14 July 2021 by info_608z969j in 1. Company Anouncements, 5. News, 7. Troubleshooting, 8. Tuned cars, 9. Techincal posts, Audi

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Audi RS3 & TTRS 8S – EA855 Evo

Tuning the Audi Mqb TTRS 8S – RS3 8V FL and RSQ3 with Gt-innovation software.

Despite the fact that the previous 5cylinder cast iron block engines were already doing great in the tuning industry, our first contact with the the ea855 evo mqb platform in December 2016 was definitely a love at first site. The TTRS 8S that we just purchased as a test car was perfect from every point of view.

Our post here is mostly about a stock engine / turbo TTRS / RS3 / RSQ3 Daza or Dnwa car and the custom functions , calibrations and applications we have developed over the years for this particular platform.

The combination of the new high compression aluminum 5 cylinder engine ( DAZA / DNWA) coupled with a 7 speed dq500 dual clutch gearbox, a revised awd system and a very competent Bosch Med17 engine management system with a built in traction control algorithm was too good to be true..

So there it was, all in one package but we did not stop there…

Our Development process

The development started immediately for both Gearbox and Engine management system and as the days went by, countless hours were spent in reverse engineering the firmware of the Bosch Med17.1.62 engine management system while testing new calibrations in order to find the engine capabilities and limits.

Trying to find the limits on a brand new engine is not easy and for sure not cheap especially in 2016 when the knowledge and information was nowhere to find on the internet, for this particular platform.

New parts were tested, new functions were developed and that fun daily car transformed into a unique beast that could kill easily many super cars surpassing all of our expectations.

Extensive high speed and high load tests were done on the street and on our awd mustang dynamo-meter spending thousands of hours to make sure everything we provide is 100% tested and performs as it should.

In the mean time One more Ea855evo joined the family and this time we got more space too. A brand new rs3 8v facelift ready to be fully tuned for every stage possible.

All of our effort has been rewarded in every step as the car was becoming better and better without any signs of extensive wear or engine malfunctions.

With the use of our factory Etas ETK tools and some other third party devices we started testing our initial calibrations and develop slowly our new functions and algorithms.However there was still something missing from the equation, something that was not lucking of flexibility and could be easily expand for further use and distribution.

The tools

What we actually needed was a fully customizable in-house data-logger that could act as a debugger or flasher to make our life easier during development. A simple low cost device and software combo that would speed up the process and increase the quality of our product.

So we created the GT-flasher and Logger which is a UDS / OBDII software solution that can program, diagnose and log the engine management system by utilizing a J2534 compatible usb to obd dongle (Tactrix Openport 2.0).

Our flasher is able to fully program the factory Bosch med17 engine management system (soon others) in under 8 minutes and follows all the factory guidelines for a successful firmware update procedure.The flashing can be recovered in case of an unexpected interruption and the factory flash counters can be reset to 1 which is the default value.

Our logger accepts A2L Factory Data as well as basic DID standard Obd diagnosis channels that can be used to acquire sensor measurements from the factory engine management system using the CAN BUS UDS protocol in high speeds. The data can be acquired online from our server and there are presets available for every supported ecu.

Reverse engineering the monster

In order to understand and pass on all of our previous functions from our older generation Bosch Med17 engine management systems we had to spend almost 1 year to fully reverse engineer the important ecu oem functions. Our infineon tricore knowledge is more than enough to accomplish any task and implement any kind of function that will interact with the user seamlessly without compromising any factory features or safety algorithms.

By analyzing the factory firmware we were able to create some unique and very useful functions and algorithms that extended the engine management capabilities and gave a whole new meaning to the word “Tuning” . In fact we added engine safety features that are part of our Multimap / Map-switch algorithm that will protect the owners from severe engine failures with indications and fail-safe maps.

Those functions will be briefly discussed below so you can get a basic understanding of what we have actually accomplished.

The Functions

Here is a brief list of our unique developments for this particular Bosch Med17.1.62 ecu.

