Some how rain water leaked inside my car. I had a puddle on both the driver and passenger sides. Now, the car drives like crap. It feels as if it's out of gas but I just filled it last night. When coming to a stop the car shuts off...I hear a strange sound, then the car starts to sputter as if I'm out of gas, then shuts off. It also has a strange smell when I shut it off...Sort of like burned hair. I'm wondering if perhaps it's an electrical issue, or if there's water in my engine! I've had the car for a couple of years and have never had any problems. The only sign of water leakage seems to be coming from under the dash which leads me to believe that it is infact an electrical issue. Has anyone else experienced any similar problems? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

You should search this, many topics about it.


Check your ecu and your tcu. Burning hair? Perhaps cats? Take it to a shop that will diagnose it for free, also, goto autozone and get a vag done to it.

Good luck, I think i've seen majority of the people come back fine from this after the car dried out totally.

 

Cool thanks a lot man! I'll check it out as soon as I get home. I posted this in another forum and got a similar response regarding the ECU. Hope my car isn't ruined...Thanks again!

 

You need to remove the plenum cove and clean the plenum drain, so that water doesn't enter the fresh air intake.
The ECU and TCU are located under the rug in the pasenger footwell, so they may have been damaged.
You should disconnect the battery, then remove the two control units and dry them out. The door sill has hidden screws as does the footwell trim. So, you need to remove the sill cover with a putty knife. Once the sill and the footwell trim is unscrewed, then the rug may be folded out of the way to get to the electronic control box. The electronic control box cover has two screws.
After you dry out you controls, and clean them with electronic type cleaners used for computers, you may reinstall them. Next, reconnect the battery.
If the poor performace persists, then you may need to replace the control units, as water sometimes causes permanent damage.
You will need the BentleyPublishers.com Audi shop manual CD.