Hey guys I thought I'd make my own post on here to see if I can't get somewhere on a problem thats been the bane of my existence for the past 2 months.

I have a 99' 1.8t quattro with 5 speed manual. It has recently been giving me some strange problems that I can't recreate with specific conditions ie it just comes and goes as it pleases, some days I dont see it some days its terrible and I can't drive the car.

What happens is, after driving for a few minutes, when at a stop, the idle will start to climb slowly and then drop down to almost stalling out, over and over. When I go to start from this stop when its doing this, it feels like I'm starting out in 4th gear or something, there is no power and the car barely moves so I have to rev it up to above 3000 rpm and do a launch (bad for the brand new clutch I put on, hoping this would fix the problem). So it idles crazy and also I feel a flat spot every once in a while, but not always; it seems to do better when I keep the car in gear and creep up to a stop light rather than shifting into neutral.

What I've done- Brought it to audi, they replaced the crank case vent hose and throttle body (they broke the throttle body when cleaning it and replaced it for free, im never going there again). When the problem persisted they didnt want to work on it anymore and told me I needed a clutch because its dragging on the engine and stuff. Thats why i bought the new clutch, replaced all 3 parts for a total of $1900 (damn dual mass flywheel doubled the price of the job). Audi told me they've checked all the vacuum lines on the air intake and found no problems. I have an appointment set up with the garage that did the clutch as I have more faith in them than the dealer, so that they can hook it up to a machine and check the readings from the MAF, but I wanted to try cleaning it before this.

So two questions
1) Anyone know what my problem could be? Its not throwing codes to my knowledge, but the dealer could be wrong, they showed me that they were very incompetent these past few visits so I wont be going back there.

2) Where is the MAF, I've heard two different things on here. Is it under the rubber disk on top of the air box, and I mean right on top. Or is it in the hose going from the air box to the engine, the round looking thing sitting in that large hose right before it connects to the engine? I want to try cleaning it as I heard it gets dirty.

Thanks any suggestions would be helpful

 

yeah the MAF is in the air box ur gonna have to take it off to see it and its on the top of the box you cant miss it and the rubber thing goin into the top of the air box is the electronic cables to the maf

 

Sweet thats what I thought, does it just pop out of there? I got some 200 proof ethanol from the lab I work at, I was hoping to use that and some q-tips to get it cleaned up.

 

i dont know about useing a q-tip on it but the ethanol will clean it use a q-tip at ur own risk

 

How does it come out of the airbox? Do you pry the rubber plug out or should I go from inside the airbox and push it out? I'm gonna take her on the freeway for the first time in a month or so, I heard opening it up for a while is the best way to clean out any carbon build up.
Could my daily commute of apx. 2 miles on a 30mph road be causing this issue at all, in terms of fuel injectors or something? I drive between 2k and 3k the whole time so I don't feel like this could be affecting the car but who knows.

Any others suggestions guys?

 

to get the MAF out you have to take off the air box and you will see it on the top there should be two small screws holding it in there just take those out and itll come right off

 

if your MAF was malfunctioning you almost always have a code.

i'd be looking for a vacuum leak... i'd be looking at the vacuum check valves on the back of the motor

 

Seriously? I thought I read that MAF malfunctions often do not cause a check engine light or any codes.

Do you know the specific names of these valves? Only reason I'm asking is I told my mechanic I'd be in TOMORROW so we could start getting into what could be wrong, and I've been trying to reserach all of the possible things he could check. As of now, I have N71 Idle control valve or MAF, and I also noticed when I wiggle my EVAP sensor the engine starts to struggle and sputter even more.

Should I have them do a smoke test for vacuum leaks, even though Audi told me there were no leaks?

Took it on the freeway for about 20 min yesterday, so I could open the throttle to 4K RPMS for a while. Seemed to run well, aside from the momentary loss of power I felt. It was a real sudden jerk that the passenger could also feel and then it was gone in an instant.

So what do you think I should tell the mechanic to look at tomorrow.

 

if the problem was the MAF it would definitely thow a cel so i would look for a vacume leak

 

Would it even throw a code if it was a bad connection, because like I've said, this isnt a constant problem. It comes and goes as it pleases, which is why its so hard to diagnose. I almost wish it'd just stop running so we can actually figure it out.

Will let you know what the mechanics find today, I'm going in with a list of all the things I've found through my research, so sick of dealing with this issue!

Thanks,
J