Hello, my dad bought his first audi, an 09 A4 2.0t drop top, and is really dissatisfied with the anemic power from the 2.0t. I have been tuning and modifying Mitsubishi's for years but have no experiance with Audi's, yet. What I am looking for is an extra 40hp with out sacrificing his factory warranty. If anyone has any suggestions as to an upgrade path I would greatly appreciate it. Anything that is undetectable to the dealer or easy reversed would be great. How do these cars respond to manual boost controllers? What is am acceptable boost limit on a factory fuel system? How does the ECM respond to the higher than stock boost levels? We were looking into a new ECM however, we don't want to hurt the factory warranty. I know on DSM's you get an extra 3-4psi of boost by removing a small plastic restrictor from the boost regulator, any suggestions for an A4?

Well, anyways any suggestions will be greatly appreciated and thanks for having me.

 

APR chip and K&N filter. APR chip can be programmed through your OBD port and you can turn it on and off via the cruise control stalk. jmo.

My dad also have the convertible and he says mine is always been peppier, even before the chip...I suspect it's the extra weight of the hardware for the top...also might be tranny, I don't think his is CVT.

 

Will the APR chip void the warranty? I try to stay away from K$N filters on MAS cars. I was building a 08 Sky Redline and had a K$N filter that was over oiled from the factory ruin a MAS. To chip these cars you have to send your ECM off don't you? Or is it a simple flash through your OBD II port? Don't really want to have to pull the computer and have the car down for a week, its his daily driver/only driver. The top definatly adds weight. I was surprised to find out it was a 3700lb car. No wonder 200hp isn't enough. What about increasing boost pressure? I saw a howto on a diode and boost controller install but wasn't sure if that would apply to an 09 a4. BTW, love the CVT transmission, so smooth and when you mash the go pedal the RPM's stay the put but the car keeps going faster and faster, very neat piece of technology

 

yeh, don't know anything of the boosting.

Everything I've read for years say the chip (APR at least) will not void the warranty, and the ability to turn it off before taking for service is added security for me. APR has a version that is uploadable, no removal of computer. APR dealer I took it to had it done in a lunch hour or so. The uploadable version is actually pretty sweet, you can have different profiles for different octane fuel, also a valet mode, restricting revs and speed, and a security mode as well.

I've heard of dudez over oiling their filters, but this my second car to run a KN on and I've never had any trouble.

Lot of guys hate the CVT on here, and to tell you the truth, I'm on my second after the first one blew up. They didn't have a stick on the lot when I got this, so I figured I'd give the 7 "speeds" and paddle shifters a try...it's a different kind of fun, and I like giving it about half throttle in "S" mode and hearing it seemingly endlessly ratchet through the "gears"

Sorry I can't offer opinion on the boost control, perhaps someone will chime in - you might try asking on the B8 section of the board.

 

I was looking over APR's web site and I gotta say, WOW. I have a dealer not too far from me, I think we'll give the 6hr test drive a try. I can't believe what they charge just to flash an ECM. I know this isn't Chevys and Fords, but at least you get to keep the programer for that price. What other simple mods do these cars respond to? What mods do you have done to your A4, and what did you do to trash a transmission? I'm not looking to build this car up at all, just bring the power to an acceptable level. If I can get another 40-50 hp with an ECM flash then that will be the only upgrade it ever gets.

 

yeh the APR one they flash in is NOT cheap... I never dyno'd mine, but I've always felt by the numbers that with the chip and then adding performance exhaust, I'll have no problem being over 250 from the stock rated 200.

Mines just out of warranty, so the real mods haven't begun yet...

Brakes are coming up due, so I'll probably put some bigger discs on the front...

When the control arm bushings go bad, I'll probably put some coilovers and lower it just a hair.

139mph according to the GPS

kidding, sort of...it was exhibiting some strange symptoms, then they found my bad cam follower, and I thought that remedied the symptoms and then a day or two later all 3 transmission cooling hoses ruptured at highway speeds, I thought it was computer related and tried to limp it home...I burned it up

They said they've only seen 2 other ruptures like that ever. Who knows? Last time I was in there, they said they had another one exhibiting the same symptoms and were still trying to figure it out

 

Thanks for all your input, I will be sure to put it to good use. I am slowly falling in love with Audi's, like I said before I come from a mitsubishi world. I am slowly realizing that Mitsu tuning is like a barbarian with a club and Audi tuning is like a surgen with a scaple.

 

sure thing - I just notice in another thread, someone quoted gains of 35hp with a 91 octane chip, and 45hp with 93 octane chip. Whether you go that way or not, I contend that it is the easiest and get the most HP gains for your dollar. best wishes.