Sudden power loss/hesitation

**Crasher** · 21-06-2013,10:45 AM

The saloon and Avant are identical from the B pillar forwards.

**techfreak** · 21-06-2013,11:30 AM

Took it to my mechanic just now and caused the fault to happen twice on the way down. It's not happening when you do floor it but more when you hit a pot hole or speed bump on the way down.

The first thing he said is ecu ...either water or earth.

Soon as I left it died again this time to the point of complete outage even engine. Restarted and fuel gauge has gone down to zero as fuel warning light on.

He's still convinced it's ecu causing havoc everywhere.

He's hopefully going to investigate properly later today and try get to the bottom of this.

As much as i love the quattro I'm truly sick of audis now - really tempted to fix this, sell up and move on to BMW - I never hear of any problems with my friends that have Beemers.

:-(

**MarkTM** · 21-06-2013,03:46 PM

Tech, am sorry to hear of your thoughts, am thinking that some cars are destined to be millstones whilst others just keep going basic maintenance without problems.

I know 3 other Audi drivers with a combined ownership of over 12yrs that have never experienced problems and confessed complete ignorance when I mentioned VCDS and it's capabilities.

Hope you get your problem sorted.

**Guest 2** · 21-06-2013,03:49 PM

Originally Posted by techfreak

really tempted to fix this, sell up and move on to BMW - I never hear of any problems with my friends that have Beemers.

BMWs aren't free of problems either - BBC One - Watchdog - BMW deny engine failures are due to manufacturing fault

So avoid x20d models, x30d and x35d models as they swallow their swirl flaps and cause havoc just like the timing chain snapping on the x20d models.

At least with Audi 3.0 TDi they don't chew on the flaps they only fail and don't fall off and into the engine.

**techfreak** · 21-06-2013,03:59 PM

I'm aware of the swirl flap issues and the best thing to do is have them removed - least that's what the owners I know do. Problem solved relatively easily.

Mechanics been tied up on other jobs so not seen him yet.

Does anyone have diagrams or a guide of how to get to the ecu that could be causing these problems?

Is it easy enough to get to? Can it be taken apart and contact cleaned/dried up?

Is it the ones in/near plenum chamber?

From that video (thanks Roy) mine looks different maybe as it's a 3.0?

Taking that cover off reveals two boxes with wires going into it one on the drivers side and a bigger one on the passengers side... Is it located in one of them? At first glance on the outside it all looks dry.

If I know where to look I'd like to just get on with trying to sort this myself ...

**techfreak** · 21-06-2013,05:38 PM

Reset fuel gauge by taking out dash fuse and reinserting...

Thanks to? This forum of course...

This is a known problem when you get a flat battery

I wonder if this sheds a clue on my problem?

**gupsterg** · 21-06-2013,06:29 PM

Feel for you Tech

not great when you buy a car and an onslaught of issues rear their ugly head

...
Many a time I thought of jumping ship so you know what I think of the early V6 any how ...
I've got to add though the online support via communities is the only thing which has kept me going/soften the blow of ownership

...
The engine ECU is in the right plenum chamber box when facing the engine bay from front ...

I had good access only by removing the cowl beneath the wiper arms ... it can be stiff for removal from beneath the windscreen edge, use gentle but constant persuasive pressure, the service guide suggests spraying soapy water on that edge of cowl to aid removal ...

I bought an el cheapo wiper arm removal tool off ebay for about a £5 which has helped me more times than it's cost

...

**MarkTM** · 23-06-2013,09:43 AM

Plenum chamber pics of my 3.0 taken yesterday, just for completeness, was completely dry back there with only a few bits of leaves (vacuumed out naturally!)

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