In the three days that I've been using the car I notice much less vibrations. They are almost gone. I can notice them sometimes but to a much lesser degree. I'm really happy about it. But I have some fear too.
ECU's adapt some parameters to the driver's style (some people say they don't, but I think they do. See
here). In the update process there must have been some ECU resetting, so it must be adapting now to my driving style, and probably will be doing so for a few days / hundreds of kilometers.
I see two possibilities:
- It might be that the main cause of less vibrations is the resetting, and not the update. If that were the case, the vibrations might come back after the ECU adapts again.
- The vibrations are gone because of the update indeed, and then the improvement will be definitive.
Reasons that seem to support 1:
- When I first took delivery of the car one year ago, in the first days I didn't notice any vibrations. Perhaps that also had to do with the ECU adaptation.
Reasons in favour of 2:
- When user dkpeters had the update applied, after 500 km of use (so the ECU adaptation had probably already taken place) he reported in thie thread that the vibrations, although still noticeable, were not annoying anymore.
- The update I've had applied is a newer version than he had, so it should be even better.
- I saw the update description and it said it was related to "vibrations and jolting" in this engine.
Of course I hope the actual cause is 2, not 1. But I'll have to wait to be sure. As I said, I'll report here.
Now, to answer your question, J4MMYz: this is what I did. I took the car to the Audi dealer to have the sat nav maps updated. I also asked if there any updates for the car, specially regarding the vibrations. I made it clear that I know the vibrations are normal in this engine, but still, if they could be reduced it would be great. The man plugged the key in a kind of reader, from which they get the chassis number and some other information regarding car failures the car may have had, I think. He said there were not updates pending for my car, according to its chassis number. I think he could search keywords (such as "vibrations") to see if there was something. He tried to, but there was some network problem or something.
Then I said I had heard about some update. He was kind of skeptic initially, but when I said I had a code beginning with the letters "TPI" (I don't really know what they mean) he said "yes, with that I can certainly locate the update". So I told him the code that dkpeters provided in this thread: TPI 2037323/1. He found the update, but a newer version, ending in "/3" instead of "/1". He said it's very recent, from May 7th.
He was again skeptic that the update could be actually applied to my specific car. Apparently it depends on car options, exact engine etc. So they'd had to check. He also said the symptoms had to match for the update to be applied. So I insisted that my car did have the vibrations. I tried to be very specific to make it clear it was a real issue. I told him that vibrations are between 1300 and 2100 rpm, only in two-cylinder mode when you are stepping on the throttle (but not too much or it will enter 4-cylinder mode). I also said I noticed jolting sometimes (which is true, although much less annoying to me).
In the afternoon he called me and said yes, it could be applied. My impression was that it's something optional, not an update that is enforced by Audi to be applied; but since I asked they agreed to do it.
Then I picked the car and, as I said, the improvement is very noticeable. As I said, I'm hoping it will be definitive, and not a transient thing caused by some resetting.
My car is MY2014, 1.4 TFSI CoD 140 bhp, 6-gear manual transmission. I don't have S-line as you do, nor drive select, but I think it's very likely that you can get the update too; or else there will be some other update specific to your version. Mention the TPI code if they don't find it. Do tell them that you find the vibrations annoying, and that you also have jolts (so the update is a perfect match). If you don't they might say the update is not essential, that it doesn't need to be applied.
