azazello

Hi all!
I am looking into chipping my car (2001 a6 2.7T).
What are the options (manufacturers, configurations etc.)? I am a complete newbie there.
One thing that I definitely know is that I definitely don't want to void my warranty.

Comments, Suggestions, Questions are appreciated.

btme

If you DEFINITELY do not want to void your warranty, then DEFINITELY do not get a chip. In fact, if you actually read your warranty, you will discover that Audi has given you the heads up that if you chip, you can lose your warranty coverage. Numerous (hundreds) of posts have addressed this issue, and some chippers have had certain dealers honor their warranties even with chips, but others have had problems. However, keep in mind that it is Audi who ultimately pays for warranty work, and even a chip friendly dealer may be placed in a position of having Audi refuse to cover the dealers warranty work. In which case the dealer can either essentially work for free on chipped cars, or go along with Audi's position that a chip = no warranty. You can guess who loses on that one.
Alternatively, you can take the approach of some of our ethically challenged friends out there, and just swap out the chipped ECU with the stock one prior to bringing it in to the shop. A rather dubious, but undoubtedly effective approach.

Tweezer Reprise

Swap! Swap Swap!!!

eduardo

It depends on (1) your dealer, (2) AoA, (3) the nature of the damage, (4) other factors. It most likely will not depend on the chip.

Any well engineered chip (MTM, APR, GIAC, to name just the most popular) will not directly damage your engine. It will, though, increase torque significantly (from 250lbft to 340lbft or more, in the 2.7T) and also raise the cut off RPMs (from 6500 to about 7000).

Should this be reason enough to void your warranty? I don't think so, but what I find reasonable and what actually happens are frequently at odds.

Under normal driving conditions, a modern drivetrain will go at least 100K miles with no maintenance except for oil/filter change. With some rather minor maintenance (plugs, belts, etc.) it will go 200K miles or more before major repairs become necessary. Mere spirited driving may decrease these numbers only modestly, if at all. Truly abusive driving (e.g., racing), however, will change them dramatically: under racing conditions, even a completely unmodified engine will not last more than a few thousand miles without major repairs.

Your warranty covers maintenance and major repairs, not wear. And it covers it for 50K miles only. This is too short a distance for a healthy drivetrain to need any such repairs, chipped or not. If the drivetrain fails in less than 50K miles under anything less than racing conditions, something was wrong. Racing, of course, voids your warranty anyway.

Bollinger

Also note that swapping isn't yet a science on 2001's. It should be ironed out soon though.

The ECU throws a code every time power is interrupted to it. So swapping ECUs produces a code readable by the dealer which indicates something funny may have gone on. A VAGTool will let you clear this. APR's EMCS will let you clear this also, but only when you swap the APR ECU in, not when you remove it. Thus making the feature of dubious value.

pat o'malley

I have been happy with wetteraur chips, I have one in my a6 4.2 and a8. Chiptuning.com

Big D

ROCKS! and eduardo is right, if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. If you really want a chip, step up and take the gamble. I did and it was worth it. Your call, it COULD void your warranty and it COULD NOT. 50-50 baby, but 307hp and 366ft/lbs torque make the 2.7t into a very fun toy.

captainbilly

Audi surely will not void your entire warranty for having a chip. They may have a problem replacing blown turbo, clutch, tranny, etc. but they will still fix power windows, A/C, power seats, radio, etc. etc. Some other posters have mentioned swapping out the chipped ECU and installing a stock one when the car is serviced but this is not so simple on a 2001 with immobillizer III.

To swap ECUs on a 2001 you will need to get your immobilizer code from a dealer. Some of the chip companies will do this for you but the dealer may not and telling your dealer why you need the immobilizer code would surely defeat the purpose of ECU swapping in the first place. Once you have the immobilizer code you will need a VAG-COM to put the code into the new ECU before it will work. Then you should be able to swap the ECUs any time you need to.

As far as the ethical questions I have no absolute answers but here are some perspectives: If you believe that your chip damaged the car it would seem unfair to have AOA pay for the repair but there are cases where it would be questionable like blown TBBs or turbos on a 2000 or early 2001 which have known problems with the turbos (my unchipped 2000 blew 2 TBBs and the turbos and the clutch amoung other things). It is possible that AOA is cracking down on chipping because they had so many problems with the 2000 2.7t and S4 (same drivetrain) and they believe this was from chipping. I don't have any stats but I doubt that a very high percentage of owners chipped their cars and I believe that most of the problems on those cars were design issuse that have been resolved. Anyway, if you melt a piston I would say the chip probably did it and you should pay but the problem with letting Audi know that you are chipped is that they will blame everything on it.

I have told this story before but when I blew the turbos after a TBB tear the dealer tried to say it was my fault that the turbos blew because I didn't immediatly stop driving after the TBB tear. The only problem with the logic was that I had no way of knowing that I had blown a TBB. Then the dealer tried to claim that I damaged the car by driving it at a Quattro club driving school. Now even AOA didn't go along with that, but the point is that dealers can be really wary of doing any repair that they immagine that AOA won't repay them for so if you let them know you have "chipped" they are likely to blame the chip for things that it had nothing to do with.

Jack Orr

Steve, do I read you right that there is NO problem with regard to model yr '00, only with '01?

Bollinger

Since 2000's didn't have immobilizers (in the US), it wasn't a problem. A few early 2001s didn't have immobilizers either.

The problem on the 2001's will be fixed, probably by the end of the summer. They basically just need to hunker down and decode the immobilizer coding system.

Already MTM seems to have a handle on the immobilizer issue. If you put a VAGTool on your car and read out some info they can preconfigure your new ECU to match the old one, and then you can again swap them at will. APR hasn't reached this point yet.