On the fly fully configurable Multimap / Map-switch function via cruise control
Rolling Launch with throttle and boost control via Cruise control
Fast Data-logging using our in house developed logger
Ignition Retard Indication and fail-safe switch for extra protection

Multimap / Map-switch

Basically the user has 4 different map sets which can be swapped on the fly while driving or standing, by lightly pressing the brake and the cruise control lever to minus. Our function includes all the appropriate modules for having individually tuned each map set so the user/driver can scroll through different calibrations for normal or ethanol based fuel, low/ high boost and ignition settings.

Here is what we actually switch through our Multimap / Maps-witch :

All torque Limiters (Drivers wish and thresholds)
All ignition Maps and Knock thresholds
All fueling maps, correction maps, injector constants for normal or ethanol mixes
All camshaft maps
Traction control and launch control profiles
All rpm Limits and displayed limits
All sound modules (Burble / Pops and bangs)
EGT model maps and exhaust Flap maps

More maps/modules could be added depending on the needs of the client.

Detailed presentation in English and German

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0Ha5bWaOAE

The Fail-safe Function

Since there are many different fuel qualities and since we are always taking extra precautions on high engine power outputs, we have created a fail-safe algorithm that is monitoring individually each cylinder during combustion in real-time speed and reports the user for issues that might occur by blinking the epc/mil light and in the same time switches the calibration to the stock or lower power output choice via multi-map.

Cases like bad coil-packs, bad fuel quality, worn out spark plugs, injector failures are being easily caught by our safety algorithm that falls back to the safest calibration choice or any other calibration that is set as default.

Rolling Launch

The rolling launch functions is a unique option that we offer to our customers

Full Video Presentation :

Gearbox (TCU) calibration

Having one of the best Mechatronic units ever built, this gearbox is lightning fast and can hold lots of torque output and user abuse, but could it be better?

Yes it can. As many rs3 and ttrs owners have already seen the factory calibration has some drive-ability flaws. For example sudden part throttle to full throttle transitions can trigger engine stall and in many cases gearbox can not decide if it should shift down or up keeping the engine revved and clutch not fully engaged.

Further more the Gearbox has many torque limiters, Vmax thresholds, and the clutch pressure does not exceed the 15 software limit. Here is what we do to improve the behavior and the over all performance of the Gearbox.

Re-calibration of the gearshift torque intervention maps
Vmax limiter removal
Gearshift Timing reduction
Gearshift rpm (KMH/MPH) extension for higher rev limiters
Launch control parameters Re-calibration (Rpm, allowed torque)
Full manual mode on M +/-
Clutch pressure increment (Depends on the setup)
Auto up-shift removal in any mode (If needed)
Torque limiters up to 1000nm
Clutch micro-slip adjustments

Many more tweaks and tricks are inside our Gearbox calibrations that will enhance the performance of the Bosch GSG DSG DQ500 Mechatronic unit. On Gearshifts the smooth factor is 100% better then any other Tcu calibrations in the market for this particular platform on both DAZA and DNWA – DQ500 Mechatronic boxes.

The gearbox calibrations can not be flashed yet by Gt-Flasher so a third party flashing device is needed.Feel free to ask us which tools can do the job properly if you are interested in flashing our custom dsg Calibration.

The Particle Filter Era (OPF/PPF)

The DNW(A) engine was created as a direct replacement of the daza engine in order to meet the new emission regulations and pass any wltp test. This engine is now equipped with a gasoline particle filter catalytic system which reduces dramatically the Co2 and particle emissions.

Unfortunately that also means that the great sound of this epic 5cyl engine is now reduced in frequency and all those fun burbles and pops are eradicated in order to meet the emission standards. Further more the overachieving numbers from the DAZA engine in horsepower and torque, on any dynamo-meter type around the world, are now reduced to the normal factory numbers or less in some cases.

Fear not, for the countries with lower emission standards we can revive all the previous engine sounds in a certain level, and with some exhaust parts the power levels can be equal to the daza equipped vehicles.

