New to the forum...I'm buying a Certified 02' S4 soon and wanted to chip it either with GIAC or APR. Thing is I want to pick up a spare stock ECU incase I wear out the Turbos, mess up drivetrain, etc... Wanted to know if anybody knows how difficult it is to swap out the ECU's. Is it pretty much plug and play or do I need to take it somewhere to get done? Also need some advice on which chip I should put in the car, GIAC or APR? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys...

 

ly bought my S4, so I am still new to this as well but it seems like most people are going with the GIAC chip. and if you look up the link posted it gives you removal instructions. I am just curious where you found a CPO S4 looked over most of America for three months and couldn't get my hands on one. Anyway the ECU swap looks easy.Good luck
http://www.hoppenmotorsport.com/s4stage1.htm

 

Haha you are going to get soo much sh** for that question. I guess I'll get this out of the way, you are going to be told to do a search and that it is posted about every other day.
Anyways, I am also trying to choose between the two. APR is supposed to be more drivable but still add incredible power. GIAC is more "aggressive". A lot of people say that GIAC will out run an APR S4 but it will still be pretty close. With this power from GIAC comes decreased life of your turbos, which is my only deterrent (someone please convince me otherwise). It is easier to switch programs with APR(through cruse control) while GIAC has the flash loader, which is still apparently pretty simple.
APR is the lockout mode, but I think APR might still leave fingerprints while GIAC is free of "evidence" if you switch out, but I’m not completely sure. That is all I can really think of now, hope it helps.

 

Oh, superdug, I also just purchased a CPO S4. So they are out there, you just have to look and possibly be willing to shell out the extra money for it.

 

Swapping out the ECU's is pretty easy. It's just a few screws and the cover for the ECU pops off. You can find the ECU box in the engine bay on the drivers side by the window.

 

Thats cool maybe I didn't look in the right places. I found t y 2001 with less then 28,000 miles on it so I figuered it was as close to new as I could get without owning a cpo.

 

rusty... talk you out of this.. sure.. just get k04's

removing chip is easy.. just like jestonen said. I would say GIAC myself. I have a hard time believing its going to be harder on teh turbos than apr's but either one im sure youll enjoy.

 

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm going GIAC.

Sooks, sure! Could you just have them shipped to my door as soon as possible? Thanks.