Hi

I have a pretty much completely stock 97 1.8T Quattro with ~60K miles on the clock. I've owned it almost 3 years (from ~25K miles) and its been dealer serviced throughout.
Last week I had the cambelt, water pump, gaskets, tensioners etc replaced.

Car ran a little uncertainly at idle upon return from dealer, but not so badly that I "had" to get it back to them.

Ran into the office about 15 mins away this evening. Was there approx 30 mins, then came to drive home. Engine extremely uneven, and vibrating badly at idle. Power noticeably down, while engine needed to be maintained at 3000 rpm to be remotely smooth. Exhaust extremely hot upon stopping and a noticeable odour. Oh BTW no dash warning lights.

Any thoughts on likely causes? I immediately thought CAT, but after reading this forum see a number of other possible causes. Seeing i'm no expert, perhaps some of you can assist me...... Look forward to your assistance in advance.

 

Bring it back to the dealer.

 

Welcome to Forums.....

1st off do yourself a favor. DO NOT GO TO DEALER. Find a reliable honest Europenan shop.
They are cheap and u can prolly trust them more than dealer

 

Update

Thanks for the comments guys. I always intended to get hold of the dealer, however it was after hours when this happened so I posted here to see whether I could get a head-start on salving my worries asbout the possible causes of the problem.

I spoke with the dealer by phone this morning and without any actual on-the-spot diagnosis they agree it's hard to know the actual cause, although they suspect the coil..... which is one of the more financially palateable suspects I must say.

As I've done 45K miles in it over 3 years without any problems in that department, I'm probably overdue for coil problems if I believe some of the more experienced Audi owners here.

Anyway, long story short is that I'd rather not risk trying to get the car into the dealership which is 50 miles away while the cause still isn't diagnosed, so have arranged for the local garage to diagnose it tomorrow. While they're a generic workshop, they have good Euro expertise so if it's coils I'll probably just get them to do the job.

Will update here in case anyone's interested.

Thanks again for your comments.

 

Could be that they didn't do the timing belt right and it might be one tooth off. Alternatively, they may have accidentally disconnected something like the temperature sensor or a vacuum line.

They should fix it.

 

OK, So the local mechanic finally got to the car today to diagnose the fault.

Codes indicated misfire in cylinder #2 - and after ruling out the obvious coil pack, plug, and injector scenario traced it to the Ignition Control Module (ICM) which both he and the dealership agree is a common problem with the 1.8T - and is almost always prefaced by a misfire on Cylinder #2.

Anyway, garage has ordered the stock ICM (approx $250 US) from Audi and will fit for me on arrival tomorrow. Fingers crossed I should be mobile again then and not have to fold myself in and out of an MX5 a friend kindly lent me....

Thanks

 

BTW, since it's been dealer serviced throughout, I would keep that up... it should help you in the resale area. Most potential buyers love to see those dealer stamps and receipts. JMHO [sm=icon_cheers.gif]

 

Thanks

FWIW I intend to continue the dealership servicing, helped in no small part to the fact they're an agreeable bunch and haven't made any real mistakes with my vehicle - at least not to my knowledge.

The car had one prior owner, who serviced it through the dealer they purchased it from at 5K intervals.......... I'm big on preventative maintenance but not that a*al about it, so have returned it to the standard service schedule. Audi gives me discounted labour rates and parts, which pretty much mean I'm not going to be ahead $ wise by shifting, so aside from the fact that I've moved and the dealership is 50 mls away instead of 2 mins down the road, there aren't too many reasons to want to change......

That said, if I start modding the car..... maybe the dealer's attitude will change. We shall see....

 

Sounds like its the ICM.

Pretty common issue, must just be coincidence for it happpening right after the t-belt job.

When I replaced mine it cost about $180 for the ICM.