The Numbers

Dynamo-meter Measurements.

As you can imagine there are plenty of hardware combinations and different calibration to much this hardware that had to be done in order to improve the power output of this platform.

The main limitation of a fully stock car is the small inter-cooler that does not provide efficient cooling in hot climates or high boost levels.The next limitation that occurs is the fuel quality across different countries that can lower the power output even from a stock software calibration.

So with the above data in mind here is a set of different dyno sheets that will cover some basic questions on what could be expected from a gt-innovation tuned ecu for a stock turbo car.

Be sure that the results may vary from country to country with a 3% to 4% factor as there are many differences in fuel quality, temperature, altitude, humidity and despite the correction algorithms that most dynamo-meters are using the numbers can`t be exactly the same in some cases.

stage 1 full stock 98

Stage 1+ opf 98/100 oct

stage 1 and 1+ full stock multi-map

stage 2 daza 100 octane + dsg with Upgrade intercooler – Upgrade intake and Downpipe

stage 2 and 2+ multimap 102 octane with Upgrade intercooler – Upgrade intake, inlet and Downpipe

Stage 2 + opf wmi + dsg with Upgrade intercooler – Upgrade intake, inlet and Downpipe built engine stock turbo

100-200kmh

on 98-100-102 octane fuel with the TTRS 8S and the RS3 8V FL

Races

As car enthusiast we have always being participating in races. Quarter mile or circuit does not matter as this is the perfect opportunity to prove and test our work on this worldwide known platform.

The Green Hell (Nurburgring’s Nordschleife) was one of the tests we had to take in order to ensure that our software will perform good and protect the engine in continuous hard driving conditions and temperatures.

Known Problems

Waste-gate solenoid vacuum line

There is a black plastic vacuum line that follows the edge of the cylinder head from the center to the right and goes down to the side of the head where the pressure regulation valve is.

This small vacuum line gets melt or brakes up from too much heat. If the car is under-performing even as stock this vacuum line could be the reason.

Waste-gate rattle on Decat or Upgrade Downpipe

The most common sound after a down-pipe installation that comes from the exhaust is the waste-gate rattling one.

Why? simply because the factory calibration has different waste-gate profiles for different driving modes and in most of them the lower rpm area between 1500rpm and 2800rpm has a low waste-gate duty cycle set-point, causing the valve to open and close quickly and produce that annoying sound that some drivers thing it is engine related.

For this case our software upgrades include a Fix for those areas that will reduce up to 85% or eliminate completely the rattling sound on all driving modes.

The broken exhaust flaps

During our TTRS and RS3 ownership we had to replace the rear exhaust silencer flaps due to malfunctions usually on the side that is mostly closed on comfort and normal mode.

Further more many other clients and owners have reported such failures in several vehicles.

The weak Rods

The rumors are true, this engine is suffering from weak rods on high torque calibrations over 640 or 650 nm.Such power below 3400 rpm can cause rod failure or even a broken engine block.

Those engines can be run with bigger hybrid turbochargers without rod upgrades but failure is always a possibility and it is definitely dangerous for the engine, when the torque is not capped to a certain area in the power-band.

Dsg oil evaporation fumes

The stock evaporation filter from a Dq500 Bosch DSG-GSG gearbox that can be found in the TTRS 8S RS3 8V Facelift and RSq3 is not capable of keeping the amount of oil evaporation that the gearbox produces in certain cases.

The result is traces of oil at the drivers side area next to the airbox behind the headlight just before the engine management wiring harness plugs. An external upgraded catch can is required.

Oem Software bug on Calibrations

The oem stock software calibration, up to a certain version is known to have a bug in a particular ignition table that can cause engine failures on tuned cars if its not properly fixed.

Oem Inter-cooler inefficiency

The stock inter-cooler is the weakest point of this platform and the replacement has to be prioritized if the horsepower output has to be higher than a stage 1 software calibration.

Picture of the stock inter-cooler, to be replaced with a forge on a TTRS 8s