I posted this on the tech side but thought this area may be better. I'm new to the site, and TT ownership, but love both.

1.8t 225 hp 2001 with a manual.

I previously posted that my car was acting like it was running on 3 cylinders.

here's what I have done;

most expensive can of fuel injector cleaner I could find.
no check engine lights
cleaned MAF
new spark plugs
checked coil packs - all cylinders are firing at idle
had checker auto run a scan - nothing
no audi dealer in town and my VW dealer won't touch it
checked for vacume leaks but can't seem to hear or see any - who knows

car just runs rough. at idle, on the road, clutch in or out doesn't make a difference. the problem came quickly, I noticed it on my 3 mile drive to work. rev it up and it's just not smooth, almost afraid to drive it. idles great, doesn't seem to have the power.

any other ideas? the dealer is 360 miles away and I am starting to panic!

Peter Schmid

 

any mods?
plug gap?

 

Hey i hate to tell you this but what your describing is exactl 100% what mine did...The timing belt tensonier went bad the belt stretched causing the timing chain on the opposite side of the motor to jump a tooth...

To Fix:
Replace timing belt and tensoner

remove valve cover re tension the timing chain and realign the cam shafts add a new valve cover gasket and walla your done!

I got mine professionally done at a vdub dealer for 1000 bucks for the entire job...If you take it in and they cant figure it out shoot me a pm ill give you the tech who did mines number because he had to call all over to figure out mine because after they got the timing belt and tensoner on it was missfiring like a bitch they had to call everywher eto finally discover it jumped a tooth and threw all the cams off

DONT DRIVE IT YOU RISK MAJOR DAMAGE!

 

wow - I was afraid of something major. I'm out in Rapid City, SD and there is no dealer, may try to sweet talk the vw dealer in to taking a look.

do you have the bently manual? would it walk a guy through this repair? I'm handy, rebuilding a land rover engine next to the audi, but new cars scare me.

thanks again

Peter Schmid

 

If it is what he said, since its an 01, its not hard and cheap since its nonVVT. A bently would walk you through the process. Its basically taking off the valve cover and replacing a selinoid

 

thanks - I'm going to buy the bently today - doesn't look too tough. timing issues always give me pause.

 

how many miles are on it

 

What does it do when you rev it in neutral? Could it be a boost leak? maybe an unmetered air leak? I wouldn't jump to such drastic conclusions first. It would be unusual for the car to run and not throw some kind of code or cel. Vag-com and see what codes show up first.

 

The VW dealer agreed to take a look. the car is rough in idle as well. I'm not driving anymore. there are now 130k miles, a lot, but it should last a long long time. I have only put about 3k since I have owned it.

I have had saab turbos that would blow hoses from time to time, I have looked the TT over and everything is clean and perfect looking.