I have an 2000 S4 tiptronic. My car isn't getting any power. The RPMs go way up but I stay around 30-40 mph. Didn't want to take a risk by driving it on the expressway. What might be the problem??

 

Is there a solid red block around the all the characters in the gear selector display in the gauge cluster?
If so your transmission is in limp mode.
Multiple things could cause this.

 

Yes you are exactly right. There is a solid red block around the characters. How do I get it out of limp mode? I know my car has been sitting for almost a year though. Could that be the problem?

 

Disconnect the battery's negative terminal for about ten minutes then reconnect in and drive it normally and see if it goes away.
Do this and let me know what happens.

 

Tried it out and still same result. I don't think the lack of 02 sensors could be the sole reason. But I should get those installed before I try testing again. Thanks though Red. Appreciated.

 

I'm a rookie at this so bear with me. I did some searches on this site for people who had problems with limp mode. I'm pretty sure from reading the posts it's in limp mode. There's a clunk when I switch the gear to Drive. However it does change gears from 1-2. That's about it.

I also read things about VAG scanning or something along those lines. How would I go about that. And for the coding, how do I take care of that?

 

Bump.

 

When my car was doing this it was caused by the gear selector switch on the side of the transmission. When it sits for a while it can stick and this switch and the cable for the gear selector disagree on what gear it is in so it goes into limp mode.
Pull all the codes and see what they say.
You may need to drive it for a little while to produce some codes try not to do very many stops and look for a good long 35mph road to cruise on for about 20 mins to try and get some codes. Mine threw a gear selector switch code with no check engine light.

 

Red- I went to autozone to get it scanned and the guy said it looks like a boost leak from somewhere. The gas is definitely running rich and I don't have any power in the car at all. I might have to buy the kit to see where the leak may be.

 

Autozone? Ya I wouldn't trust what they say. You don't need any kind of auto. background to work there. Instead of messing around with it just take it somewhere.