Recently when going up hills, or even starting from a stop, my car has been extremely sluggish. It has gotten so bad that even on mid-grade hills on a highway, I am limited to around ~60 mph and downshifting into 3rd gear doesn't even seem to work.

I've pulled codes from my car, and the only code that is thrown is a simple temperature sensor that I need to replace (~$10 and 20 minutes of work) that I'll be doing this weekend, which I highly doubt is the problem.

Any ideas?

 

could be a leak somewhere

 

You think maybe a turbo/exhaust leak? I didn't see any fuel leakage or oil.

 

I mean pressure leak, air leak. Check everthing between from air filter to intake manifold. there are hoses that cracks after years. Make sure your dv is in good shape and can hold the pressure. Since you have have a cel, you should start with fixing that first.

 

Cool, will do. Going to replace the temp sensor today and start looking for air leaks. I'm fairly new to Audis (haven't done much work on it), but I know my way around a car (raced Solo II and owned a few Honda del Sols). Any recommended places to start? Thanks again for all the support.

 

intake hose that goes to turbo and dv. another hose connected to the intake mani. look for the hose that between intake mani. and fuel pressure very short small hose, prob. 3-4 inches long.

 

A coolant temp sensor can cause a host of side effects for the 1.8t. It shouldn't take 20min. It should take less then 5 min. It literally took me like 1-2 min to replace. Make sure you do it in the morning after the car has sat at night. Put some cardboard under the car to catch the little bit of coolant that will be coming out when you swap. Done!

 

Did you check your injectors and plugs? Maybe they're dirty.

 

Hrm, interesting. I'll replace it as soon as the part gets in. I said 20 minutes just to be on the safe side, even though I read the great post on it here and I know how easy it should be. Things typically never work out as planned.

That's another thought of mine. I haven't had much time to look at the car, but I'm going to work on it this weekend.

 

Hey, bumping this old thread

I finally got around to doing some work to it, and it's throwing these codes:

P0118 - This is the coolant temp sensor I am replacing on Friday
P1136 - Long Term Fuel Trim Add.Fuel,Bank 1 System too Lean

I did some research on P1136 means some vacuum leaks or a faulty MAF sensor, but I've checked for leaks and I can't find too much. After changing my spark plugs to E3 Diamondfires, I gained a bit of acceleration, but there's still lag.

I had the codes cleared and P1136 hasn't reproduced yet, but I'm sure they both will eventually. I bought some MAF sensor cleaner and will blast it out tonight and hopefully that will help. Any other ideas?