Hello All,
I have a GIAC Chip that came with my 01 - S4. I was going to get it installed and was told I should get the GIAC flas instead. Does anyone know the advantages/disadvantages of both. Thanks
Ben Diesel

 

ya a flash is what evryone or mostly evryone is using but the disadvantages of a soldered chip is that they can install it wrong and fry something
witha flash the program is reflashed and theres no internal wiring or soldering

 

Also with a flash you can alter the tune if you have the software and knowledge. A flash can be more on the custom tuned side. Chip < Flash

 

If you have a "chip" it's really old code. Everything is done threw flashing now. With a chip, your also stuck with that code, if you are flashed, you get free upgrades as they change the code. It's also nice if you want to add any of the other programs.

 

Definately do a flash. Every engine runs a little different. One program on a chip will not make all engines run perfect. I have been involved in the subaru seen and seen 5 cars all the same mods with up to 45 horsepower differences at the wheels. A great tuner can go in and change a few things here and there and smooth out the whole power band and make that car run very efficient. After these cars were tuned they were all within around 5-10 horsepower of eachother and a nice clean fuel trim and the horsepower and torque curves on the dyno were nice and smooth. I would say everyone should get a professional to dyno tune there car. you might be surprised what happens. And yes your computer does adjust for many things but it can only adjust so far. The only setback is that the flash will cost you and then a professional tune will cost quite a bit. You could call some local tuning shops and see what kind of setup they have for your car.

 

but will the flash give you the same hp and tq gains like the chip would?

 

In 1996 the united states changed the rules on the way the vehicle is monitored and controled as far as engine management and many other things were concerned. This was the change to obd2. With that all vehicles sold in the u.s. had to be equipped with and eeprom (electronically erasable programable read only memory) chip. everything could be erased and reflashed or uploaded back onto the chip just like a personal computer. Why there are different chips that have to be soldered in for these cars is beyond me. The aftermarket world has made reprogrammers for vehicles since 96 that you could change them back to stock if you wished. Does anyone know why This hasn't happened for these cars till lately? Is it atop secret program that the chip makers have that they want to keep confidential? Really when you buy a chip basicall they are taking a chip exactly like the one in the computer and flashing it and then soldering it in place. Lots of hoops to jump through. Unless Audi has top secret codes that were too difficult to bypass in order to change the programming and it was just simpler to make a whole new chip to solder in. Anyone have an idea on that?

 

Chips can NOT be flashed. They are ROM chips. The reason a lot of places did chip was to protect their code. There is usually a decoder board on the chip. This makes it so the code can not be copied. Like the eBay chips, they are just ripped code.

As I said, a chip will only have one program, & can not be changed.

GIAC still uses chips, my TCU has a chip with a decoder board.

Chip VS flash, have NOTHING to due with ODBII. In older cars, there was no flash rom, so there NEEDED to be a chip, with a flash rom ECU, you can , yes, flash the ECU instead of putting in a chip.

 

I figured it had to be the whole secret formula thing.

 

Thanks everybody,
I am looking at the GIAC flash program. It has four seperate settings. STOCK, PERFORMANCE, RACE, VALET and also a KILL function. www.giacusa.com Looks very good. Just have to decide if I start with the flash were do I stop.
Diesel