Under load it will rev to 2,000 and dies back down to idle and repeats. It will eventually take off if you gun it. It is an automatic. It take off till if reaches 2,000 RPM, then loses all power till it hits idle and then repeats.

 

auto or 5 speed?

 

Sounds like a misfire to me.

On my 99 2.8L V6, the ECU thought it was a 1.8T and I experienced the same thing. It was fine at idle, but anything above that would cause it to fluctuate between where it should be and idle on its own. Pushing it a little harder would smooth it out a little bit.

Had the ECU reflashed and it was fine.

 

does the trans seem to slip before hunkering back down? could be a clutch pack problem or perhaps the torque converter's on the way out. a misfire i would doubt unless its thrown a code and has a nasty idle, have you a cel??

 

Mine did this same exact thing after a tb/wp job and I thought I effed up the timing by a tooth or something stupid. Tore it apart 3 times and put back together and still the same result. Finally had a friend come over with his vag com before I got mine, and it was from having the battery disconnected for so long while doing the tb service on it at night through the week and the throttle body just needed to be adapted. One we performed the throttle body adaptation per ross-techs direction on their website, problem was solved. If it's a misfire, the CEL should be flashing.

 

This sounds right. When it happened to mine, the CEL didn't flash, but it was clearly not running on 6 cylinders. His 1.8T is a different scenario though.

 

I am not familiar with Audi but have done mechanic work for almost 30 years and its not a miss fire. The electrical completely dies until it reaches and idle RPM and then revs, with out miss firing, to 2,000 and again dies.

 

Electrical as far as spark and ignition? Or electrical as far as anything electronic wired into the 12V system (like dash lights and all)?

 

Spark and ignition