[s-cars] Fw: Froward from a fellow canuck.

[Mark Strangways]

I am forwarding the message below to see what the great audi minds have to suggest. I have also encouraged this lad to join up to the mothership S-List ;-)

Mark S

Hi all,

I thought I would post to see if anyone has had a similar problem. I
own a 93 Audi S4 w/bout 230,000 KM's on it. I recently had a problem
on the way home from work. The engine light flashed on a couple of
times and then stayed on. While at a traffic light, the car stalled
and could not be restarted. I was stuck and had to have the car towed
to a mechanic. 

The mechanic replaced a speed sensor? and cam sensor?. The engine
light was off when I picked it up. The car ran fine for a couple of
days, and then the light started flickering again for a few km's then
stayed on. The car would run rough at idle (nearly stalling), then
would run OK at a constant tach reading above 2000. If I pressed the
gas the engine would seem to lose all power and then eventually
bucking up to a new speed. I nursed the car back to the same mechanic.
He has had the car for the almost two weeks. I was called today and
told he could not find the problem. He said he test drove it, and
still has the same symptoms. The code that is coming up is the ECU,
which he suggested could be replaced, but was not sure if it would fix
the problem. He told me that this part was about $2000.00.

The car has been chipped with a TAP stage 3 since I bought it in 2001. 
In 2003, I had basically the same symptoms I am having now
(bucking/stalling and the engine light was on). At that time I had
taken it to the dealer, and they told me the ECU code was coming up,
and wanted to replace it then. I had read somewhere that if you chip
your car it is not uncommon for the CPU indicator to come on. Anyway,
I brought the car somewhere else, they replaced the mass air flow
sensor and the car worked fine until now. 

I am certainly by no means a mechanic, but I am not sure that the
problem is the ECU, and don't really want to replace it needlessly. 
I asked the mechanic to check the mass air flow sensor, and the spark
plug coils. He assured me that in his experience it was neither of
those things. 

So here I am, no car, significantly poorer, and shrugging my
shoulders. I would really like to keep the car, it is a great car and
is in great shape. 

I would appreciate any suggestions, or the directions to a good
mechanic in the Ottawa area.

Thanks in advance,
Bill

PS Great pics for the fix of the blower moter, will give it a try if I
ever get my car working again.