!!

 

The apr flash has a switching capability thru the cruise control stalk. look about halfway down for EMCS.

www.goapr.com/products/ecu_upgrade_996turbo.html

This is from the operating instructions. anyone know the default code?

If your EMCS product is equipped with the security feature, then you MUST enter the security code correctly before you will be able to access EMCS features. The EMCS module will always default to the LOCKED state when ECU power is interrupted and the ECU will run the first program (usually stock). The EMCS module will not reset when the ignition key is turned OFF and back ON. You will not loose your current EMCS settings unless the ECU losses power (i.e. the ECU is unplugged or the battery is disconnected.) An exception to this is the anti-theft status, which cannot be reset by disconnecting power but only by entering the correct access code.


EDIT: I had USP scan for it as they are an ARP dealer. They found nothing but a half hour labor

 

No there is no such thing. the eprom is either flashed or not... battery has nothing to do with it...

 

You may want to listen to this guy! He knows what he's talking about!

 

you can take out the ecu.. unscrew the top... look on the other side see if there has been any motherboard work.. thats old school but I have come across many of those... one can have someone readout the eprom and see if they program is stock..
but if the car is running .7 bar theres nothing more to discuss...

 

before I have my present tune I had a REVO one that allowed switching to diff files with an obd port dongle. If the batt was disconnected, that would revert to the "normal" setting.

As I remember though, flashing this way was easily overwritten by the dealer scans or on batt disconnect - thats why I wound going with the hardware ECU resistor flash.

Any ideas peeps?

 

What you would have to do is take it to an "Authorized APR Dealer" and have them plug in their laptop to see if it has "APR" software on it. They won't be able to tell if it has any other competitor's software unless they have the other tuner's software and are a dealer for them.

Tuners don't carry a running record of VINs. They would rely on you keeping personal records, which it sounds like the previous owner did not do.

He is correct. The only way you can "lose" a flash is if you get reflashed by Porsche as per some sort up campaign or ECU update, or the tuner flashes you back to stock. If the battery dies or is removed, the settings will revert to a stock setting, but it is the tuner's interpretation of stock, not an actual Porsche stock file.

 

I guess saying it went back to stock settings would be more correct than saying lost the flash as APR is switchable. Of the tuners I contacted (renntech, giac, etc.) they all offered to look it up by vin.

I took mine to USP as they are an APR distributor and board sponsor. They had the car for 10 minutes and said they couldnt find anything. Would it be likely that if it was flashed back to stock it would rev to 7200rpm? I can watch my type 2 overrevs go up everytime I run to 7k.

Thanks for any advise you pros can offer

 

Sounds like its time to pay up.

Pay to play with these cars.

Hey at least tunes are cheap now. Back in the 996tt heyday $3800 for a tune was not unreasonable...