This Sunday afternoon around 7pm I decided to install my APR chip. I had purchased it when I only had about 1.5 -2k miles on the car and I have waited until now that I have 7400 or so.
Before I start the process and impressions..hereis what I have. I have a 1999.5 Casablanca White 1.8TQMS with Sports Seats, Bose, All Weather and Sunroof.

Please read the whole post before making conclusions...

Installations was really easy

To take out the cover over the ECU I just had to strip the rubber seal straight out towards the front of the car.
To take out the "bad" screw #5, I bent the plastic cover under wiper up a little, and I put in an 8mm with a ratchet and it came right out.
Other than that installation was 100% per the instructions.

I let the car sit on teh ON position for about 5 minutes.

What happened: (what went wrong)
The Stereo came on without a key when I connected the battery. (no need to input the code after disconnecting the battery)
The One Touch of the windows wasn't working\
I had loud pings around 2500-3000RPM on WOT
I noticed a weird clunking noise on the left rear as if the CD player was stuck trying to shuffle CDs. It was not teh CD Changer though.. it was either the brakes in the rear or something else maybe in the fuel tank. I had never heard that noise before
Upon first drive, the brakes smelt weird.. Maybe too much power butthey stopped great!

Impressions:
The car feels/felt awesome. The pull was amazing in 3rd and 4th.. It felt like a rocket.
I checked in the mirror and sure enough I had a grinn stuck on my face...

The pinging went away after a while... I hope I don't hear it again.
The One Touch up started to work again
The Stereo went back to normal.

APR made a great chip. The power distribution is amazing. I have never driven other chips so no I cant compare, but I liked what I got out of the APR which allowed me for an extra ECU.

I will run the car on the 1/4 mile with both chips and post results someday hopefully soon

Dimitri

===
99.5 1.8TQMS (APR & K&N)

nt

nt

My radio required the code to be put in.
The one-touch windows, once reset were working immediately.
We heard no pinging or any other sort of noise once installed.
All in all, installation was a breeze.

See above post...

Installed my APR chip on friday morning in my 99.5 1.8TQMS and also didn't have to put in my radio code. Also experinced the one touch operation of the power windows not working. The started to work again, once i swiched the child-safty on and off.

Does anyone know what other functions of the car are controlled by the ECU? I had the impressin that it only was a control unit for the engine!

Although i live in SoCal, I did not hear any pinging. I am thinking of putting some 100 octane racing fuel in the car for the really hot days!

Did any of you notice a noise during full acceleration, coming from the front/engine compartment? I first thought it is some air coming out the air vents inside the car but now, after driving for 150 miles, i think its something else. anyone an idea?

Patrik

good to read all the detailed reports of what happens after disconnecting the battery.
I'm wondering if anyone who has Tiptronic and disconnected the battery to chip (or for any other purpose) could report on any effects on the auto trans shifting.
I'd like to know what, if any, shift functions were lost. A recent thread here included a page from the a4 shop manual warning that VAG resetting would be necessary to restore full Tip functions after a battery disconnect/reconnect.
Link to thread below.
Lewis
98.5 1.8T QSTip<ul><li><a href="http://www.a4.org/forum/m/a4/154868.phtml">Link to A4.Org thread on Tip function loss after battery disconnect.</a></li></ul>

It is not a high pitch noise.

My theory at this point is that it could be the wastegate opening up later (!?!).

It kindof sounds line an air rush through the ventialtion, like in a carwash at the end when the dry your car with the air blower and some of the air is forced into the cabin. But it is not the air vent. I remember reading about this before but i was not interested b/c i was not into chipping!

Patrik

We actually did this twice. We removed the stock and put in the APR ecu. We then removed the APR and put back the stock ecu for more testing. Both times, we disconnected the battery and Audiboy and attest to this, nothing happened!! Shifting was as normal as before and there was no need for us to do any VAG resetting.

I even called Audi and asked a tech about this. He confirmed that there is no VAG resetting after the battery is disconnected on a TIPTRONIC vehicle. Rest assured, Audiboy and I did this twice and will most likely do it again a couple more times to continue testing.

>The Stereo came on without a key when I connected the battery. (no need to input the
> code after disconnecting the battery)

The lock-out is not enabled by default - ask your dealer about it.

>The One Touch of the windows wasn't working\

Normal when you disconnect the battery. The manual explains how to fix it.
(you need to hold the button up for a few seconds)

> I had loud pings around 2500-3000RPM on WOT

Never had pinging fortunately. Be glad it went away.

> I noticed a weird clunking noise on the left rear as if the CD player was stuck trying to
> shuffle CDs. It was not teh CD Changer though.. it was either the brakes in the rear or
> something else maybe in the fuel tank. I had never heard that noise before

Maybe you now drive the car without the radio on so that you can hear any pinging,
turbo noise or whatever ? Mght explain why you did not hear the noise before.

> Upon first drive, the brakes smelt weird.. Maybe too much power butthey stopped
> great!

I have the smell all the time, after going up a steep mountain (5 miles at 65 mph avg).
No braking, do have to downshift to third for two corners and floor it to get uphill.
Once home I leave the car running idle for a few minutes. Always notice the smell
from the exhaust then.

Steve N.

99.5 1.8qtms APRd