Ok, yea I found it. But now heres another problem. The thing looks almost brand new. Should I buy the cleaner anyway and use it? Or should I start looking for another sensor?
And is there any way I can test the thing to see if its working right?

 

It is cheap and can't hurt to do it, so I'd say go for it. You could also get some dialectric grease form an auto part store, it is cheaper than the contact cleaner from the Rat Shack and does the job quite well. It is use extensively by installers of electronics on cars and motorcycles. JM2CW.

 

check your MAF like the other guys said.. also check your ignition coils & spark plugs just to be safe.. if you are still having chugging noise or misfires it could be a problem internally (pistons knocking, cams off timing, etc.) if its that bad a noise.. bad 02 sensors, a bad MAF, and faulty wiring associated with either of those 2 could also be the problem.. theres tons of ways to diagnose the problem, just got to start somewhere........

 

Ok, well since the MAF looks clean, and the cleaner is on its way. I was also told to check the ignition coils, spark plugs, and O2 sensor. You guys know of any FAQ on what I should be looking for? If theres any way to tell visually if the parts are bad?

 

you can not look at the MAF element and tell if it is bad. sometimes you can visibly see a buildup of something on it but it can still be bad and look brand new. you can get a general idea the MAF is bad by looking at CEL codes and plugging/unplugging it and seeing what happens. you can find out for sure if its bad by running a log of MAF readings in VAGCOM and looking at the numbers.

what FAQ do you need?

 

Well just something with pictures really so i know I'm looking at the O2 sensors. I figured out the ignition coils and the spark plugs. I think I'm just going to replace those...

 

ignoring what the car is telling you (codes) and just replacing coil packs because you feel like it will cost you a lot of unnecessary money. its not a bad thing to replace the spark plugs as they are cheap but might not be necessary right now either. i would wait until you fix your problems in case you just foul your new spark plugs right after installing them.

to find your O2 sensors- locate your turbo (passengers side, on the left of the engine if you are standing in front of the car), it may be underneath the stock airbox.

directly behind the turbo there is a sensor coming out of the pipe at a 90* angle with a few wires coming from it going to a plug underneath the coolant reservoir. this is the primary O2 sensor (bank 1 sensor 1)

behind that sensor is your cat. converter, then behind that is the secondary O2 sensor (bank 1 sensor 2)

 

Err yea, I didnt mean swap out the ignition coils as well, just the spark plugs. Though I was told that the ignition coils do tend to go bad on this model.
So is there any way to tell visually if there is an issue with the ignition coil? Or would I only know by replacing it?

 

you dont have misfire codes so the coils are good. they do go bad but not all the time.

 

I haven't started the car up yet, but I'm still getting the code just by turning on the electronics. My guess is I have to start the car for the errors to reset?