Audi A3 1.6 Accelleration Problem..

Nem · 29 Sep 2006 at 19:20

'lo all

My brother has just bought a T reg A3 1.6 petrol and it's having a strange problem.

It basically seems to hit a wall at about 4krpm. If you sit not in gear and gently ease the pedal down it will go all the way up to the redline, but if you just floor it it will jump up and then bob up and down at about 3500 - 4000 rpm as if it was going off the limiter.

On the test drive he did, and I allso had 5 mins in it it seemed fine, but then it was just driving around town so didn't get above 4krpm. Clearly our fault for not giving it a right good testing but not having bought a 2nd hand car before, etc etc.

Anyway, if anyone has any idea what it could be I would be really grateful to hear. I've already unplugged the MAF sensor which helped slightly by giving an extra 500rpm on the top line but no more.

Thanks

Nick

Origin · 29 Sep 2006 at 19:25

Nem said:
'lo all
/snip/.

Thanks

Nick

Not sure if it helps, but my 306 Gti does this sort of thing when it is low on petrol (1/4 of a tank) It goes away when I put more than that in it.
But from the sounds of it, it's something esle.
Sorry if I'm not much help.

Nem · 29 Sep 2006 at 19:28

It had almost no fuel in it when we collected it, but was fulled up 10 mins after we left. Then it's had a 90 mile trip home since then and still the same.

Thanks.

Bat · 29 Sep 2006 at 19:42

Sounds like it's gone into "limp home" mode mate. The ECU has detected a fault and is protecting the engine. You could try disconnecting the battery for half an hour to reset it, but I suggest getting a VAG dealer to hook it up for a proper diagnosis.

Nem · 29 Sep 2006 at 19:44

sorry, not thinking. I've got Vag-Com which I use on my TT and gave the A3 a fault scan last night and found nothing logged at all. I will try the ECU reset tomorrow just to see. But I was suprised to find nothing logged in the fault memory to indicate a problem.

Nick

Dandle · 29 Sep 2006 at 20:02

Sounds to me like the coil is playing up although i would expect Vag-com to pick that up.

austinpowers · 29 Sep 2006 at 20:14

The cat might have failed, this happened on a mondeo i had, it wouldn't rev past certain revs getting lower everytime, till it failed completely then it was fine again..It basically blocked the exhaust.

Scania · 30 Sep 2006 at 19:57

austinpowers said:
The cat might have failed, this happened on a mondeo i had, it wouldn't rev past certain revs getting lower everytime, till it failed completely then it was fine again..It basically blocked the exhaust.

My thoughts exactly!

My old e36 318i BMW would'nt go past 4,200rpm 9 times out of 10, a quick trip to the spanner monkey told me the cat had collapsed internally - buggered to you or I - & needed replacement.

On replacing the cat, the engine felt like it had grown another litre in size such was the apparent power loss with the collapsed cat.

Nem · 30 Sep 2006 at 20:07

Many thanks for that. It's now booked into a local garage on monday for a dia, so I'mm make sure thats mentioned to them.

Cheers.

Nick