jcman

I know you're not, but after you see the full code description you might connect the reasons other than a check sum error locking the ecm out

2.7Lturbo

thats just it, i dont think the ecm is being locked out i dont think it is initializing in the first place

slowguy

I will have the code to post soon. I am also posting it to nefmoto. It's not immo. To the best of my knowledge it has accurate mileage. Both carfax, autocheck and the dealer it was serviced at all report same mileages.

If you read through the nefmoto forum, and talk to a couple experts, this symptom is actually common with the 551 AA ecu when it comes to messing with the code. APR should know this, as this is what they are charging so much for. The should also know better than to tell a cusomter to send them two ecu's so they can destroy them the same way, and on top of that a BRAND NEW ecu from audi was purchased and they did the exact same thing to it. This problem can even be tripped simply by reading the flash code. This is why I will flash a stock 551 R file because it is much less susceptible to this.

Believe me, for a while there I thought it was the car doing something to the ecu's. That was until I started researching and purchased an ecu that APR was never allowed to touch. With any luck, if I can get the immo defeat done on that ecu in the next week, I will be driving my car again. This is all because I (with no prior ecu tuning, tweaking, or hacking experience), with the help of the nefmoto community, had to get my car running again. To this day, APR is either unwilling or simply not capable of the fix.

If I can search, ask, and learn enough to recover my own ecu, with no prior knowledge simply by using the wonderful world of the Internet....then you rate the level of expertise of APR. Let them code your vehicle now. Hopefully you don't ever have an issue.

slowguy

I have been working closely with a nefmoto forum member who has two 551 AA ecu's, and after reading them, both have tripped this code resulting in a no-start condition.

jseklund

Have you tried the ECU on another car? Doing so may throw an immobilizer code and at least point an even stronger finger toward APR. I am not defending APR by any means - it does seem like they did something wrong.

On the other hand, we don't get many "My car won't start after APR" threads on here either I don't think (maybe I've just missed them). Whether they are junk or not, I would think this isn't a super common issue...even if it's happened to a few people.

I don't know as much as some others on this board about the tuning of these things - but as I said earlier, I did put a chip in my gf's car and it wouldn't start for a couple of days after I got it back. In my case it turned out it was shipped with the security system on and I could not disable it because the cruise control stock buttons weren't working. We never used the cruise, so we didn't realize the problem. Everything seemed to be pointing toward APR screwing the pooch until I figured this out...but again, maybe this would throw no codes or throw the 0601 with an immobilizer code. I just don't know.

Where are you located? Maybe there's another car around that a forum member would let you throw the ECU into?

From a lawsuit perspective, I can see both sides of this coin. You bought a used car that you know little about. You have some strong technical evidence that APR caused the problem. You never really said, that I see, that you plainly bought a new ECU from Audi that was coded for your car and that it worked....but I think you imply this.

It's very possible that maybe the car has had some changes made that you weren't aware of- like maybe the cluster was changed/immobilizer settings with it. APR may have programmed this by what should have been there and this caused the issue, which now gets repeated each time they throw a program on it.

Or, maybe they got some coding messed up on the original ECU and they now use that coding to update each additional ECU...repeating the same problem.

I think you're right to be doing more diagnosis and more learning on your own. APR customer service is severely lacking...but I don't think their product causes these problems too often (but could be wrong).

2.7Lturbo

i think the most daming thing for APR is them trying to buy him off with an exhaust and call it even. if they were really so confident in their softtware and that it was not their fault all they would offer would be a refund. somebody is trying to cover their ***.

this isnt a "common" issue anymore because most of APR uses software flashes not rom changes, but back in the days of rom changes this stuff made or broke companies.....

jseklund

I don't disagree that the "buy-off" is damning to some degree. I know that I've seen reference to a rom change on this ECU but didn't see that this car would have a rom change...since it has an immobilizer I thought it would just be a flash?

JohnnyJ A6Q

August 9th, 2012 – Acquired a used ecu from another supplier (verified operational but not coded to my car) and upon receipt, shipped with tracking to APR for coding to my specific vehicle.

Hello, Are you stating that you installed said used ECU in your vehicle and it started and was drivable ?

jcman

The P0601/16985 code does show two references for a 04 BEL engine, first would be to replace the ECM and second is voltage supply for ECM "checking".

I did notice the others as mentioned before to be security cover or metal shield only on the AHA engine.

slowguy

2.7L Turbo is the only one, at least so far as I can tell, that has been following this issue from the beginning. I am done explaining the intricacies of the problem. There is no doubt, as far as I'm concerned and as far as my attorney is concerned, who is at fault.

If even there was an underlying problem with the original ecu (which is far fetched), APR told me to buy two more ecu's saying they could fix them. They did not but rendered them useless. Furthermore, they purchased an ecu untouched by me and it was rendered useless. Let me repeat this only ONE MORE TIME. I purchased a used ecu from ebay (disregarding any ecu that was shipped to APR), that was from my identical car. It works with NO CODES, but it needs immo adaption or defeat.

So, I purchased a tune (which I did not receive), two used ecu's that I sent to them and they disabled, towed my car, and they purchased a supposed refurbished ecu from a local audi dealer and THEY disabled that as well. ALL ecu's touched by APR exhibit P0601. I am flashing my orinal ecu as I type this with an original bin downloaded from nefmoto.

If you are still in doubt, I really don't care. I simply shared this info to hopefully warn others that may be considering and APR tune. Yes, this may be a rare case but it happened to me and, therefore, it can happen to you too. Choose wisely.