Planning 1999.5 1.8T purchase.<p>Chipping sounds enticing, but ...<br>no one comes right out and says that it voids your warranty, but I suspect that it does.<p>How risky is the chipping anyway -- what kind of problems could develop with your engine due to that type of modification, and does it really ever happen? Are some chips better than others, how does chipping really work, do significant engine parameters change (e.g. temperature, oil pressure, strain on parts, etc.) Could you just remove it and reinstall stock ECU if you wanted warranty coverage for engine problems?

 

<br>There are certainly some posters who know a lot about chips and chipping (more than me, haven't done it yet but will after first oil change). Suggest you search archives (opening page) under chips.<p>Techically, a chip is only supposed to void a warranty repair on a part that fails because of the chip. In other words, if your control arms fail and need replacement, Audi would have a tough time denying that repair. But if your turbo goes (and this doesn't happen any more to chipped A4s than non-chipped, I've read), Audi would have case to deny repairs based on the ECU modification. But this is assuming they know about it.<p>Some dealers are more chip friendly than others. Where I got my '99 1.8Tqms, the service manager gave me the ole' wink and a nod and said "keep it under 200 horsepower or less, and everything will be OK." <p>Here's the way I look at it. The 1.8T is detuned for this market. I believe the engine is totally capable of handling a stage 1 chip upgrade (these are dealer-sanctioned options in some parts of Europe). If something goes wrong and Audi is able to deny my claim, I'll bitch till I'm blue in the face and just pay for it myself. If you chip, you have to be willing to assume a small amount of risk on these matters.<p>Good luck. The 1.8T is a great car and a greater car (or so I've read) when it has the horsepower and torque it ought to have from the factory.<p>BDW