Lasher Audi continues to amaze me! (in a bad way)
09-27-2005, 04:45 PM
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Lasher Audi continues to amaze me! (in a bad way)
The Engineer from Michigan flew out today and he came to a startling conclusion! Apparantly, my car has had the wrong ECM installed since before its known history and something recent had finally triggered the CEL to come on yet it ran fine for years even with the "wrong" ECM installed. That is the bad news. Here is the good news: I probably won't have to pay for the new and hopefully "correct" ECM to be installed. They are crediting me the money for the other "incorrect" ECM they installed and the money for the new injectors. However, because it is the wrong ECM they are sending back to Audi I might have to pay the $500 core charge. I just want my car back...
09-27-2005, 04:57 PM
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hmm I'd be pointing the finger at the parts guy
Etka will tell you what ECM you need.
Now if a technician said GIVE ME this part number pointing to a printout from his 5052... then its not all the parts guy's fault. But it still is. You NEVER EVER order a module on a whim. EVER. I compulsively look things up by vin and for every module I do my own research try to get my own firiing solution then compare it to what the tech has... check to see if their number and mine are compatible or share supersession lineage.
Frankly... this is a screwup by their parts department, not their service department. Audi techs in teh US dont have access to part numbers. Thats what the parts consultant's job is... research, locate and acquire the correct parts to complete the repair. Somebody did a **** poor job of researching things.
Now COULD it be an oopseis on the side of audi... maybe if etka has some incorrect info in it... and given how large etka is that is entirely possible... but its usually not etka.
Now if a technician said GIVE ME this part number pointing to a printout from his 5052... then its not all the parts guy's fault. But it still is. You NEVER EVER order a module on a whim. EVER. I compulsively look things up by vin and for every module I do my own research try to get my own firiing solution then compare it to what the tech has... check to see if their number and mine are compatible or share supersession lineage.
Frankly... this is a screwup by their parts department, not their service department. Audi techs in teh US dont have access to part numbers. Thats what the parts consultant's job is... research, locate and acquire the correct parts to complete the repair. Somebody did a **** poor job of researching things.
Now COULD it be an oopseis on the side of audi... maybe if etka has some incorrect info in it... and given how large etka is that is entirely possible... but its usually not etka.
09-27-2005, 05:04 PM
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no I think you misunderstood me...
They say I have had the wrong ECM in the car for years and when they thought the ECM was bad they ordered a new one based on the part number listed on the old ECM. They aren't charging me for that. My only gripe is why the ECM decided to tweak out now why not 3 years ago or something?
09-27-2005, 05:15 PM
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no I believe you misunderstood ME.
"...when they thought the ECM was bad they ordered a new one based on the part number listed on the old ECM"
Yeah well you order a new ECM based on the same part number as the old bad one which shouldnt have been in the car in the first place... and you are surprised that the replacement didnt fix the problem?
Yeah well you order a new ECM based on the same part number as the old bad one which shouldnt have been in the car in the first place... and you are surprised that the replacement didnt fix the problem?
09-27-2005, 05:23 PM
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sorry its not "whatever" to me
I do this for a living and I always like to determine who dropped the ball and how they did so.. that way it doesnt happen again.
On a new car this could be what leads to a buyback and Audi could blame my dealership for the mistake.... and we would be penalized as such. That would look very bad internally. It would also really suck for the owner, whom may have just given up on the brand due to what he/she percieved as a failure by audi... From the customer's point of view it is usually just "audi" there is little to no distinguishment between the audi dealer which is a franchise of sorts, audi AG, audi USA and their car, its problems and their experience from start to finish with the problems.
On a new car this could be what leads to a buyback and Audi could blame my dealership for the mistake.... and we would be penalized as such. That would look very bad internally. It would also really suck for the owner, whom may have just given up on the brand due to what he/she percieved as a failure by audi... From the customer's point of view it is usually just "audi" there is little to no distinguishment between the audi dealer which is a franchise of sorts, audi AG, audi USA and their car, its problems and their experience from start to finish with the problems.
09-27-2005, 05:29 PM
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They have no way of figuring it out though. That is my point.
I bought the car used about two years ago, I have never replaced the ECM so there is no way to tell when it was replaced. The previous owners don't know a damn thing about it. If the car broke they fixed it, they didn't really pay attention to what work was done.
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09-27-2005, 05:38 PM
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You may be in denial about it
but the previous owner or a previous shop did something... it is not likely that the car made it this long without that being caught. Some bodyshop might have done that... some indie garage might have... hell for all I know there may have been an instance where the ECM was borrowed to test something on another car and the wrong ECM was put back into your car. There are a LOT of different circumstances.
What I'm saying is that nobody should ever have visited the dealership from corporate. I suspect that nobody ever suspected that the wrong ECM was in your car. If the Parts department had researched the ECM correctly they would have found that the car had the wrong ECM. Yes I can do that at work... every reman part in etka tells me what other parts are compatible with it. I can also establish supersession lineage. I'm pretty good at the parts game, you wont find somebody like me at every dealership.
What I'm saying is that nobody should ever have visited the dealership from corporate. I suspect that nobody ever suspected that the wrong ECM was in your car. If the Parts department had researched the ECM correctly they would have found that the car had the wrong ECM. Yes I can do that at work... every reman part in etka tells me what other parts are compatible with it. I can also establish supersession lineage. I'm pretty good at the parts game, you wont find somebody like me at every dealership.
09-27-2005, 05:58 PM
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Ok, that explanation is true I am not debating that. In fact, I am not even sure what we are debatin
not even the fact that you are the best parts guy this side of Ingolstadt
09-27-2005, 06:28 PM
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OK, while you 2 are duking it out, did it occur to anybody that this car
might have the wrong control unit in it because of a previous owner or 3rd rate repair shop. If I had a dollar for all the times Ive heard the story, "the shop thought my problem was the ECU, so they found me one from the junk yard", well I'd have a few dollars anyway. There are all sorts of scenarios I can think of, and a dealership parts dept getting it wrong is not one of them. I'd love to know the part number of the offending ECU in the car now.