IS38 E85 Turbo upgrade on Audi A3 (Experience)

[Dellaringo]

Hello,
I wanted to upload a post on my experience in going to full e85 and is38 on my Audi A3. I haven't seen a lot of post so I hope this thread helps someone. Car info: 2015 Audi A3 Quattro with 70k miles. I bought a unitronic intercooler, auto tech Hpfp, and OE is38 from FCP euro for the lifetime warranty. I went with EQT OTS ECU and TCU tune. I brought my car into a shop to do the install it took about 2 weeks. They ended up having a fueling issue and it turned out the auto tech Hpfp was defective from factory I had to order another one. Installed it into the car and it drove fine. I then picked it up and started driving home like a spirited drive. Car was absolutely amazing and blew my mind it was disgustingly fast. However, 15 minutes into the drive my car started stuttering / bucking around 105mph. I pulled over and turned the car off, because my shop warned me that I should tow the car if this was to happen. I then ignored their advice turned the car back on and continued driving without going into full throttle. I ended up trying to do another WOT pull and the car bucked violently and I pulled over immediately again. I called my shop and told them about my issue they said that I should not try to do any more pulls and get the car back there ASAP. I drove the 15 minutes to the shop without going past 1/4 throttle and the car was perfect and had no issues. They got in the car and data logged. He came back and said something about the car not getting enough fuel again. Excuse me, I don't really know what he was talking about in specific but the data log said that I was requesting about 180 psi somewhere in the car and I was only getting about 9. Now this is where I am today. The car is at the shop and I must wait til Monday to receive an update. I asked him if he had any guesses as what it may be. He said it could be the LPFP or the intake pump or something. I'm eager to get an update on what went wrong in my car, and get it fixed and back on the road. I hope that whoever is reading this finds some type of value hearing someone else's experience. When I get the email or call on Monday im going to update the thread. If anyone has any insight on what might have happened please let me know. I would also like to add that throughout the entire drive I had no lights on the dash and there was no error codes in the car when he tried to read the codes. Also a bit of maintenance history to rule out some things: Spark plugs are correct heat range however they are a bit old they are RS7 spark plugs, recently replaced PCV valve, coil packs are from APR, recently got a haldex service, and transmission service. Hopes this helps out someone! Also I currently have the STOCK LPFP, stock lines, and no MPI.

[BKozS3]

I wonder if your injectors at 70k needed to be cleaned at least.

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[DominicDNO]

Thanks for sharing! This is an upgrade path I'm considering for my 60k mile A3 quattro. It's been APR Stage 2 ECU / TCU since 30k miles. I really want to experience an ethanol tune. I'm also wondering if the ethanol negates the loss of spool you experience moving from is20 to is38. I hope everything gets sorted quick and cheap. Good luck and keep us updated!

[lemonvr6]

It’s the auto tech pump again

[BKozS3]

It’s the auto tech pump again

If that's the case then the shop probably installed it without ensuring everything was clean.

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[Eli0073]

I have somewhat similar issue when I switch to E85 different tuning company do.

https://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=951152

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[Dellaringo]

I have a video of a pull I did in my car before it broke. I will try to upload it today and post the link if anyone was curious. I heard a lot about is38 spooling up slow and tbh there was not a big difference. The e85 helps immensely, the desk worker at the shop had a is38 a3 on 91 and he said he was blown away at how fast my car was in comparison. I suggest if your going to get is38 and you have the money in your budget to run full e85 totally do it.

[Dellaringo]

https://youtu.be/CuRapye_fy4
Here is the video of my car about 10 minutes before it broke.

[DominicDNO]

https://youtu.be/CuRapye_fy4
Here is the video of my car about 10 minutes before it broke.

Nice! I hope you get everything sorted soon. Looking forward to updates.

[FlyboyS4]

I have an E30 tune on my IS38 GTI (HPA HPFP) and installed a fuel pressure sensor on the low pressure line to see how it does. It drops steadily, which leads me to suspect with E85 your LPFP may be insufficient.

[Dellaringo]

Someone got it right and I though they were wrong. I got an email this morning my SECOND autotech HPFP internal failed. So I have to buy some type of alternative.


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[Dellaringo]

From personal research I for sure, 100% thought it was going to be the LPFP, which I might just purchase to play it safe. I cannot believe I spent $1000 these past 2 weeks on the internals from AutoTech. My car is at JH motorsports and even they were surprised and I believe they told me that they were a Autotech dealer. They said they contacted the company to get some more information on what is happening. Im contacting EQT to see what I can do in terms of an alternative to AutoTech. I'll update when I find out, and one thing everyone can learn is do NOT buy AutoTech internals.

[Spinnetti]

Hmm.. My understanding was that for full E85 a high flow LPFP was essential? And probably different injectors or MPI if they are lower flow than S3 I would think. Tuner didn't think so?

