Hy Octane

Spent a good hour driving around with the regional rep. Stan Ford..Nice guy. After showing him the tip tricks, he agrees that there is some exaggeration of the slipage in the torque converter but says its not the transmission, its the software that controls it. He basically says that while the mechanical function of the tranny is ok the symptoms I am experiencing are due to a reworking of the software for the 03's. There were some changes made for 03 to adddress a shunting that happened on the 01-02's that caused harsh gear changes during certain conditions. he also noted that I am more in touch with the functions of the car than the average driver and therefore my driving style ( tip mode only- agressive) tends to exaggerate these symptoms. he then drove the car and it did slip in a few instances but he says thats withing the software parameters for 03. I asked If we could go back to the 02 TCU and he said its not compatable. Now get this..
He suggested that I chip the car. Thats right! he said that I should be able to tighten up the shifting and the slippage as the clutch/torque converter lockup function is controlled by the software and not any internal mechanisms ( what he meant is that the tranny is operating to spec and if there were a problem it would have shown up during a sensor check). So, he sais to make sure whoever chips it can guarantee it will address these symptoms. He also said to chip the engine at the same time.. I asked about the warranty and he said unless the failure can be traced directly to the chip itself, there is no warranty voided.

Basically, the software is designed for comfort and less aggressive styles than mine.. so the average joe wouldnt care about this slippage and he showed me how changing driving habits eiminated (almost) the slips by driving in d mode the engne would downshift instead of staying in the same gear and slipping.
Since I dont want to change my style it looks like now that the car has a clean bill of health from Audi, I can proceed and let the 'chips' fall where they may.

TRed 2.7T

Call me cautious, but I would get that in writing.

April

very much ;-)

Potomac-Greg

Also, if you ever get the letter from Stan Ford, please share it with us!

2.7Twin

Get that in writing! Have him send you an e-mail or something with that suggestion.

April

Remember people, that Hy Octane drives a 4.2 !

rally

Stan just got his pink slip

stell1

I wonder if he would have said the same thing if it was a 2.7T.

Inocent Bystndr

both the D&S mode. Not consistent, but sometimes revs go way up with little increase in power. I'm glad he opened the door on chipping, but I'm probably not going to do that. Some of his story sounds like a little smooth talking to customers...the old "it's designed to do that" dodge. I'm bringing mine in next week. Maybe my problem is unrelated and some codes will show up.

Hy Octane

and not the cause of the slippage. I didnt want to have a tip chip exaggerate a mechanical problem to becoma a falure.. If its the software then what are your choices? If there was a mechanical fault I would fight to have it replaced.. but the software is something that I can adjust without having to rely on Audi to decide to make a change someday.