Engine management problems?

I have a 2002 1.6 FSI which I have owned since 2005. I have done around 30,000 miles in that time and it has been the perfect car - in short, I absolutely love it! I have had no problems whatsoever with it until just recently when it just lost power. There was really not much there at all, then the ECU and the Engine Management lights came on. I took it to the dealer who said that the throttle pedal sensor had gone and that it needed to be replaced. I was advised to have the cam belt changed while they were working on the car so the total bill was £1500, including the belt. Once replaced, I collected the car, drove away and on came the lights again. It was returned to the workshop where it was discovered that the fault lie with a cable. The faulty cable was blamed for 'blowing' the first computer (but strangely did not do the same to the second.) The cable was replaced and I collected the car. Although there was more power when I accelerated, the car now shuddered when ticking over and would not start first or, sometimes, second time. I returned the car to the workshop where it was discovered that a coolant sensor needed to be replaced and that no:3 cylinder had less compression than the rest and the valves were sticking. I had the coolant sensor replaced but an estimation of anywhere between £800-£3000 for putting the cylinder problem right resulted in my hasty collection of my beloved car and epic trawling of the internet.

I am more than a little miffed by the whole business. Does it seem right that a faulty cable,
that managed to 'blow' one computer, would not do the same when connected to a new computer? Does it also seem a little odd that the cylinder problem arose between my taking the car to the workshop and collecting it? Maybe it's just an unhappy coincidence - any ideas?
 
Welcome.
Sorry to hear this epic tale of Stealership Nastiness, I think you've done the right thing in pulling the plug at this stage.

I would suggest the first thing you do is try and get the error codes logged in the ECU and posted up on the forum - what you need to do is either tell the Garage to give them to you, or failing that, find someone on the forum who lives near you who has access to software called VAGCOM - there is a function on the site to show this.

Once we have the error codes, we can proceed in helping you solve this and hopefully prevent you having to shell out 3k!
 
Re: Codes

Wow! What a quick response - thank you!

The codes for the current cylinder problem are P300 and P303. The chap at the garage didn't have the codes for the original problem at hand, but says he will email them later on.
Hope this is useful!
 
Well here you go:

P300 - random cylinder misfire detected http://wiki.ross-tech.com/index.php/16684/P0300/000768
P303 - cylinder 3 misfire detected http://wiki.ross-tech.com/index.php/16687/P0303/000771

How did they diagnose loss of compression and a sticking valve, or what that a guess from them as to why cylinder 3 is misfiring? Also, how did they diagnose the sticking throttle position sensor?

By the way, when you say "blow the computer" - are you meaning you've had the ECU replaced, or do you just mean it caused an error to be displayed on the dashboard?

I'm going to throw myself out on a limb here and suggest for a starter for 10 it could be the coilpack, or injector in cylinder 3? I'm sure others will pitch in.
 
I'm with Dan here in i reckon it is possibly all coil packs on the way out. as it is a 2002 fsi i think it will be running the earlier less reliable coil packs, i think it was 03 cars on that have the newer design(5year warranty)coil packs. at 30k miles they are probably all giving slight problems with number 3 really misfiring. as a fellow fsi owner i have always been aware they can be a problem so i carry a spare in the boot. i haven't had a need to use it YET, my car is a late 03 so has the newer design packs on.and as far as i can tell(service history and numbers on top)my ones are original ones.
as for replacement do some looking around as prices are very random. i bought my one from a dealer on ebay for £9.50---but some are selling them for £69 each!!!!! not sure what price Audi are charging but maybe an option considering the warranty you will get on them. lets hope you get it sorted out as you do seem to have had a bum steer from the dealer-is there a vag -com member near you that could scan your car and possibly get some live readings? lets hear how you get on mate cheers mike
 
More Details

This information is taken from my receipt for the initial lack of power problem. I may have misled you with throttle sensor - apologies.

'Investigate engine management light on and lack of power. Check vehicle fault memories, fault stored with accelerator pedal sender. Carry out guided fault finding tests on sender, component showing ok. Clear fault memory and road test, fault returned. Found ecu reading fault but component and wiring ok. Suspect fault with engine control unit, requires new. Replaced engine control unit and test, all ok.'

When I collected the car, following this repair, the lights came back on when I had driven about 1 mile. I took the car back later and it was then they discovered that a cable was to blame. I don't have a receipt or any written info after the second visit as I didn't have to pay for that - thankfully. When I collected the car after the second visit, the new problem appeared. It's an intermittent shudder when the car is idling and a problem with starting. It used to start just with the key, now you need one or two attempts and some accelerator pedal. A friend suggested some sort of liquid that you can buy at Wilco that you put into the car and then really put your foot down to sort out these valves!

Hope this has helped a bit!
Lots of thanks!
 
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