[Dellaringo]

Hmm.. My understanding was that for full E85 a high flow LPFP was essential? And probably different injectors or MPI if they are lower flow than S3 I would think. Tuner didn't think so?

EQT requires a hpfp, on their website it said LPFP was highly recommended. MPI or different injectors are not accounted for in this OTS tune im pretty sure. If you would want to run that it would be required that you receive a custom tune.

[Dellaringo]

I ended up purchasing this hpfp:

https://www.goapr.com/products/engin...parts/MS100144

Also I bought this LPFP:

https://eqtuning.com/collections/vw-...fp-mqb-ea888-3

[Eli0073]

I was going to ask why Autotech is not covering you under warranty but I forgot that huge label on the box when you buy it. I'm running IE Trueflex and it doesn't require MPI or injectors upgrade or LPFP. Only to upgrade the HPFP internals. Sorry to hear it hasn't worked for you. I'm using Autotech internals with no issues.

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[Eli0073]

I ended up purchasing this hpfp:

https://www.goapr.com/products/engin...parts/MS100144

Also I bought this LPFP:

https://eqtuning.com/collections/vw-...fp-mqb-ea888-3

On the bright side that HPFP that you are getting has the port to add MPI. So one thing less that you don't need to upgrade in the future.

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[Dellaringo]

I was going to ask why Autotech is not covering you under warranty but I forgot that huge label on the box when you buy it. I'm running IE Trueflex and it doesn't require MPI or injectors upgrade or LPFP. Only to upgrade the HPFP internals. Sorry to hear it hasn't worked for you. I'm using Autotech internals with no issues.

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Actually for my first failure, the part was defective from the factory so I got a refund for the first one. The second one I am still yet to return, but hopefully they give me a refund because truly it is not my fault that it failed. I heard some people are lucky and others are not so lucky. How many miles do you have on those internals and did you buy the fully assembled unit ?

[Eli0073]

I have put maybe 15k since I upgraded it. No I just bought the internals only and the tool to Open my HPFP. And I did the install myself despite the recommendations to use a bench vise...I did mine with minimal tools. I use some long nose pliers a impact tool to loosen up. I don't have a bench vise so that was out of the question. I instead force my 13 yrs old kid to help me because that's good parenting.

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[Dellaringo]

I have put maybe 15k since I upgraded it. No I just bought the internals only and the tool to Open my HPFP. And I did the install myself despite the recommendations to use a bench vise...I did mine with minimal tools. I use some long nose pliers a impact tool to loosen up. I don't have a bench vise so that was out of the question. I instead force my 13 yrs old kid to help me because that's good parenting.

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LOL that is funny. Yeah from this I don't think that the installation was done incorrectly, as what EQT said, I think I just got unlucky and the part failed. I hope it stays safe in there!

[Serzyfritz]

The clearances of the Autotech HPFP internals are so tight that any spec of dust, dirt, gunk can cause it to bind and fail.
Not to point fingers, but I am not sure I would trust that shop again if I were you.

[BKozS3]

The clearances of the Autotech HPFP internals are so tight that any spec of dust, dirt, gunk can cause it to bind and fail.
Not to point fingers, but I am not sure I would trust that shop again if I were you.

This is what I had read when I planned to upgrade so I could run more E. Was a little sketched out but found a used upgraded pump for cheap that had quite a few miles on it.

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[Dellaringo]

The clearances of the Autotech HPFP internals are so tight that any spec of dust, dirt, gunk can cause it to bind and fail.
Not to point fingers, but I am not sure I would trust that shop again if I were you.

That totally could be possible. But living in Tracy, there is not many good performance shops that are verified to work on Audis around here, especially ones that are local. JH Motorsports is 20 minutes from my house. I get what your saying but there’s not any options for me. Or maybe I’m just making excuses but yeah they for sure could have been the problem not the parts. but who knows


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[BKozS3]

That totally could be possible. But living in Tracy, there is not many good performance shops that are verified to work on Audis around here, especially ones that are local. JH Motorsports is 20 minutes from my house. I get what your saying but there’s not any options for me. Or maybe I’m just making excuses but yeah they for sure could have been the problem not the parts. but who knows


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I hear you, not sure the reputation if that shop. You're already invested and probably can't get money back since work was done, but I would start looking into DIY for the reason that you know you'll pay close attention to doing your own work.

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[Dellaringo]

Hey guys I have one final update! They installed the new apr fuel pump, install went great. They test drove the car and it was misfiring at high rpm. This was because my spark plugs had like 40k miles on them lol. I brought them new spark plugs gapped to .024 as per spec of EQT. They test drove the car again and drive perfectly. I got the car back and it runs great just as it did before. Later on I’ll go install the new lpfp but for the now the car is good! I highly recommend this upgrade path if you have a A3 it’s so worth it. Happy to answer anyones questions regarding this install and how the car drives afterwards if anyone is interested.


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