OC.t TCU Install and Review

[Jester B]

Well I decided it was a nice night last night, garage was reasonably warm, so I decided to install my tip-chip in my 2001.5 S4. When I bought the car in December, it came with a spare TCU with OC.t programming and a spare ECU, again with OC.t programming and I have been running stock all this time.

Overall, following the instructions I found on AW, changing out the box took no more than 15 minutes start to finish. I have to be honest, I don't really notice that much difference. I spend most of the time in manual mode, so the "accelerated kick-down" isn't really a factor for me. Shifts may be a bit smoother, but I don't notice that much different. The other "benefit" I'm supposed to get from it is to have it reduce hunting / surging with modified ECU programming. I'm still running stock on that front, so again not seeing a benefit.

What I was REALLY hoping to see for a change was to stop the quick-shift into 2nd unless I've got the gas pedal matted. Subsequent research has since informed me that this is a VAG issue, not a TCU issue. So, I may be looking for some help over the weekend...

Maybe I'll do the ECU tonight and have a new report tomorrow.

[Jester B]

Re: OC.t TCU Install and Review

Well, I did do the install of the ECU the next day as I had thought. I've been enjoying the added power and find that 4k rpm brings about an entire new world of joy and bliss.

Both the TCU and ECU were sold to me as part of the deal when I bought the car and are from OC.t. I don't have the final numbers, but I do know bhp is still under 3. The previous owner didn't want a chip with the higher power/torque that is normally run with the 6spd. A bit more cautious with the tip tranny, and I'm ok with that.

Driveability is phenomenal and I love the passing power on the highway. Took a road trip out 1A a few weekends ago and passing wasn't even an afterthought. The toughest part was to not bury my foot in it every chance I had.

My only outstanding complaint with the TCU is the quick shift out of 1st. I'll have to hit someone up for a VAG-COM adjustment to fix that some time.

No major plans for the next mod, but the list is becoming...HID's and a new shift-knob from Jordan (great looking stuff!).

[The_Jerbel]

Re: OC.t TCU Install and Review

Hey Jeff,
I talked to my friend about the tip knob, he is going to look into the mechanism of the tip knob and get back to me with an answer about whether or not he can do it. If not, you could always do the SPP tip mod, as was suggested earlier.

Also, after you left the other day I was kicking myself for not remembering to VAG your car while you were here! I can VAG your car for you and clear any codes whenever you want. Also, if you want to see the 55W HID's I just installed on my car to help you decide which kit you want to go with, that would be fine too.

Crappy thing is that I just FUBAR'd my tranny (the 1-2 shift collar and the 1st and 2nd gear synchros finally gave up after 8k km's of stage 3 powa and 263k km's on the clock! I'm rebuilding the tranny myself, so that will probably take a couple weeks by the time I get the parts shipped here and everything.
Anyways, glad to here your car is still running well!