Loss of power and shuddering engine intermittent...

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Hi There,

I have recently purchased a second hand 1998 A3 1.8T sport and there seems to be a loss of power from time to time.

i accelarate and then teh power seems to die off, the engine shudders, and then the turbo kicks back in and teh car drives fine. This only happens now and again so i'm not sure if this is a major problem or not? After looking around on these forums i think that it may be the MAF sensor but i wanted to get some feedback before attempting to get at it.

Also, this morning when starting from cold, the engine was clicking when idleing. Is this a normal thing for a car of its age or should i get this checked out? The car has a full service history and oil change back in december last year so it should be ok?

Any feedback would be gratefully receievd!

Thanks.
 
could be a number of things mate. i had a simular problem, turned out to be the spark plugs, but could be dodgey coil packs or maf. Have you checked it on vag com yet?
 
I wouldn't worry about the ticking when its cold too much though, most 20VT's sound like a diesel when you start them up haha!
 
disconnect MAF sensor, drive it and if the problem is still there then check all the coilpacks. Chepaest way VAG.com it or buy one coilpack, replace it in cylinder 1 and then take it for a drive. Keep going across the cylinders til the problem goes away, if not then change the sparkplugs
 
Thanks all...

Just drove it at lunch time and it's gotten worse. The whole car is shaking under acceleration and there is a continual ticking coming from the black box on the left hand side of the engine. (can you tell i have no f*****g idea about cars!)

It's sounding decidedly ropey and there seems to be a real lack of power.

I'll double check the spark plugs and hope that this solves the problem i guess...
 
Sorry to be dim again but how do i check this on Vag Com? I've had a look at teh website and can only seem to see that you can purchase the software for about £300 and to make it worse i use Mac's which this isn't compatible with?

Any help would be hugely appreciated along with any engine diagrams that you can provide?

Cheers.
 
Sorry to be dim again but how do i check this on Vag Com? I've had a look at teh website and can only seem to see that you can purchase the software for about £300 and to make it worse i use Mac's which this isn't compatible with?

Any help would be hugely appreciated along with any engine diagrams that you can provide?

Cheers.

Have an ask around, and do a better google.

You can get the software in different forms, you can easily get the basic one which you need for free. Then a £10 cable off ebay and you're in the money :)
 
Thanks all...

Just drove it at lunch time and it's gotten worse. The whole car is shaking under acceleration and there is a continual ticking coming from the black box on the left hand side of the engine. (can you tell i have no f*****g idea about cars!)

It's sounding decidedly ropey and there seems to be a real lack of power.

I'll double check the spark plugs and hope that this solves the problem i guess...

the ticking coming from the black box is normal mate, carbon filter/charcoal chamber, so dont worry yourself about that one and as klappe said, the 1.8t is a very ticky kind of engine, so unless its a really nasty sounding metallic sound chances are its normal

disconnect maf and go for drive first, this is quick and easiest option and go from there, vagcom would be a massive help to you, no need to buy one see the link to see if theres anyone in your area who would help you out: http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/showthread.php?84603-***VCDS-Users-Map***
 
Thanks all, this is much appreciated.

I'll get there in the end...