Hello everyone and Happy Holidays!<p>Well,one of the worst things that can happen to an<br>Audi owner has just happened to me. I HAD to tell<br>my dealer that I have a modified part in my car.<br>Now my baby is marked forever on her health record<br>and the dealer is stating that they will not HONOR<br>any problems related to the drivetrain. (Oh, my <br>Goodness!!)<p>It went like this, a few days ago I started the<br>engine one morning and she ran very rough and the <br>check engine lamp came on and stayed on. It has <br>been cold out lately, about 40's overnight. She <br>sleeps in an enclosed garage though. I assumed <br>that it may be the fuel injectors again. I just <br>had them changed under warranty this past March. I <br>changed the ECU with the Hoppen upgrade October <br>1997. The car ran with much more athority since <br>the ECU was changed, but she always had a few <br>quirks that I did not like.(More on that later on)<p>When the dealer called me up to pick up the car, <br>he told me I had a bad ECU and needed to have it<br>replaced under warranty and the job was already<br>done, no charge. Well, this would not be an issue<br>if I had a stock ECU in the car. But I did not!<br>Keep this in mind should you want to bring your<br>car to the dealer and you cannot simply return<br>your ECU to stock (with the exception of WETT's<br>socketed design. Although you would loose the <br>entire ECU and the Eprom socket in the event of <br>a swap out) This situation forced me to tell the<br>service advisor that the old ECU was a modified<br>part and since they claimed that was the problem,<br>I had to take this up with Hoppen Motorsports. Now<br>I did it and opened up a can of worms. My dealer<br>says that in order to swap back the removed ECU<br>and reset the system computers (B.S.?) I had to <br>pay $300 labor. I had to pull some teeth to get<br>them to reduce the charges down to $250! Now my <br>baby is being held hostage by my dealer. <p>I hopped on the phone and contacted Mike Hoppen <br>and explained what the dealer found to him. He <br>stated that there was NO WAY that the modification<br>can go bad and that the problem may be in the ECU<br>but it is not warranted by Hoppen Motorsports. Now<br>keep this info in mind fellow Audi fans, "Only the<br>SOFTWARE in the ECU, is under any warranty by <br>Hoppen Motorsports." You would have to prove that <br>the SOFTWARE CODES went bad. Huh? Now if a diode<br>or transistor went bad in your ECU, tough luck. It<br>wasn't bad software codes that stopped your car. <p>Now you have a choice to make big guy, do you let<br>your friendly Audi dealer swap out your ECU with<br>a run-of-the-mill 150HP one and don't say anything<br>about your investment. Or battle it out with the<br>company who now claims the software isn't the <br>problem. Or buy a new ECU at $1500 a pop. Make a<br>choice soon, because the service advisor is now<br>starting get suspicous of your actions or lack of.<p>I told my service advisor to give me back my old<br>Hoppen ECU. So now I pay the price for tinkering<br>with my Audi. We all want to give our cars a soul<br>that is different, better if you will, than what<br>is delivered from the factory, but at what price.<p>If anyone has been in my shoes, please share your<br>experience or how you resolved any potential <br>future warranty issues. Keep in mind that the ECU<br>is part of the 7 year/70k mi emissions coverage.<p>I am currently driving my car with the Hoppen ECU<br>upgrade in place, and hoping that whatever <br>triggered the Check Engine lamp does not come back<br>for the dealer will not cover my ECU repairs. Hope<br>one of you out there has a solution. Also, I was <br>informed by my dealer that the early ECUs in the<br>1.8t have been revised by the factory and that the<br>newer ones are not as sensitive to error codes. If<br>this is so, those of you with earlier ECUs maybe<br>facing a similar situation as I did. Which ones<br>are earlier ones? Sorry, I do not have that info.<br>Anyone know? I cannot possibly be the first person<br>who has gone through this, so share some info with<br>me folks.<p>"Frustrated and Stuck"<br>Adam T.<br>97 1.8t Q/S manual<p>P.S. who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and<br>has the same Hoppen upgrade in your car? Contact<br>me, I like to compare some drivabilty notes.<p>

 

You wanna play,you gotta pay...nt

 

When you bring your car to a dealer with a complaint (upgrade related or not) the dealer is <br>in a challenging position: he must determine what is causing your problem and, if a component seems defective, Audi pays him for the diagnosis and replacing the component. Audi requires the dealer to RETURN all defective components to them; they test most components (ALL electrical/ECU). If the component shows functioning properly, they RETURN IT to the dealer and they CHARGE HIM BACK for the ENTIRE REPAIR (labor,diag.,etc.). Now, let's say your car is now functioning properly; what if your dealer called you and said,"Audi says your ____ is perfectly fine, and won't pay me for it, so stop by so we can throw this one back in your car!" Think about it. If your upgraded ECU gets back to AoA, not only do they rain cinderblocks on your dealer, they WILL block ANY powertrain or electrical repair claims submitted under your VIN number. First dealer gets shafted, you go to another with a powertrain/elec. problem, he fixes it, you go on your merry way, Audi doesn't pay the claim, and so on. IT HAPPENS. Your dealer doesn't give a F#@* if you chip your car; he only wants Audi to reimburse him for maintaining/fixing your car. Unfortunately, the system is designed so that THE DEALER has to be the "modification cop" to protect himself against serious financial harm.<br>Think about it.

 

Why didnt you just keep your mouth shut, take the new ECU, AND KEEP YOUR WARRANTY, and get a new chip? You couldve tried one of those (dare I say it) Neuspeed chips for like $199.99 or whatever. Thats less than the $250 you are paying to lose your warranty. SM<br>

 

At least we have Wett chips so all we would need to do is get the new ECU "resocketed"!<br>How's that K04 running?<p>Dave<br>'97 1.8TQMS wett, eibach/koni<p><br>

 

Ray Thursby in the December '98 issue of european car does a nice little editorial on "chips" and other hop ups...including suspension. I built two race cars...one was stock but blue printed and balanced...the other was high compression, big carbs, light fly wheel and clutch, etc, etc. The basically stock but blue printed and balanced motor was raced for two and a half years by me and three years more by the next owner. And was a consistent winner in class. The big "hot" motor let go in it's third race. But that's racing at the limit as anyone in Indy Cars of F1 will point out. When you start to push one element in a design, you put strain on all the elements. Before people start adding horsepower they should consider a driving school. It's mazing how much faster 30 mph feels with a racing suspension but it's still only 30 mph. But on real world roads, often the "stiff" suspension is the slower way to go. Read the european car article before you try to out guess the folks who designed and engineered your cars. <br>

 

TELL your dealer before you chip and see what they wiil do: better yet get a dealer who will perform mods thmselves yet keep the warranty intact.

 

Which quirks does your MTM ECU has that you don't like?

 

nt<br>

 

nt<br>