chip or other to improve 01 2.8 throttle control?

The throttle control continues to be the one major (and I mean major) disappointment in my '01 A4 2.8. We've owned it now for most of a year, and put another 15,000 miles on it's original 13,000, and have had no solutions offered by the dealer service department. The car is still under extended warranty, but the dealer says there is nothing to fix! They think it's "normal". My wife and I agree that it's the worst throttle behavior of any of the 15 - 20 cars that we've owned over the years. We never know how the engine will respond, and have to "pussy-foot" the throttle, lest the engine decide to jump ahead, instead of delaying or starting smoothly (rare). No more "care-free" driving

Reply to
RapidRon
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How long ago did you take it to the dealer? There is a recall for reprogramming the transmission control module. I don't remember if it applies to your specific model year but its worth checking into. I'm guessing you have an automatic transmission? Has the throttle body been cleaned lately. They get sludge built up inside like no tomorrow. That really messes up the throttle response. They didn't find any fault codes in the computer? I wouldn't mess with any chips. Your asking for trouble if you add a chip to an already troubled computer.

Good Luck Chuck "RapidRon" wrote in message news:po2yd.169649$ snipped-for-privacy@twister.rdc-kc.rr.com... The throttle control continues to be the one major (and I mean major) disappointment in my '01 A4 2.8. We've owned it now for most of a year, and put another 15,000 miles on it's original 13,000, and have had no solutions offered by the dealer service department. The car is still under extended warranty, but the dealer says there is nothing to fix! They think it's "normal". My wife and I agree that it's the worst throttle behavior of any of the 15 - 20 cars that we've owned over the years. We never know how the engine will respond, and have to "pussy-foot" the throttle, lest the engine decide to jump ahead, instead of delaying or starting smoothly (rare). No more "care-free" driving

Reply to
Chuck

I've had it to the dealer twice in the last 6 months. I don't remember if they cleaned the throttle body. It seemed to help for about a day when they reset the computer. I couldn't get them to change anything or adjust anything, since they said the car was normal.

Yes, it's an automatic. They didn't say anything about reprogramming the tranny, but the main problem is starting up from a stop, even though it's not so great getting off and on the throttle in normal driving - but tolerable. This engine has classic no-low-end-torque, so the tranny does a lot of shifting. That, coupled with the erratic throttle, makes it hard to get a smooth ride. Passengers wonder why the driver is so jerky (so to speak).

Does anyone else in the group own an '01 2.8? Is yours smooth?

Ron

Reply to
RapidRon

I have a '00 A4 2.8 but it is the manual transmission. It has the 'drive by wire' and I find no problems whatsoever with jerkiness etc.

Hope this helps

Richard

Reply to
Richard Goulding

Thanks, Richard.

I thought that 2001 was the first year with the drive by wire throttle. Has yours had any service or adjustments?

Ron

Reply to
RapidRon

Mine is a 2000.5 B5 model manufacturered in 2000. So is the same car as yours I imagine as the B6 A4 didn't have a 2.8 engine choice in the range.

I am the second owner so do not know if any adjustments have been made. I have not had any problems in the 25,000 miles I have done in it. It doesn't feel any different to driving any other car throttle response wise.

Richard

Reply to
Richard Goulding

I have a 2001 2.8 A4 with Auto tranny. When we first got the car it seemed like there was a throttle response problem, but we were used to driving a benz which starts out in 2nd gear for an extremely smooth take-off. 1st gear on the A4 seems way too low for normal driving. You have to be really easy on the gas pedal to start smoothly in the A4. I've also been back to the dealer and was told this car performs as it should. He then drove it to show me how smooth he could make it accelerate. He was right and we finally got used to the low range 1st gear. I think you have a different problem and should find a diffferent dealer.

Reply to
Dennis Wyatt

I've tried for three years to love my Audis ('01 A4 2.8 and '01 A6 2.8), but I just finished the most uncomfortable 2100 mile trip in the A4 of any car I've ever had. And I have two questions. Why should I go through

2 quarts of oil? Why does this car rattle and vibrate more than my mother's '99 Oldsmobile Intrigue? Because it is overpriced and underbuilt.

I rode the same trip on a 650cc single cylinder motorcycle last summer and was more comfortable than in the A4. That is just sad. Both these cars go back to the dealer next summer, and we're done with Audis.

Reply to
Wayne Crannell

Mine is awful too. Dealer just gave me the blank stare.

Reply to
Wayne Crannell

Ron

A late response to an old thread perhaps but I was just wondering if you had resolved your TB issues? I seem to recall that AoA had recalls on TBs which may have included your 2.8. My 2000 2.8 has had some issues with its TB and as one other member suggested, you need to take it and the boot off for cleaning. If your idle is a little uneasy and hunts up and down, that's usually a good indication.

Since your car has little mileage in comparison to mine, you probably don't have to worry about carbon-buildup just yet but a heads up down the road. It's not an issue really, just a result of cold weather, rich running engines, and in my case short distance 'cold' drives. And AoA did have a service bulletin on that as well in the past..surprise/surprise. I brought my car to a Bosch Service Tech and had it motor-vaced to suck out the carbon. Much better....:)

As far as your auto/tip tranny goes, I upgraded my Transmission Control Module with an aftermarket version from GIAC. It basically remaps the shifting delays between gears from 1.0 second to 0.2 seconds. I'll tell you, for the 400 bucks one would pay for it, you'll be happy with money well spent.

I don't bother driving in auto mode, because it is a dog no matter what. Tip is the only way but no sub for manual.

Also, DBW versions of our cars started in the later part of 99-00.

Pete

Reply to
petenice00

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