HI,

I was hoping someone out there might be able to help me out. My Audi A6 has just recently started going into "limp mode" when I drive the car. All the gears will be highlighted but no one individual gear will be selected. When stopped, when i give the car gas it feels like I'm in fourth gear because it starts out really slow and eventually picks up speed. I've gone as fast as 55 but you can tell that no gears are shifting.
A buddy of mine came over and hooked up with the VAG Com and it read out a code for a Mass Air Flow Sensor along with TCM and other trasmission codes. I bought a MAF and tried to install it but the top two screws on the unit in the car are stripped and just spinning, hence, i can't remove and replace my MAF without taking it to a shop. So I'm wondering if there might be something else I can do to fix the problem...to be honest I'm not even sure the MAF would fix it but I thought i read somewhere that if the MAF is bad it would put the car in limp mode. Is this true??

Can anyone give me some suggestions on what to do?

Thanks in advance for all of your help.

M

 

sounds like you have a bad ground somewhere
when multiple codes from a certain area, start leaning towards a grounding issue.

 

Its not the maf. Your stuck in second gear. Thats the default gear for limp home mode. Most likely cause is a bad multifunction switch on the trans. If your scan tool is capable see if the trans is seeing what gear its in when your move the selector level. What codes were stored in the trans?

 

Hey guys,
Thanks for the quick responses. Here's an update to my situation. I finally got those two stripped screws out and installed the MAF. However, like dankhound said it's most likely not the solution. In any case, I've got a new MAF installed. I drove the car around for about 10 minutes after installing the MAF and the car is driving fine. It did this before when my wife first started noticing the limp mode condition. I suspect some time tomorrow while my wife is driving the car it'll go back into limp mode. I'm having my wife take the car to our mechanic and have him service the transmission fluid. NOt sure if that will do anything.
As far as the codes in the tranny, I'm not sure which ones they were. After I get my buddy up here this weekend with his VAG Com, I'll let you know. The multi-function switch was my next step. Where is it located in a 98 Audi A6 2.8? Is it an easy job?

Thanks again in advance for all the help.

M.

 

Hey everyone,

An update to my problem. I installed the MAF and have not had ANY more problems with the car going back into limp mode. The car runs like brand new again. So, if your car goes into "limp mode" the MAF may be the culprit.

Thanks.

 

Cool glad you go it fixed. Thats really strange as ive never seen a maf throw a trans into limp mode. Of course sometimes these cars do really strange things.