Tunes, Tunes, and ECU Questions

[Gotwake424]

Recently found out my 2000 S4 is running a stage 3 giac tune from 2005 and from what people have told me it "needs" updated. No surprise i'm sure advancements have been made. Now the major problem is that my ecu has a soldered on chip and after doing a little digging it seems as though I have two options
http://imgur.com/iFXPcqY

1) unsolder chip and put in new eeprom chip and flash factory onto it. This sounds a little out of my depth for now from what I have read.
2) buy a new ecu and have it tuned, but I have questions if I go this route
- is the "A-box" the right ecu for my car?
- Can "-A-boxes" be tuned without soldering on a chip?
- Who are the major tuners still around? I keep hearing Jfonz thrown around. Drivermotorsports is willing to tune for my car, anyone have one of their old tunes? They tuned my GTI and I loved it. Anyone else that should be considered?


Been trying to research these things on my own so sorry if these have all been answered
Thanks in advance guys
-Blake

[Monty23]

If you are getting a custom tune, you can use any "box" s4 ecu. If you are buying a used ecu, make sure it matches your car.

See here: http://s4wiki.com/wiki/Generations

[julex]

simples, cheapest and most sure proof is just getting any S4 ECU, then you can flash it in your own house with new software as tuner sends it to you. If you get A6 or allroad ECU so long it is ME 7.1 (A6 and allroads alos have ME 7.1.1). then you will have to send the ECU in for initial flashing since these have immobilizer and don't allow simple flashing (except if it is from 98/99 A6 which didn't have immo yet) and some tinkering is needed. It would be the best to choose your tuner and start the conversation. It all probability tuner will have a pile of ECUs and can sell you one for reasonable price.

[SoloMotorsports]

Recently found out my 2000 S4 is running a stage 3 giac tune from 2005 and from what people have told me it "needs" updated. No surprise i'm sure advancements have been made. Now the major problem is that my ecu has a soldered on chip and after doing a little digging it seems as though I have two options
http://imgur.com/iFXPcqY

1) unsolder chip and put in new eeprom chip and flash factory onto it. This sounds a little out of my depth for now from what I have read.
2) buy a new ecu and have it tuned, but I have questions if I go this route
- is the "A-box" the right ecu for my car?
- Can "-A-boxes" be tuned without soldering on a chip?
- Who are the major tuners still around? I keep hearing Jfonz thrown around. Drivermotorsports is willing to tune for my car, anyone have one of their old tunes? They tuned my GTI and I loved it. Anyone else that should be considered?


Been trying to research these things on my own so sorry if these have all been answered
Thanks in advance guys
-Blake

Blake, You have PM.

[Gotwake424]

Thanks for all the replies and advice guys! Looks like I'll be emailing solomotorsports here shortly