Marakai

Hello,

I bought a 1997 A4 1.8T automatic (NOT tip), used, about 4 months back. For my own reasons I did not go for a new car, but I did buy it with the plan of chipping it ASAP (i.e. before the hot, thin summer air in Denver saps even a turbo's power).

From reading the forum I had gathered that for automatics the Garrett chips are very nice, somewhat better optimized, etc. Unfortunately, they seem to have some web site problems as I got a lot of dead links when trying to check them out. One strange thing was that the ECU table only listed 98-99 1.8Ts! Did they stop supporting 97s? I hope not.

My questions:
- Has anyone had experiences with my model car, chipped, around here in Denver? Altitude can do all sorts of strange things to engine performance - and maybe to chipping effects as well?
- It's hard to find any gas with octane >91 around here. Again, the altitude lets them get away with that, but will the new ECU mind? Or go bonkers?

Thanks for any info - and I hope it doesn't lead to rolling of eyes about a question on such an "old" model! :-)

Mike

SpecTTre

From my understanding, running more boost without increasing the octane of the fuel may result in detonation, bad thing for a 20V motor. Keep checking though, I am certainly not the authority on these matters.

cpayne

Go with MTM in Colorado...Larry at Champange Motors is great!

Marakai

... is that to be considered a problem?

I'm not that happy with the stock shifting of the automatic on my '97 - upgrading that chip sounds like a good idea. Garrett/AWE offers an upgrade, but I couldn't find one for APR.

Mike

AndyA6

I have a '98 tip and after getting the ECU back from Autothority I had the check engine light and some pinging (which is BAD). Through telephone and Email we couldn't figure out what the problem was so I sent it back and they changed something. I talked to Robin Laqui, he was very helpful!
FYI, I have a .8bar chip, you def feel a big difference in performance, I also installed a Forge DV and new BERU spark plugs and modified the airbox/new airfilter, there is a lot of info here and over at Vortex (VW) forum! Engine runs now very nice and smooth. BTW we have 91 gas here.