The Red October

I'm stock, never been chipped, with about 22K miles. I have been having a hard time getting smooth acceleration while shifting lately, especially in the lower gears... I didn't think the TT BPV would make much of a difference because I was never chipped, but for $35 bucks it was worth a shot.

It made a BIG difference. I used to hear a wooshing sound when giving WOT at low RPMS(~2000) in all the gears... That is gone now, all I can hear is the turbo spooling. Boost seems to be stronger, I can't confirm because I have no boost gauge. The car pulls harder and longer in second and third gears for sure!

However, I still feel some very slight surging(passengers probably wouldn't notice it) when accelerating hard, noticeable most in 3rd, 4th, and 5th. Is this just a typical trait of the 1.8T? Does the ECU have to adapt to the increased boost that the new valve holds? Or will it just never be as smooth as a V6 or V8?

For those that have replaced their BPV, how did you reclamp the vacuum line? Did you just slide it off then slide it back on?

OneEighth

make sure you buy a 2nd one as back up...

while others have ran one for a long time..

Joe N.

you never know where you might have a leak, especially as the car gets older - and you might have a leak, but I don't think that will make you surge in your higher gears; you would just be robbed of power. Maybe you have a clogged fuel filter. Somewhat of a possibility is a dirty air filter element. I had stuttering on the low end in my higher gears on my old cars b/c of a dirty air filter. Also check your plugs, as when your car is under load, bad plugs could be the culprit

ScottAW

Yes, re-clamed the vacuum line. It's not worth the risk of it falling off.

On my stock '01 I noticed a big difference too - gone was the surging and rough acceleration curve.

But you are right, it's still not smooth. Two things still are a PITA. First is the DBW, it's just not sensitive enough, whether the sensors resolution isn't fine enough or the computer logic is screwy - not sure. The second thing is the variable valve timing and the computer logic for that. Just isn't smooth like the pre-DBW's and pre-VVT's were. 99.5 was the best year to get an A4 IMO... :-)

ScottAW

For only 30 bucks, I'll see if it's bad or not. If not, well then I know I just got used to the car and am more picky now and picking up on the finer "details". :-)

Greyhound Guy

my TT valve seems to be working still.

ScottAW

Plus I've been so busy with two grad. classes, work, and trying to maintain a house & lawn that I haven't had much time for car-stuff... except for the weekly wash.