flat spot annoyance on a3 1.8 sport non turbo (agn)

[rustynlc]

hi all, i have an annoying problem, a flat spot! its really starting to wind me up and its letting the car down! the car idles runs and drives fine, but get the revs to 3000 and the car holds back and dosent seem to pull aswell as what it does in lower revs, iv had it read for fault codes and none are present, but every garage iv taken it to have noticed the hold back and progress more slowly at 3000 revs yet become stumped when no fault codes can be found, the cars a 1997 a3 with the 1.8 agn (125bhp) engine in it, its fully serviced, only covered a few hundred miles since the most recent service, it was happening befor the service i must point out, any ideas,clues,tips,tricks to help me out would be extreamly welcome as i havent a clue were to start,

 

[Spankys3]

Maybe take the spark plugs out and have a check of them mate. When was the last time it had the fuel filter doing?

 

[Sandip]

Unplug the MAF and see if that makes any difference....

What's the service history like??

New oil, oil filter, fuel filter, new set of plugs and leads and a K&N panel filter.

 

[rustynlc]

Cheers for the reply mate, yeah ill take the plugs out and see how they look, rang the garage and they don't do the fuel filter on a service so maybe worth a check cheers mate, just hope it is an easy fix like dodgy plugs or gunked up filter

 

[Sandip]

Before you take it to the garage, unplug the MAF and see how it feels

 

[rustynlc]

Hi, sandip ill unplug the maf and take it for a spin and see if it makes a difference, will the engine management light come on with this unconnected? And the service is full audi, new oil plugs, leads, oil filter, I believe it was a standard filter put back in, but changed it to a k+n, the car has been runnin fine with the filter for a couple of weeks so wouldn't of thought that was to blame, or could it be? Ill go try the unpluggin of the maf cheers

 

[Sandip]

Yes it may put a management light on, was it running perfect up until the K&N was put it??

 

[rustynlc]

@Sandip, the car had the problem befor it was put in, it hasn't got worse or better since the k+n was put in, just about to go try unpluggin the maf sensor

 

[rustynlc]

@sandip I unplugged the maf and took it out for a spin, and wow! The powers back and its now pullin smoothly through the revs perfectly, I'd go as far as sayin its probably pullin better than iv know it to, it is a lil boggy when pullin off but I think this is due to the engine sucking to much air. Due to the car pulling fine now I assume this is a sure way of showin the mafs on its way out? Iv heard you can clean the mafs, is it worth cleaning them or will I just be better off buyin a new one? cheers for sharing the knowledge sandip,

 

[Sandip]

No problem bud, no harm in cleaning the MAF if you want to, i've done it in the past. Would be better to buy a new one though

 

[rustynlc]

i followed your advice and iv been and baught myself a new maf sensor fitted it once i got back from work, and the car has now got its grunt back, cheers once again sandip, now that problem is sorted i can now focus on modding, any worthwhile mods i should be made aware of? cheers

 

[Sandip]

Limited on the N/A 1.8 i'm afraid, i spent a lot on my AGN mk4 Golf a few years ago, got it mapped, cat back system and a carbonio air intake, then i went and got the S3

Not worth spending to mouch on the engine bud, you don't get much bang for buck

 

[rustynlc]

kinda thought that might be the answer, was just wondering that was all, seeing as im stuck with th N/A 1.8 for a while, (saving for a house deposit) , i was browseing the net and seen somewere that the 1.8 agn N/A vwracing cars chck out nearly 200 bhp surely this cant be logical, unless they have a free flow exhaust system and running throttle bodies, i have booked my car in for a stainless custom system to be fitted, and im debateing the remap route aswell, im seriously debateing leaving the misses blowing all the cash on a spanking s3 and prey to god she dont hunt me down,