Pro Boost FSI remap

A2Steve

A2OC Donor
Wales
************************************************************UPDATE JUNE 2022**********************************************************************
ProBoost will no longer be offering UK buyers the option to buy a remapped ECU direct from them in Germany. I will now be the only source for UK FSI owners to purchase one of these units
*******************************************************************************************************************************************************

Good evening all

I’m now officially an FSI owner and as with my other projects, upon purchase I immediately started looking at ways to improve it.

My biggest concern with owning an FSI were the well documented running issues. My research in this area led me to a post back in 2018 on this forum with mention of a remap being used by the German forum that eliminated a lot of the issues associated with the FSI.

The journey of this remap started in 2015 when the German club a2-freun.de approached an established tuning company in Germany called Pro Boost. Prior to being approached by the Club, Pro Boost had not heard of the FSI engine fitted in the A2 or of the problems associated with it.

The FSI runs in 2 settings, stratified and homogenous. A video explaining this process is available here

Pro Boost did some initial research on a used ECU and then agreed to take in a member’s car from the club to develop software that eliminated as many of the associated problems as possible. The software was ready by June 2016. At that stage they offered 2 stages of remap:

Stage 1 –
Shutting off the stratified injection, running homogenous mode only
Egr valve permanently closed to prevent clogging the intake side of the engine
Swirl flaps always in the open position to prevent seizing of the mechanism
Deactivation of the NOx catalyst and sensor. With the car not running in lean stratified mode anymore, they are no longer needed.
Reduction of the coolant temperature from 105-100c to 90-96c to prevent the plastic coolant pipes from cracking.

Stage 2 was planned to gain additional torque and power. It contained stage 1 options plus

Optimised camshaft maps
Optimised ignition angles

Testing of the stage 1 map went well with great results reported, but with the use of the stage 2 settings, a number of cars were experiencing issues with knock and the cars were then retarding the ignition to prevent this. This was found to be as a result of the age of the injectors on certain cars and so stage 2 was shelved. The successful optimised camshaft mapping was retained however and added to stage one.

So there is now only one remap and it has the following features –

Shutting off the stratified injection, running homogenous mode only

EGR valve permanently closed to prevent clogging the intake side of the engine

Swirl flaps always in the open position to prevent seizing of the mechanism

Deactivation of the NOx catalyst and sensor.

With the car not running in lean stratified mode anymore, they are no longer needed.

Reduction of the coolant temperature from 105-100c to 90-96c to prevent the plastic coolant pipes from cracking

Optimised camshaft maps

The mapping process adjusts the settings within the ECU so that no engine management light will be triggered by the settings it runs. The engine management light will however still be triggered by other engine faults it identifies. In essence, you won’t lose the functionality of the EML system.

Whilst performance gains will be experienced due to the flaps running fully open and camshaft modifications, this map is marketed more as a preventative measure to improve the longevity of the FSI and make the ownership experience less of a gauntlet.

The process for purchasing the map would be as follows:

I will order a stock of ECU’s from Pro Boost (I’m hoping for around 4 at a time).

You can place an order for an ECU from me and it will get sent out to you by courier.

You will fit the re-mapped ECU to your car and send your current ECU back to me.


In order for this process to work, the remapped ECU being sent to you will need to have an unlocked immobiliser so that it can be plug and play into your car with no coding required. This will mean that the immobiliser will no longer be active on your car. I accept that this is a downside, but it is the only way the service can be offered and I’m hoping that the benefits you receive from fitting will outweigh this issue.

************************* Update 4.6.2020, Tom @timmus has offered to re-instate the immobiliser function on a remapped ECU free of charge at his home, or for a 'time' payment whilst on a tour***************************************************


I don’t claim to be any sort of expert on FSI’s and indeed I am just starting out on my FSI journey, but I do know that the German owners club do not suffer fools and will only use the best products. Pro Boost are also an established German tuner who have a lot of experience mapping all makes and models of car (https://www.facebook.com/ProBoostEngineering/). This map has also been run by members of the German club for around 3 and a half years now with no issues reported.

I am in touch with Adrian from Pro Boost, so if anyone has more technical questions they want answered in regard to the map, then please just ask and I’ll pass the message back.

I plan to run a copy of the map once received and will report back my findings on its use.

If you would like to purchase the remap, please either reply here or send me a PM.

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One thing that I'd like to know is how does this stack up with our MOT emissions...…

The map is TUV compliant. It won’t have any issues with the MOT if it can pass the more stringent TUV it won’t have issues with our MOT
 
Just to note, A2OC has approved this detailed discussion of Proboost's FSI remaps and @A2Steve's UK agency service for them. However this does not constitute any endorsement by A2OC of the maps themselves. Members applying the map (purchased via whichever method) to their cars, do so entirely at their own risk. A2OC cannot get involved in the event of any subsequent dissatisfaction or dispute involving the map or the loss of ECU immobilisation.
 
