[s-cars] [NurSC] Optimized garret chip... should I be scared

Fri Dec 5 20:17:31 PST 2008

Have you run a carfax?  How many owners?  Unless he is the original owner, I
wouldn't be surprised if the car was chipped before and/or has undergone a
turbo replacement at some point.  I have seen plenty of cars that the owner
claims were "never chipped" but if you pull the shield at the back of the
engine bay and feel around the ecu box, you'll find the back bolt isn't
reinstalled or other signs of ecu swapping within the tray.  If you have the
carfax, you can call the audi dealerships where the vehicle was serviced and
get them to fax you the full service history on the vehicle from each
location.  I've had two 2.7tt's and zero turbo failures, but I've always run
a turbo timer and/or the lower temp sensor for the after-run coolant pump.
I also don't rag on the car when it's cold or shut it down immediately after
running full boost.

ymmv,
Andrew

On Fri, Dec 5, 2008 at 11:08 PM, Vincent Fregeac <vfregeac at gmail.com> wrote:

>  AFAIK, the car's still running on the original turbos and he didn't
> mention any upgrade in the engine bay beside the chip, so probably no
> upgraded oil lines. The car has 80Kmiles but the chip has been installed in
> April this year, so I would say a maximum of 10Kmiles on the chip.
>
>
>
> Anyway, it seems turbos are things to seriously look at. Beside taking the
> hoses off to check the play in the turbine axle, any other way to check them
> more in depth than listening to whine at WOT in 3rd?
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Vincent
>
>
>  ------------------------------
>
> *De :* Theodore Chen [mailto:tedebearp at yahoo.com]
> *Envoyé :* 5 décembre 2008 20:29
> *À :* Vincent Fregeac; Andrew Beckert
>
> *Cc :* s-car-list
> *Objet :* Re: [s-cars] [NurSC] Optimized garret chip... should I be scared
>
>
>
> is this car running the stock K03s?  how many miles on the car?  how many
> miles with the chip?  were the oil lines updated?  even with updated oil
> lines, that's no guarantee the turbos will survive.
>
> i have an '01 S4 avant w/tiptronic that had the revised oil lines, and it
> needed new turbos at 50k miles.  it had a chip (not for very long) and
> nothing else.  i had new K04s installed, and am running the AWE stage 1
> chip, no other mods.  i was told the stock bypass valves weren't leaking, so
> they're still in there.  i've been meaning to upgrade the injectors and get
> a revised program to take advantage of the K04s, but it appears the
> tiptronic would likely be the next thing to go, so i've refrained from doing
> anything.
>
>
>  ------------------------------
>
> *From:* Vincent Fregeac <vfregeac at gmail.com>
> *To:* Andrew Beckert <abeckert at gmail.com>
> *Cc:* s-car-list <s-car-list at audifans.com>
> *Sent:* Friday, December 5, 2008 3:58:48 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [s-cars] [NurSC] Optimized garret chip... should I be
> scared
>
> HI Andrew,
>
>
>
> Thanks for the detailed input on Garretts. The BPV problem has already been
> taken care of with an aftermarket ones. So, it seems the guy kind of knew
> what he was doing.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Vincent.
>
>   _____
>
> De : Andrew Beckert [mailto:abeckert at gmail.com]
> Envoyé : 5 décembre 2008 18:41
> À : Vincent Fregeac
> Cc : s-car-list
> Objet : Re: [s-cars] [NurSC] Optimized garret chip... should I be scared
>
>
>
> garrett is Garrett Integrated Automotive Corp aka GIAC, as sold by
> AWE-tuning and tons of other places.  One of the top chipsets alongside APR
> for the 2.7TT.  The custom tune is perfectly normal and 337hp is about
> right
> for an S4 with chip/exhaust combo.  He could also be making slightly more
> power if the car was tuned for 94 octane, so you will probably be down on
> power a bit with 91 (310ish).  Stock hoses on these cars do just fine.  The
> throttle body boot used to rip before Audi started using a revised clamp.
> I
> would be more concerned about the bpv's and swapping to 710n's or something
> aftermarket would be a better investment than a full samco hose kit.
>
> Andrew
>
> On 12/5/08, Vincent Fregeac <vfregeac at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
>
>
> Tomorrow morning, I'm going to test drive, and may be buy a 2000 S4TT with
> an < optimized > garret chip. Basically, the owner installed a garret chip,
> brought the car to a guy specialized in VAG turbo engine, and had it
> custom-mapped. Resulting output: an estimated 337hp calculated from
> acceleration before-after the custom-map. The car is tempting since it
> comes
> with real RS4 wheels (plus a set of 16" Audi mags for winter), a custom
> cat-back double-2.5" exhaust (I hope it doesn't sound too ricy) and is told
> to be immaculate except for the driver carpet (The owner must be some kind
> of AR to mention_that_).
>
>
>
> I don't know about garret chips, but I know some chips, like TAP, are not
> really nice to the engine. Should I be worried about garrets?
>
>
>
> On the plus side, the guy has a full log book, including gas receipt,
> always
> filled his S4 with 94 octane (there's may be one gas station out of 20 that
> carry 94 around here, super is 91 usually), and still has the log book of
> his previous car ( a Golf 1.8T) that run 2 years on an chip optimized by
> the
> same specialist. Also, he just bought a new V8 S4 so the reason he sells
> the
> car _may_ not be he ruined the engine, the turbos and everything inbetween.
>
>
>
> I know I'm in for a Samco set (the fact that he didn't blow off the stock
> intake hoses with a 337hp chip already tells he was not really "using" his
> chip), and a reinforced intake V.
>
>
>
> The questions are:
>
> -          What should I look for signs the engine didn't like the 337hp
> custom map?
>
> -          The owner said the engine was pushed to 337hp by enriching the
> air/gas mix at high hps to protect the internals. It sounds weird to me as
> a
> 35% hp increase is usually beyond the capability of stock injectors, even
> more if you plan to run rich (but I know almost nothing about the 2.7T
> injectors capabilities). So, is there any truth in this?
>
> -          What should I plan as safety mods if I want to keep the 337hp
> custom-mapped chip?
>
> -          The chip was installed in April. Is 8 months enough to ruin an
> engine or turbos with 337 hp?
>
>
>
> In case you ask: Yes, I plan to chat with the specialist who custom-mapped
> the chip before I make my final decision to see if what he tells me sounds
> "reasonable".
>
>
>
> TIA.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Vincent who may feel a little less slow despite the new urR8 LMS F
>
>
>
> P.S.: Sorry for the WOB about an S4TT but I trust you guys much more than
> the AW forums
>
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