jweber93

I was heading home tonight from San Francisco from a night of fun when the trouble started. I was going 65 on the Bay Bridge when I felt a jolt from my '00 A4. I thought for a second that it was a bump, but then noticed that I had lost total power. The computer in the console started flashing red, along with the check engine light, and then the oil light came on. To top it all off, I started to hear beeping coming from the console. I had to come to a complete stop in the 3rd lane of the Bay Bridge to assess the situation. I noticed I couldn't move at all, so I turned the engine off. I tried for fun to restart the car and was able to start it successfully. I quickly moved over to the right lane and prayed that I could limp along off of the bridge. Everything seemed "normal" until about a mile further (but off of the bridge) when I lost power again, the console flashed, and I was stuck again on the freeway. This time I took no more chances, and called Roadside Assistance. The car refused to start after that.

Anyone have a clue what could be up? I'm thinking it might be the tranny since I felt the jolt and couldn't go anywhere after that. But what's weird is that I wasn't able to turn the car back over after the second incident. I'm really worried about potential warranty issues, as my car has both the GIAC ECU and transmission chips. My dealer (Sonnen in San Rafael) has been OK with my mods so far. My car is pretty much stock, except for the chips, a K&N air filter, and a Forge BPV. Up until now, I haven't had any problems.

Thanks for any help!

John

2 EURO

it has anything to do wiht your mods.

got_root?

the jolt actually was a bump or pot hole which knocked your chip loose from the socket (assuming it's socketed). My chip used to come loose and this is what would happen. No power, CE light, Oil light, etc. Sometimes the car would start after I turned it off, sometimes not. I got pretty good at taking my ECU out and re-seating the chip on the side of hwy. 280

jweber93

it ceartainly felt like a pothole, but I felt the same "jolt" when it happened the second time. It's at a tow yard for the night, and they'll be taking it to Sonnen first thing on Monday morning.

got_root?

if you felt a jolt the second time that would pretty much rule out my theory. An easy way to check is to hook a VAG Tool up to the car (which is probably the first thing the dealer will do) and see if the Engine module repsonds. If it doesn't and other modules reply, it's either your chip or the entire ECU.

Good luck and please keep us updated

...josh

Sourdough Josh

I have the same setup you have (Tip and ECU chips from GIAC) and felt a jolt followed by total power loss. Turned out to be a dead spark plug cap. I wondered if perhaps it was due to my mods somehow, but I couldn't see how.

Keep us posted!

kyan

I second that.

jweber93

Sonnen stated that the car was 1.5 quarts low on transmission fluid and that they think that was the cause. They gave it an extended road test of about 75 miles and found no problems. I'm going to take it out tonight for a drive to see how it handles/feels.

On a side note, the tech said that I have "one very powerful, high performing A4..(pause)..but we won't talk about that." I kinda chuckled and told him, "Yes, I done a few performance modifications to the vehicle."

Thanks for all of the help!

John

got_root?

glad you got it worked out - sounds like Sonnen was cool about it too

jweber93

This time I got stranded on I-80 in San Pablo. Had to get it towed back to Sonnen on Saturday, and they are looking at it right now. I'm thinking it could be either electrical or possibly fuel related, as the car refused to start again 9 out of 10 times. The one time it did start, it stalled in park about 30 seconds later.