Sudden loss of power

[cadoc]

1998 A3 1.8 Automatic

All of a sudden the car has developed a performance drop-off problem.
Whilst I'm rolling along normally, the car sometimes starts to judder and occasionally the engine loses power and nearly stops. I struggle along for a small distance and then it springs back to life.
Has anyone else experienced a similar problem and what's causing it ?

Thanks in advance.

[cadoc]

Unfortunately it gets worse!
I've taken it to two Audi/VW specialists who've put the car on their diagnostic system and both have them told me that there's a fault with the ECU.
Don't know what to do now. It's an 11 year old car - can i justify spending so much money on a new ECU and then something else goes wrong further down the line ?
Strangely enough for the past week it hasn't played up at all.
Maybe I need to think whether to either ;
a) get it fixed
b) keep driving it 'til it dies
c) part-ex it
d) scrappage ? (not really, I can't afford a brand new car).

[1.8tgav]

Hey dude, I've experienced something similar on my 1.8t. I'd be at traffic lights and the motor would start to shudder then not rev when I wanted it to. What I did was give her a good service ie new battery, plugs, oil, air/oil filter, thermostat, coolant temp sensor. I had the codes read last week and it says apart from the temp sensor and a power supply fault (which I rectified with fittin said sensor and batt) everythings fine Hope ya get sorted pal

[a_e_v]

we had a car come into work it had a fautly turbo and was giving us the same symptoms...

on the fact that you probably don't have a turbo... give it a service and run it if it works but consider part exing it while she's still running smooth and do it with a dealer cause if they sell it on and it starts playing up they will have to fix it under warranty.

i have little exp with auto's but i don't know if there's perhaps a gbox problem maybe?

[pauldazzle]

You could try giving Chris Hughes a ring. He repairs ECU's for the trade, & may be able to repair it for you. I haven't spoken to him for a while, but here's his mobile 07722288844.