Very slow mtm spec s3

[burns3]

Test drove a 2001 mtm tuned s3 yesterday and it was as slow as my 250 bhp s3, it's meant to be 345 bhp but definately wasn't so was wondering if anyone had any ideas of what problem it was suffering from cos other than that and the brakes making a noise I liked it.
Sure I have seen it on one of the Audi forums for sale last year aswel, registration was ow51xxx

Cheers

Iain

 

[rhubarb4]

Best thing to do would be to get it scanned for faults bud.

 

[voorhees]

How was you driving it ?

 

[rhubarb4]

With his hands and feet I hope

 

[burns3]

With his hands and feet I hope

That is correct haha, the lad who's car it is wanted me to have a go of it cos he didn't like the clutch but I found it no problem anyway.

Vagcom is where I told him to start at with the problem hunting aswel I just thought someone who already had an mtm spec s3 may have had a power loss problem before and could of gave me some advice so I could maybe help him out and possibly do a deal on the car sooner . I don't want to be buying a car that I will have problems with when mine is working perfectly fine though so I will just hold tight for the time being then.

Cheers anyway

 

[rhubarb4]

Stacey on here has a MTM spec S3 give him a pm he may shed some light on it.

Chris.

 

[Benjiman46]

Maybe it's a fake MTM?.. Just a remapped S3.. You can buy an MTM badge for about £20 on ebay, and as far as I can remember they look the same under the bonnet... Just a thought

 

[Westy]

Probably a real MTM but personally I'd steer clear of it.

The MTM kit on an S3 is so prehistoric compared to today tuning methods and they often end up with expensive bills to fix, Stacey will 2nd this.

- They kept standard side mount intercoolers which were not up to the job of cooling the charge air from the bigger turbo
- The boost was turned up with the MTM map but the OE rods weren't changed. Rods are a frequent issue on these old engines now.
- The MTM exhaust mani had a common fault where it would crack at the weld where it was cut and welded to make the German left hand drive kit fit the UK right hand drive car.

I'm sure there is more but cant think of them right now, but I'd leave it.

 

[burns3]

Maybe it's a fake MTM?.. Just a remapped S3.. You can buy an MTM badge for about £20 on ebay, and as far as I can remember they look the same under the bonnet... Just a thought

This had crossed my mind but it had an mtm engine cover aswel and massive Porsche brakes and I'm pretty sure an external waste gate so looked like it could have been a k26 on it.

This car was for sale on audisrs.com last year if anyone knows anyone on there.

Will try pm Stacey aswel when I get back home too cheers chris

 

[burns3]

Probably a real MTM but personally I'd steer clear of it.

The MTM kit on an S3 is so prehistoric compared to today tuning methods and they often end up with expensive bills to fix, Stacey will 2nd this.

- They kept standard side mount intercoolers which were not up to the job of cooling the charge air from the bigger turbo
- The boost was turned up with the MTM map but the OE rods weren't changed. Rods are a frequent issue on these old engines now.
- The MTM exhaust mani had a common fault where it would crack at the weld where it was cut and welded to make the German left hand drive kit fit the UK right hand drive car.

I'm sure there is more but cant think of them right now, but I'd leave it.

Yeah don't want to buy someone else's problems and I know cars this age can have quite a few, it was meant to have the pistons and conrods uprated but suppose anyone could say that.

 

[voorhees]

I asked how you drove it because I know my remap breaks your neck early doors,this MTM one maybe a lot smoother so you wouldn't get the kick

 

[burns3]

I asked how you drove it because I know my remap breaks your neck early doors,this MTM one maybe a lot smoother so you wouldn't get the kick

I know what you mean about not getting the kick my mapped k04 has but it took longer to get to let's say the speed limit aswel and that was revving it higher than I would ever do in my car.

Still get what your saying but think something else was the issue

 

[voorhees]

I know what you mean about not getting the kick my mapped k04 has but it took longer to get to let's say the speed limit aswel and that was revving it higher than I would ever do in my car.

Still get what your saying but think something else was the issue

Gotcha,could be a number of problems,I'd guess clutch but best is to just walk away or run

 

[burns3]

Gotcha,could be a number of problems,I'd guess clutch but best is to just walk away or run

Clutch was either on or off being a paddle clutch and was really light I thought but yeah think best to steer clear, pity though cos looked lovely with the Porsche wheels and brakes.

 

[matty82]

Hello, bit new on here so dont know if this is the right way to post? From reading above im pretty sure ive recently bought this car. To me it does seem very down on power. Its definatly got k26 turbo, external wastegate ect. When i bought it, it had a massive boost leak so thought that was the problem. sorted that n still down on poke. Changed MAF, lambda, n249 delete, pcv delete,changed n75 for a good spare, fixed various boost leaks and renewed vac lines. Its now at the point where it boosts at 1.75bar ish but as soon as it gets higher up in rev range seems to hold back(stutter almost). No faults with vag com. Any help would be greatfully recieved.

 

[Lavis89]

Worth getting some live data logging done on vagcom, could be a number of issues, at a guess i wpuld say possibly fuel pump but logging should show. Someone that knows what they are talking about will be along soon

 

[badger5]

they run bonkers hot

vcds logs or visit to a vag 1.8t specialist may be on the cards

 

[matty82]

I had it to a tuning place the other day but didn't really get anywhere. I was thinking it maybe heat related as it does get worse when pushed hard or on a warm day. It's still on standard side mounts and intake temps are around 40 when at moderate boost. Where is the best 1.8t place, I'm in northyorkshire.

