86 5000 TQ Shutter?

mlgraham at bmi.net mlgraham at bmi.net
Tue Mar 9 23:22:27 EST 2004


About two months ago, had a severe weather front come in with record cold 
and snow.  Basically, the snow was too deep, and the Audi sat out  in the 
cold (no garage space) for 3 – 4 weeks until the snow melted. I would go
out and start it up every two or three days to let it warm up, so the
battery wouldn’t  go dead.

After the thaw, I noticed the motor was making more noise than usual.  A
more of a thump/thump exhaust pulse sound of each cylinder, with quite a
bit of moisture (water vapor or gas?).  We had humidity above 70% during
this period. No black or blue smoke, but thought maybe a broken head
gasket, frozen block or cracked head?  I monitored the coolant level, but 
no apparent coolant loss. No motor oil in the coolant and no coolant in
the motor oil. The motor sounds as though it was out of time, or trying
to compress water, but without any knocking engine noise. 

When I drive it, at mid BAR (.5 – 1.0)  pressure and low RPM's (800 –
2,000)  the car shutters.  The doors windows shake, and I get this 60 –
120 cycle a minute shuttering noise within the car.  Its most noticeable
when I am turning 1,400 – 2,000 RPM’s around town, in third or fourth
gear, and when I step on the accelerator, the car is slow to accelerate.  
When I step on the accelerator, the thing I notice instantly is that the
BAR will jump up to .7 - .8 .  The shutter only really goes away when I
aggressively down shift and then accelerate strongly, and the bar
pressure is above 1.1 – 1.2.   At 60 mph, going down the highway, I have
the shutter, and am running anywhere between .7 - .9 BAR with the
shutter, trying to maintain a constant speed. Previously the car ran
smoothly at .3 - .6 BAR, cruising effortlessly.  If I lift off the
accelerator, and the BAR drops down below .4 - .5 , such as .3 the car
engine smoothes right out and runs perfect.

Things I have tried or checked so far:

The vacuum hoses to the waste gate.  Checked and connected, no apparent
leakage.

Cleaning up the thermo- Idle stab switches connectors (both new in 2003)
with no apparent difference on engine idle.

Had changed out the Turbo Waste Gate Diaphragm back in Sept. 2002. Could
the diaphragm be cracked or broken again after only 4,000 miles?

Any ideas what my problem may be?  Any advice or things to check further?  
Could it be a bad Hal Sensor or distributor?  The Audi shop said mine was 
bad in 2002 when I had the 60 K tune up.  After the 60 K tune up I had
also installed a new intake sensor.  (2002)  I have had no
ignition/distributor problems or issues since the 60 K tune up (about
4,000 miles ago).

Thanks in Advance! 

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