I've had my 1997 Audi A4 2.8 12v FWD with a 5 speed for almost 8 months now and ever since i bought it it's been a money pit. It's had this mechanical issue that remains unkown. Originally it was out of time, according 2 a local independant mechanic, he re-timed it and installed a new ac compressor at the same time. This eliminated the check engine light, but didn't fix the issue. Now here are the symptoms:

I've been driving the car the way it is for quite a while, and for the most part nothing's really changed, hasn't gotten better or worse. But I would like to see it running like a fine german machine. I now have access to a shop and tools and I ready to take on some projects to figure out what's wrong/fix the problem. Please guys, i've been trying to figure this out for months, HELP ME!!!

Oh one more thing, the clutch is on it's way out, how long/how hard is it to do a clutch on a V6 front wheel drive B5?


THANKS A BUNCH (in advance)

 

lol, sorry man i just had to laugh about the backfiring and buzzing engine, symptoms of lawnmower-itis. I used to have a 98 that was nothing but problems like that and i figured i bought a lemon. I just ended up fixin little **** to sell it for a better one. It would just cost way too much to fix then just by a new one....

 

If your timing was off by much before, you might have valve damage which would kill your performance and cause all sorts of symptoms. Other than that, it could be a bad MAF. Do you have any fault codes right now?

 

No codes, at least not on my OBDII scanner, i don't have a vag-com and as for selling it, it has a salvage title which absolutely kills any resale value.

 

If there was valve damage would I need to remove the whole head to check? Would the car even be able to run with damaged valves?

 

well if it is salvaged i hope you didn't pay that much for it in the first place.

 

have you changed the plugs?
You are having serious problems, so i would expect there to be some fault codes. This is strange... If local mechanics arent finding the problem, it might be worthwhile to suck it up and take it to the dealer and let them go through their **** retentive diagnosing practices. Its gunna cost you, but if you dont want to sell it, you might not have a choice.
Sure the car could rn with damaged valves.. Not very well though..

 

my timing belt snapped on the old car i was talking bout and all 20 valves were bent BAD! I had to buy a used head that was rebuild with new valves and everything. Cost be about 1k!....if thats the case and the valves are bent i would strongly recommend not driving it

 

Well i've driven it over 4000 miles since i got it, and as i said, it hasn't gotten better or worse...How difficult is it to replace a head on this vehicle?

 

I haven't done a search to determin if the V6 is an interference motor but since you mentioned doing some work on the timing I would first suggest that you do a compression test on all the cylinders. This will help determin if you have bent valves. If compression is good thenI would check your exhaust, maybe it could be a plugged cat.If all those things check out the check your fuel pressure. If that looks good then run some Seafoam through it and see what happens.Keep us posted, I'd liketo know what you find out.