Hey everyone,

I know this sounds like a redundant post but I wanted to let y'all know what I had done to my car and how it's impacted the way I drive. Last Tuesday, I had the car reflashed with Chris Tapp's Eurodyne Software by the man himself lol. When he flashed it, he told me that it is now misfiring and this was probably due to an older version of the coilpacks which cannot handle the new load that's being placed on them. He even offered to reflash it back to stock until he could get the new coilpacks in and replace them but I told him to leave it and I'd take care of it myself.

Here's where it gets interesting.... Sure enough, on my way home, the engine was misfiring and so I zipped over to the Dealership to pick up A coilpack. After giving it some thought and seeing the price (42.50 vs. Tapp's price of 40.00 Canadian) I decided "what the hell" and bought all four coilpacks to start fresh. When I got home I popped the hood and removed the old coilpacks which will now serve as backups, and installed the new ones. Took the car for a quick spin and the misfiring was gone, GREAT! Just to take it one step further I remember reading that once you've chipped an A4, you need to regap the plugs freom their stock .032 to a closer .028. So out came the plugs. When I checked the gapping I was amazed to find that they were no longer gapped at .032 but far far closer. They were all gapped closer then .025 -weird......... the plugs looked fine with light brown residue indicating normal wear so I regapped them to .028 and reinstalled them without a hitch. So far the car runs beautifully.

The changes I've noticed are that the turbo kicks in RIGHT away when I press the gas and MAN WHAT A KICK! It actually makes the car feel light, like it's gonna take off lol. Anyway's, along with this new kick come greater fuel consumption, FAR GREATER. I did some long distance road tests and found that the chip will not effect fuel economy IF I drive conservatively. If I'm constantly gunning the engine and launching off the start looking for a race, my fuel economy drops tremendously so now I'm relearning the gas pedal and altering my driving habits to once again make the car take off slowly and smoothly from a dead start.

Overall, I like the new found power my car has and I'm glad I made the mod but for the sake of fuel savings, I think I'll stop there and perhaps add a borla exhaust to allow the car to breathe better and thus save a bit more on gas. Chris Tapp recommended I have 380cc injectors installed to unleash the true power of the reflash but with all things considered (how the car runs now, and with the price of gas and all) I think I'll stick with what I have for now.

Someone who had their car chipped once said that this is how the car should have come straight out of the factory but I now understand why Audi chose NOT to do this.

[ul][*]It eats up allot of gas which looks bad on the brochure[*]It's a more violent and sportier ride[*]The feel of the car isn't appealing to Audi's target clientele (Rich fuddy duddies who prefer the prestige of owning an Audiand don't give a $hit about that fact that their car CAN go much faster)[/ul]

I now I have just one question to ask.... Is it normal for the gap of the plugs to get smaller and smaller as time passes?


Lastly, if you're considering getting your car chipped as the first modification I'd say DO IT. It adds to the fun you can have with your B6 but just a heads up. Expect to do the following:

[ul][*]regap your existing plugs or replace them (don't forget to gapp them before insalling)[*]change your oil if you have not done so in a few months just to be sure the turbo is getting enough good clean oil as it is now working harder.[*]replace either the coilpacks that will fail as a result of the added load OR do like me and just replace ALL of them for some peace of mind.[/ul]

Cheers

Pablo

 

Good post. Thats helpful to the guys (like me) who are running bone stock and are curious about chipping. I'm still in factory bumper to bumper, so after thats up, I'm definitely chipping it.

 

So here is a newb question just to clear things up. On B5 models, do you also need to replace the coil packs after chipping? and did you replace your coil packs with just newer oem ones?

 

Uhhh this is a B6 Forum GO AWAY!!!

Just kidding, B5's should be the same with regards to chipping. New plugs and coilpacks are never a bad thing and I'd highly recommend doing it after chipping as a pre-emptive measure. Also, like I said, I got the coilpacks at the dealership so YES they are OEM but the upgraded version so you should be getting the same for your B5.

 

My old roommate explained the turbo thing to me, chipping it runs the turbo at what it was meant to run at, and that (he may have been talking about oil cooled or something, he drives a WRX STi) it actually helps the turbo by letting iit get up to full speed and thus full cooling. He also said that overseas the WRX STi is run stock at much higher boost levels, and that it got turned down for emissions or something stupid like that for stupid American stupid emissions regulations. Very stupid if you ask me. I'm curious if this is the case for all turbos or just the style used in WRX STis...

But as far as I know, the turbo would be working harder but it would also be cooling better. Someone, anyone, correct me, as I'm not sure about our K03(s) turbos.

 

some similar problem with my subaru wrx sti