Boost Guage Question

[masteroc]

Recently i bought a boost guage from podi for my B7 A4. I took it to my "mod friendly" audi dealership and asked them to install it for me while they did the 15k service. They said fine, no problem. I get a call later that day saying that they have to charge me about 200 bucks to install it because they do not think that the instructions that came with it are good. They said that they want to make sure it doesnt cause problems down the road, and the only way to make sure that it stays within warranty (hence my parenthesis around mod friendly earlier in the post) is to run a second vaccum tube (or some tube) and install the boost guage that way. I'm not extremely familiar with the exact inner workings of a car, much less a turbo, so does this sound right to anyone who has installed a boost guage before. Again, they did not say that it couldnt be done the other way, just that it would cause degredation of the line and it could break or cause damage to the car in the future.

Thanks.

[Phrost]

...I installed my Podi in less than an hour, easily. There is one vacuum line that runs from the boost gauge, through the wheel well, into the engine bay, then connects up by the intake manifold. The instructions clearly show where there is a plugged hole off the intake manifold, and you pull off the plug and slide on the supplied adapter, which has a nipple for the vacuum line to slide on to. That is it.

The only part I didn't like about installing mine, was the wires for the LED were way too short. Oh well, I just spliced on 2 more feet of wire. $200 is kinda WTF though, they must have never installed a boost gauge before haha... this was only my second time

[masteroc]

yea, but i feel more comfortable with them doing it so i guess ill just foot the bill. They said something about having to run it through the ecu box ( i kid you not) to get it into the engine area....anyway, its done so thats it :)

[Phrost]

That is one way (and more time consuming) but there are rubber grommets on the firewall above the petals, and in the wheel well going into the engine bay that the instructions show. It took me maybe 5-10minutes to snip a nipple off the massive 3x7 grommet (there are litterally like 21 there), pull the vacuum hose through, then fish it into the engine bay where it needed to be.

You paid about 2 hours labor which isn't all that ridiculous, but any one of us (locally) could have done it for a few beers or something. A boost gauge won't affect your warranty or cause any damage unless you REALLY don't know what you're doing and short something lol

[masteroc]

Hopefully i will be able to start doing things like this when i get out of school and have more time to play around and learn about my car. Also, i can see the price because the people working on my car were at an Audi dealer and were Audi certified.

[UN-PIMP-Z-A4]

Certified ass rapers...
Did they lube u up first

[jahciple]

i'll install it for you for $150, lol.

[Subaru71]

my bid is $145

[Phrost]

Hopefully i will be able to start doing things like this when i get out of school and have more time to play around and learn about my car. Also, i can see the price because the people working on my car were at an Audi dealer and were Audi certified.

Doing things yourself really is not that hard (even suspension), you just have to motivate yourself to try, and you'll figure it out eventually the first time. After you've done it once, you can do it again whenever. You have to have the garage and money for tools though I've never taken a mechanic class in my life (shop in high school does not count) but I have a billion tools, and do all my own shit while I'm only 21 years old. I've been trying to do all my own mods since I was 16, but back then I couldn't even change brake pads, let alone change a wheel properly lol. But you try everything, you learn, you research, and before you know it people will call you up and ask you to mod their shit for them. Paint work, brakes, spacers/wheels, body parts, gauges, suspension, car care... I can do a lot of stuff, and I only know how to do it through experience from trying. I did fail a few times and mess some stuff up, but we won't talk about that

and true, you did have Audi certified techs working on your car... but they charge like $90/hour or something. You can feel very safe knowing these techs did the work, but really, it was only a boost gauge. Any other type of gauge you might want someone with some knowledge, but a boost gauge is just one vacuum line, then power/ground if you want it to light up.

[SilverB7FL]

I took my car to my local independent shop here and they did it in like a half hr.

[masteroc]

Certified ass rapers...

Talking from experience are we?

Anyway, yes i will probably start doing that kinda stuff myself soon, i would have taken it to a shop to do in like half an hour, but im not sure of a good place around where i live.

[[email protected]]

The writeup I put on the site is from my own experience and trying to find an install that was as easy as possible without having to go exploring where people shouldn't have to go.

The silicone t-fitting was included to make the installation on the FSI as clean and simple as possible.

Seriously... it is really as simple as popping off the cap, sliding the fitting on, running the vacuum line through the fender opening and into the car.

[SilverB7FL]

Talking from experience are we?

Anyway, yes i will probably start doing that kinda stuff myself soon, i would have taken it to a shop to do in like half an hour, but im not sure of a good place around where i live.

Where do u live?

[Phrost]

Seriously... it is really as simple as popping off the cap, sliding the fitting on, running the vacuum line through the fender opening and into the car.

Exactly. I just installed my Podi this week finally (Thanks Winston!) and it was easier than I expected.

[[email protected]]

Would you believe it took me 4 hours to install my own boost gauge setup that first time?

Two hours of that was trying to figure out how to get inside that stupid ECU box before I gave up on it.

[Phrost]

haha wow, I guess... I didn't even look under the rain tray or anything, all those grommets looked so inviting so I took the exact rout you depicted in your instructions. It honestly only took me maybe 45 minutes, it's just the leather cover attached to the pod was annoying, and I took a while trying to shove the vacuum line through the grommet because I wanted it as tight as possible.