87 5ks intermittent engine problems

[Frank Walian <walian@worldnet.att.net>]

Hello all,

My symptoms are extremely rough engine at 950 -3000 RPM. I have taken my
car to the Audi dealer and they looked at it and said my main problem
was a bad catalytic converter. I then took the car to a muffler shop and
they took the catalytic converter off and determined it was good. My car
is running so rough at times that it I split the middle
muffler/resonator. I have had this problem for approx. a year but it has
gotten really bad in the last 3 weeks. I replaced the distributor cap
wires and plugs about 3 months ago and the problem seem to subside
itself for awhile. The audi dealer also said that the injectors need
replacing but that shouldn't be the cause of this problem. This problem
is very intermittent and I can't say it happens when cold, hot or warm.
The car has 117k miles and I have also replaced the fuel filter about
two years ago, I put about 7-9k miles a year on the car. It seems like
the car is running on four cylinders at times ( I am not sure of this),
though sometime it runs fine. The Audi dealer also did a compression
check and all cylinders were 180 - 185psi with the exception of the 5
cylinder which measured 195psi. The car always starts. I have worked and
owned three 5ks though I can't put my finger on this problem. Any
Ideas???

Thanks

Frank