Intermittent Engine Problems!! I seriously need help now.

Hi everyone,

i have a 1800T sport on a 'S' plate. iv owned the car for almost a year now and have always had the same problem but its so random and intermittent i dont know if getting it plugged in will give me any faults.

the problem im having is for now reason shuts down cylinder 1. and is really struggling for power until i dip the clutch. 10 meters later its doing it again. sometimes i drive south wales to london and have no problems other times i may have a problem. the same on short journeys its totally random. i have changed gaskets and new plugs and maf then got told it was ignition amplifier and developed a constant misfire on cyl. 1. Fitted new ignition amplifier. got ripped off there and a week later same problem occured and has done randomly since ecept its not constantly misfiring yet. i also have problems with boost. sometimes i have no boost and feels like itsa n/a 1800cc. othertimes its seriously overboosting and for no reason starts propelling me up the road. its got a mind of its own and i dont want to sell it but may have to

any help here is very much appreciated.

many thanks, Scotty

iv only been following threads as to what the problems could beand working through them and just got to the point where im stuck and only with that option left. Ill be doing same. same time as mot in a few days if they are able to do it there. because iv never been able to get it to a garage while its been running badly i tought it wouldnt show anything but your right. engine management light doesnt come on when it happens either. thanks for the help and ill keep you posted.

Had it scanned for faults but unfortunately nothing came up.

Found some split pipes and just have one more to replace

Not sure where the oil is coming from but that is recent. I'm totally stuck with what to do now. Big job? Anyone in the South Wales area to help with visuals? :0)

Hey thanks for the feedback all!!

Upto now I have changed the plugs and cover gasket, new ignition amplifier, pulled over and unplugged the maf when it randomly happened and made no difference and no warning light. Disconnected the coil packs and all killed the engine exert cyl one if that's on the left hand side. Swapped the coils and still same outcome so surely isn't the coil?

I noticed this and have been having a look at the n249 bypass but couldn't figure out how to do it on mine as i found out earlier agu's don't have one to even bypass which is annoying as I searched misleading threads most of the day for something that isn't even there. I had thought that maybe it had been done before I bought the car but the pipe work didnt add up to that.

Anyway I do need an inlet breather hose which you can see is split (the fat one at the bottom. I'm not saying you dont know that it's the fat one I just ain't sure how clear the pic is)
I found a replacement but it's £20 and not entirely sure it's the correct one as it has a slight bend where the original is straight between bends. Not sure if that would make a difference see but it's defo an inlet breather hose on ebay to fit a A3 8L (blue you probly know the one) iv searched high and low for one but must be blind or stupid.

Is there anywhere you know of I can get a full hose kit for for the for the dv fpr etc as I'd like to tidy the engine bay up a little and add a splash of colour. I fancy purple hose if available. They've never been changed and found a couple more splits so might aswell do the lot while I'm at it.

I love my a3 and had plans when I bought it but now I have nightmares lol

Your expertise is very much appreciated. Top dogs!!

basil brush said:

Drive your car with no engine cover , when it does what It does unplug coil no1 ( nearest the can belt) if this doesn't make the misfire worse you have identified the problematic cylinder , I'd it does keep going unplugging 1 coil at a time until you find which one it is , THEN swap that coil to another cylinder and see if the problem moves !
If it does you have a coil issue , if it doesn't that leads to potentials like spark plug , coil loom etc etc .
Also worth noting if you have a cam cover gasket gone the spark plug well can fill with oil , shorting the plug out .

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I have already did this little test a number of times in the past when I happens and its always on cyl 1 so it aint the coil that's causing it. I v changed the plugs and a new rocker gasket and the the mechanic says its the ignition amplifier...a week later boom its back again. they cant burn themselves out in a week surely and it cost me 80 ****** quid for that...oh its a common fault it has to be the ignition amplifier he said....I had to pay 40 quid labour anyway because he pretended to not know what the problem was when I first asked him!!! TOSSA!!!!!!!!!!!!

I changing the breather hoses next as they can , you know of a decent kit available???

ill just have to keep changing the little things I think but wont ever be convinced its totally cured as I don't know what is causing it in the first place. not matter what....rain sleet snow sun wind hot cold motorway towns back roads its totally weird..... it ran like a dream earlier pulled well through every gear so that breather hose as improved things slightly.

one thing I did notice last time it happened is that when I hold the throttle and dip the clutch its normal for 5 seconds the runs lumpy as **** on 3 cyls again