 

[vivalacoulter]

I'd visit Badger5. Maybe a simple leak check and a front mount intercooler could sort it out.

 

[matty82]

Ive done a few boost leak checks and only have a very small leak on the plastic boost pipe where the boost sensor is located but only becomes audiable at around 2bar(still needs sorting obviously) Ive also got a water/meth kit so might try fitting that to see if makes difference to temps. What intercooler set up is best on s3?

 

[vivalacoulter]

I'd go and have the system smoke pressure tested for leaks, much more accurate. The AH Fab V2 intercooler is a very popular choice, also seen a lot of people on Facebook going for the Airtec one but I haven't seen one in person so can't comment.

 

[Lewis583]

The Wellycooler/ Toyosport 600x300mm core has proven time and again to be a very good cheaper option. Though you may have to lose your front fog lights.

 

[superkarl]

visit RS tuning in Leeds

 

[matty82]

Cheers to every one for advice, ive been looking through older posts on here and found one about fuel pump proplems, my car sometimes struggles to start first time and the lad also said his injection timing was over 20ms, so checked mine and at high revs its as much as 36ms at times. Had the injectors out for a clean and to check part numbers and to me it looks as though the part no has been ground off. All seems abit odd to me. Im thinking a visit to a specialist is in order. I thought with over 25 grand in invoces i was on to a good thing but looks like ive bought a problem child here. I do like a chalenge tho, as always any advice is welcome

 

[Imola-S3]

Shame to hear another S3 owner who's bought someone elses problems.

Hope you get to the bottom of it (and cheaply).

 

[matty82]

Think ive sorted it. Fitted new fuel pump tonight and its totally transformed the car, no hesitation at all and pulls all the way to the redline. To be honest i have this site to thank, as reading through old posts put me on to the fuel pump and a cheaper way of replacing it too. My advice to anyone new to the site would be to read through as loads of info on here. Also going to be fitting a fmic at weekend so looking forward to seeing the results of that too.

 

[david7m]

Result!
Dave

 

[s3james]

I have been looking through this waiting for the day its been fixed! well done mate now you can enjoy it to the max

 

[matty82]

Cheers, i was like a kid at christmas last night on the drive home from work. I just hope it reacts well to the intercooler then going to get it smoke tested for leaks. Ive then got to find replacement front discs for the rather expesive movit conversion it has, its going to be a slow game but hopefully worth it.

 

[tjc]

Hi,

Basic bit of advice (teaching grandmother to suck eggs I am sure!) do not make changes to a car if there are problems until the underlying problems/issues have been fixed.

Got an old S3 and had to have the fuel pump replaced despite low mileage. Back in the day had an RS2 and fueling issues caused performance limitations. Kim Collins spotted the problem but it took a lot of testing to identify the source which was damaged fuel lines! The initial thought was failing injectors. If this had not been detected this could have caused detonation due to a bad fuel air mix and the end of a 5cyl engine!

If in doubt go to someone with a good reputation to get the car checked over such as Badger Bill.

Cheers,

Tim

 

[matty82]

Hi,

Basic bit of advice (teaching grandmother to suck eggs I am sure!) do not make changes to a car if there are problems until the underlying problems/issues have been fixed.

Got an old S3 and had to have the fuel pump replaced despite low mileage. Back in the day had an RS2 and fueling issues caused performance limitations. Kim Collins spotted the problem but it took a lot of testing to identify the source which was damaged fuel lines! The initial thought was failing injectors. If this had not been detected this could have caused detonation due to a bad fuel air mix and the end of a 5cyl engine!

If in doubt go to someone with a good reputation to get the car checked over such as Badger Bill.

Cheers,

Tim

Sorry mate not understanding what you meant, do you mean you have a low milage s3 or mine is a low milage. Its done 120k now and replaced my pump due to poor starting and it was also very noisey. It seems to have cured the problems and also made a massive improvement to the performance of the car(engine even sounds different). I do understand what you mean and take your advice on board as ive made the mistake of chucking parts and money at cars before. At the moment the car is running the best it has since ive owned it. Il check the fuel lines over tomorrow at work as im doing fuel filter any way. The other reason i changed pump is that its been in 345bhp tune since a year old so the standard pump will have been working its socks off And by the look of the front brake discs its not had an easy life. Once again cheers for advice as always welcome.

 

[david7m]

I forgot to instruct the people who maintain my car to do fuel filter for ages, it eventually ruined the fuel pump because of the additional load it was under.
They are very cheap to buy and do yourself providing the clips aren't seized. I tried earlier this year and they wouldn't budge, ended up taking to garage and it needed a line from tank also.
Dave

 

[matty82]

I forgot to instruct the people who maintain my car to do fuel filter for ages, it eventually ruined the fuel pump because of the additional load it was under.
They are very cheap to buy and do yourself providing the clips aren't seized. I tried earlier this year and they wouldn't budge, ended up taking to garage and it needed a line from tank also.
Dave

I know what you mean fuel filter on petrols sometimes get overlooked. I replaced the filter two days after buying the car along with cam belt, water pump, coolant, oil n filter and took sump off to clean strainer(cleanest one so far out of three 1.8t ive owned) Im going to replace filter again due to new pump and also like you say cheap(made cheaper by my girlfriend working at a motor factor)