I just received my VAP crank pulley too. Did you install the tune at the shop or when you got home? I'm also debating having a shop swap the crank pulley. I work on my other older crappy vehicles, but I'm a little hesitant on this. Seems kinda tight and I'm not the most patient or delicate with a wrench. Did they charge you based on a generic hour estimate? How long did it take them?

 

I have installed a couple of VAP tunes and this is also my experience. The READ cycle seems to take between 30-45 minutes, lots of ignition cycles, weird noises, weird behavior with certain components, etc. You absolutely want a battery tender connected during this process since it involves a lot. The WRITE cycle, in my experience too, is under 5 minutes, no ignition cycles, and no real noises (other than a hum from the ECU). I have done plenty of WRITE cycles swapping out tunes without having a battery tender connected (provided I know the battery is at a sufficient charge state). I would feel comfortable writing a tune almost anywhere (parking lot, driveway, etc.) since it is so much faster but I'm only doing the reading parked in my garage on a tender (and only if the tender is showing full charge).

 

I installed the tune at home. The crank pulley seems straightforward, but I don’t have a lift and the garage floor is mighty cold this time of year. The quote I received was $680. Since the skid plates (or whatever they’re called) will be off anyway, I will have them change the air filters too, but that wasn’t included in the quote.

 

Thanks for the info. $680 is well worth the headache in my book. I'll check shops around here in Minnesota.

 

As one point of reference for you, I performed the removal and install entirely from the top, without removing the radiator fan which would have yielded a lot more room to work. Just removed the T intake tube, unseated 2 rubber hoses in that area from their clips so they are free to move around, and most importantly used the correct length socket extension (3" for the socket to hold/rotate the 24mm crank center bolt), correct profile socket (after using a regular 24mm socket, a low profile 24mm would've made it even easier), and regular or as short a Torx bit as you can find for the bolts holding the pulley. Mine was from Eurotoys who supplies a 1-sided belt so required swapping to an included smooth idler also. A 1-sided belt ended up being a blessing as the gap between the new crank pulley and the stock bottom idler is reduced and while the 1-sided barely slipped in, I could not get the factory 2-sided belt to do so.

The hardest part by far was trying to fit the extremely tight replacement belt (8PK1475 1475mm inner circumference) that also left no travel for the tensioner pulley. I've since tired a variety of progressively-longer belts and now use a 1485mm / 58.5" effective length that is perfect in my case - can be installed by hand easily from the top and allows the tensioner to resume the same travel as when stock.

 

what would you guys say is a reasonable price for downpipes installation?

 

The crank pulley is easy my friend. Lots of room from underneath. Put it on stands, take off the belt, put a big wrench on the center bolt to hold it still then remove the crank bolts. They come out slow but it's pretty simple.

 

Thanks Doc. Forgot to mention, I can be lazy too... LOL! Maybe I will do it. It is going to be a long winter here. Car won't see the road until May.

 

Question...crank pully bolt? Lefty loosie?

 

Ah good to know!!

 

Probably a silly question, but I'd like to confirm that the tuners used for the ECU tune, and the TCU tune are able to successfully close the handshake and will not drain the battery. Based on the lack of warnings I think this is the case, but I'd like to make sure it is the case rather than just assuming.

 

Nothing to worry about, as you say "based on the lack of warnings" the tuners do not cause a battery drain otherwise we would have had plenty of complaints by now and I can't recall a single one.
I used the tuner four times and zero battery drain afterwards.

 

The device VAP uses for ECU tuning closes the handshake (on my '16 R) just by unplugging it from the OBD after use. Have killed my batt before from an OBD reader; having used VAP's ECU tuner a few times now, the hazard triangle extinguishes as normal and no batt drain, which I confirmed with a voltmeter after several days. About to try the TCU tune's MPVI device which is still sitting with my doorman

 

In my experience with the VAP ODB tool, has been the same, however the MPVI did require me to reset the battery as it would not hibernate after. With that said, this was done before I had to recently take my car into the dealership for a warranty issue (not related to the power train) and as part of the fix, they ran all the software updates (minus the emissions update - per my request) and since that time, using the MPVI device has not resulted in further issues. Actually, most of my ODB access, battery drain issues seems to be resolved after the last update. I cannot remember which one supposedly addressed this (I want to say the update for the Infotainment was the one, oddly enough), nevertheless, it seems to be fine now.

I have used the MPVI several times along with HP Tuners logging software to compare against the logging software from VAP. As a side note, the VAP data logger seems to be more accurate, however the HP Tuner software (if I am not mistaken) is what Veizu uses to data log their tunes with. (Don't quote me on that one, but what I think they use). VAP has their own in house developed software.

At any rate, not sure if any of this is useful, but just my experience with this.

 

Did you remove the hood to install the pulley from the top?

 

I did not remove the hood. Instead, I detached the hood struts from the hood mounting points (there is a small c clip on each strut’s rounded end you need to pry and remove first, using a small flat blade screwdriver), then the hood will open all the way slightly past vertical, staying open.

There is a small hole on each of the 2 hinges mounting the hood to the body where you insert a small screwdriver to lock the hood open.

Detach hood from strut - from hood mounting point. Insert screwdriver through the holes on 1 side to lock hood in open position:


Hinges will open hood past vertical, so will not tend to close:




New crank and idler pulleys swapped from top. Just unseat hose from mounting clips then zip tie out of way for convenience:



Used 1/2" extendable rachet, 3" extension, 24mm socket to hold/rotate the crank; 1/4" extendable rachet, no extension, Torx bit for the crank pulley bolts. The lower the profiles of tools, the better:



Stock crank pulley removed:

 

Perfect. I think I’ll give it a whirl this weekend, which basically means I’ve wasted everyone’s time with this thread. Sorry folks!

 

Can the car be driven once the Transmission or ECU has been read and emailed to VAP? But before either has been reflashed?

I can read them this weekend, but can't install the pulley's yet.

 

@cujet yes. No issues driving after the read. Just can’t install tune files without pulleys and vice versa.

 

The MPVI3 - what VAP ships now - does disconnect the OBD session properly. What I did though was after reading the TCU file via the VCM Editor app, I then launched the VCM Scanner app (just to see what it does), in which one needs to 'Connect' to the car to read DTC codes, various parameters, etc. I clicked 'Disconnect' before removing the MPVI3. I did not test removing the device right after the VCM Editor step.