Timing problems -totally fed up

R

rosewhite

Member
Firstly I probably need to say that I am a woman who knows very, very little about cars - but I love my 03 1.6fsi and I am getting so frustrated that I could cry!

When I got the car 2 years ago it flew, it accelerated so quickly in first/second gear with the rev counter keeping on the lower numbers (!). Now, it's no quicker that my old 950 fiesta, there is no real accellearation, you can sometimes hear a "ticking" noise when accellarating and can often have foot to floor when on a dual carriageway doing 70mph.

I took it to a local garage who agreed it is not running properly, they did some checks and changed the air flow sensor (hopefully that is what it is called) - this cost me £170 but to new improvment to the engine. It is currently using so much more fuel than normal (with the a/c off as well) so I decided to take it into the audi garage for a full check. They have put it on every machine possible but cannot find anything wrong and I very much got the impression they thought i was a stupid woman who was imagining the problem. They drove it and said thought it seems ok - but unless you drove it when it was fantastic you probably would say this.

Can anybody suggest the next step for me please??? I really do love the car but can't keep on the way it is as sluggish and using so much fuel I will have to get something else if nothing changes.

Would be very grateful for any advice!!
 
Low power and high fuel consumption? ... could the air filter be blocked? It's what I'd look at first of all.
 
rosewhite said:
you can sometimes hear a "ticking" noise when accellarating
Click to expand...

Hi Rosewhite,

That "ticking" sound you hear could be the engine pinking (pinging) caused by too lean a mixture. What brand / grade of fuel do you use? The next few times you fill up, try a tank full of high octane petrol, such as that found in Shell petrol stations.

John.
 
Thanks for those suggestions - I will ask hubby if the air filter is something he can look at (he doesn't know much more than me!!) if not will take it down the garage.

I do use everything and anything for petrol I must admit but I have filled up tonight with shell V Power and will see what happens!

thanks very much
 
Hi Rose,

With your car being an fsi, did Audi do a thorough check of the coil packs? (These are a known weak point; so do a search on the forum). I would assume that the answer would be yes, but a partial failure might explain a lack of performance/increase in fuel consumption I would have thought.

Darren
 
Hi Darren,
I mentioned the coils at the Norwich dealership and they said if there was any problem it would have shown up when they did all their tests. I have read a few bits about them and was tempted to ask them to change them anyway but after having the air flow meter thingy changed I really don't want to spend any more without a guaranteed fix.
 
Hi,

You could always get Stealth to work their magic on your car. I had my 1.6 remapped for a while - and there was a marked performance improvement (albeit at a slight cost to the fuel economy). They might have a better idea of identifying where your current problems lie too.

Ben
 
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