My son's 2000 S4 was showing an EGT short to ground fault on bank 1 (on VCDS scan only -- no check engine light). Following advice I had read elsewhere, we unplugged the offending EGT module (passenger side of engine), pried back the wire boots on the two EGT plugs coming from the ECU, and ran a jumper wire from pin 1 of one connector to pin 1 of the other. Works like a champ -- no more error code, and no holdback on hard acceleration.

The jumper wire feeds the PWM square wave signal from the good EGT sensor module to both inputs of the ECU, thereby fooling it into thinking that both sensors are working and both banks are at the same temperature. The alternatives are spending $500 for a pair of new EGT sensor modules or having a tuner reflash the ECU to ignore the EGT inputs.