Hey,
I've been wrestling with my 97 Audi recently. I THINK I've isolated the problem by pulling the plugs and evacuating oil, as it runs MUCH smoother, but it's not perfect now.

The other day, it took me 15 minutes to start it. Yeah, I kept trying that long. I think my valve cover gaskets are allowing oil to seep down into the cylinders and just "snuffing" the spark the plugs put out. Like I said, I took the plugs out, evacuated oil, cleaned 'em a bit, and put 'em back in. Runs much smoother. Before I take get the new gaskets, the valve covers off and change the plugs though, I just want to see if what I'm talking about makes sense to anyone else.

Well?