In addition to "stratified charge mode" and "homogeneous charge mode", the 1.6l - 81kW FSI engine has a third operating mode: homogeneous lean charge mode. This operating mode offers a further reduction in fuel consumption compared to lambda=1 mode with exhaust gas recirculation.
The engine control unit selects the operating mode depending on torque, power, exhaust gas and safety requirements.

Stratified charge mode

The engine runs in stratified charge mode up to the medium engine load and speed range.
Through mixture stratification in the combustion chamber, the engine can be operated at a total
lambda of approx. 1.6 to 3.
- A highly ignitable mixture forms around the spark plugs at the centre of the combustion chamber.
- This mixture is enveloped by an outer layer which ideally comprises fresh air and recirculated exhaust gas.

Homogeneous lean charge mode
In the transition zone between stratified charge mode and homogeneous charge mode, the engine runs in homogeneous lean charge mode.
The lean mixture is distributed homogeneously (evenly) throughout the combustion chamber. The air/fuel ratio is approximately lambda 1.55.

Homogeneous charge mode
At higher engines loads and speeds, the engine runs in homogeneous charge mode.
The air-fuel ratio in this operating mode is lambda=1.

1579635311762.png
 
Interesting - are there any before and after dyno graphs (I appreciate that not much is going to change on a ~100 bhp NA car, but would be interesting to see what does actually change, nevertheless).
 
Sounds good, may be the answer I need with the new project...…..collecting this weekend so should have some idea of what it needs next week...
With the EGR system no longer operating, tailpipe emissions will increase surely? I don't have detailed knowledge of this, but tailpipe emissions are part of the MoT.
Mac.
 
I don't wish to derail @A2Steve thread at all, but i'd trust the German A2 club and this aftermarket tuner rather than any claim from VAG regarding better fuel consumption claims knowing their well documented history.
The disabling of lean stratified mode is, in my opinion, likely to reduce the mpg a little. The reduction will depend on driving style and journey pattern. Mine achieves mid fifties mpg on long, fast motor way type runs, when lean stratified mode is operative. At lower engine speed (<3000 rpm), lean stratified mode is not operative, so impact on mpg is likely to be negligible.
At the price that @A2Steve is indicating, it could well be a cost effective alternative to a manifold refurb, and N316 replacement, particularly on high mileage engines. The exchange facility would mean down time could be very short too. Certainly worthy of serious consideration.
Have to amend the tailgate moniker though, to FI!
Mac.
 
What does running the FSI at a lower coolant temperature do on the engine, do you think there may be any ill effects? Would VAG not have tried this before putting the engine in the car? Appreciate it may reduce the chances of the death pipe from cracking as one possible upside however may be useful to document component condition (flaps, intake manifold, valves with an endoscope) mileage etc before having it done and then at periodic intervals thereafter. Not sure if that’s too much hassle?
 
What does running the FSI at a lower coolant temperature do on the engine, do you think there may be any ill effects? Would VAG not have tried this before putting the engine in the car? Appreciate it may reduce the chances of the death pipe from cracking as one possible upside however may be useful to document component condition (flaps, intake manifold, valves with an endoscope) mileage etc before having it done and then at periodic intervals thereafter. Not sure if that’s too much hassle?

Basically the colder an engine runs the less efficient it becomes. Yes Vag definitely looked into this and did and came up with Fsi for the A2 which was a by product of it's Lemans experience. Audi needed an edge with fuel weight versus distance travelled to be able to race for longer on a tank of fuel, hence the Fsi invention. Because of this Audi continued to win Lemans maintaining it's edge over the comepetion at the time.

It's a very clever idea and one i wish Audi had introduced much earlier and also an ever increasingly noble one today in terms of how our planet is coping with it's 8 billion people, rising fast and ever increasing runaway Co2 emissions. Deleting things is just cheating the system put there for our well being health and longevity. ?
 
Basically the colder an engine runs the less efficient it becomes. Yes Vag definitely looked into this and did and came up with Fsi for the A2 which was a by product of it's Lemans experience. Audi needed an edge with fuel weight versus distance travelled to be able to race for longer on a tank of fuel, hence the Fsi invention. Because of this Audi continued to win Lemans maintaining it's edge over the comepetion at the time.

It's a very clever idea and one i wish Audi had introduced much earlier and also an ever increasingly noble one today in terms of how our planet is coping with it's 8 billion people, rising fast and ever increasing runaway Co2 emissions. Deleting things is just cheating the system put there for our well being health and longevity. ?
Audi haven't use stratified injection since 2005 when they went back to using homogenous mode only , FSI badging became a trade mark,and not what it originally stood for Fuel Stratified Injection.
 
Audi haven't use stratified injection since 2005 when they went back to using homogenous mode only , FSI badging became a trade mark,and not what it originally stood for Fuel Stratified Injection.

Yes a shame, mostly down to not understanding Fsi technology at dealer networks when problems arose and it was far easier to just delete the Stratified mode than own it. One day not too far of into the future good people on here will be able to understand the system diagnose and fix many of the problems and debunk some of the myths.
 
If there is someone near me with an FSi I would be more than happy to take a look and see what the issues are and see if I can help find a cure.
 
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