A3 1.6 Power loss in 2nd

[marcinq]

Hi all,

Having a bit of issues with my A3. The car seems to loose power when I select 2nd gear. If I'm moving off I select 1st, get started and then I change into second and quite often the car will continue to run however it will not pick up on speed even if gas pedal is pressed fully. It's almost like there is a rev limiter at around 2200rpm and won't go past that or will go very very slowly. If I then shift to 3rd obviously the revs will drop to around 1000rpm which is too low but the car will then accelerate. I found this situation happen more often on cold engine and less often after it's warmed up. It also happens when I select 2nd gear when turning into a road so doesn't matter if I'm upshifting or downshifting.

VCDS is showing no errors in engine.

 

Any ideas please?

[Trevor]

I would take it to a VAG specialist garage who can read the live data from the engine and determine which component is not working efficiently.

 

[Brad-B5]

I agree with Trevor but it could be a faulty ECU? 

Is there any issues with your car? sounds, is changing into gear okay? it maybe an issue with the gear box.

Going back to what Trevor has said that's your best option.

Good luck and keep us updated :)

Regards

Bradley

[marcinq]

Thanks for the replies guys. I have a VCDS interface myself so once all uni stuff is over I might plug in the laptop and do some data logging while driving and then see if there is anything that locks up or glitches.

And yeah, the gearbox seems to work fine so don't think it is an issue. All other gears are fine and the second works fine sometimes. One strange thing I noticed is that if I disconnect the clutch sensor (G476) this problem goes away. However, this sensor is working properly and I've checked that in measuring blocks in VCDS. Just to be sure I have replaced the whole clutch pedal along with this sensor and slave cylinder but issue still remains.

[cliffcoggin]

Does the engine have a turbo-charger? Turbos are supposed kick in at 2000 rpm or just above.

[marcinq]

It's a 1.6 petrol. There is no turbocharger.

[cliffcoggin]

Fair enough. I haven't a clue what all the letters mean in the model names.

[Magnet]

Hello Marcin,

Possibly not going to help us too much, but will this engine rev. freely above 2200 rpm while not under load? 

I'm have one of these 1.6 and I must say its not the most spritely of engines under the best of circumstances, and seems to lack a bit of get up and go between gears until the revs pick up. Ok now over 140K on mine, but always been the same. Having said that there is onbviously something wrong with yours.

Kind regards,

Gareth.

[marcinq]

Hi Gareth,

I've see quite a few posts about this issue, but fortunately mine doesn't seem to have that issue. It will rev all the way up to the red line no problems at all. Mine is on 120k so not too far off yours ;) And yeah for the acceleration it likes the revs to be above 3000rpm but I would assume that is normal as the maximum torque for this engine is available at 3800rpm so I would expect it to be a bit 'slow' on the low end. I usually do my gear changes at around 3500rpm and there seems to be no hesitation there so if you change our gears at lower rpms then maybe try doing it a bit later?

 

I would assume my problem has something to do with the clutch sensor which would normally tell the ECU to keep the revs a bit higher between gear changes to avoid jerks. In other cars there isn't usually anything like this and you need to rev-match to make for a smooth gear change. In Audi it's supposed to be a bit 'clever' but seems to cause issues on mine. Or it could be a complete rabbit hole :D

Marcin

[Omeed]

On 4/7/2017 at 8:43 PM, marcinq said:

Hi Gareth,

I've see quite a few posts about this issue, but fortunately mine doesn't seem to have that issue. It will rev all the way up to the red line no problems at all. Mine is on 120k so not too far off yours 😉 And yeah for the acceleration it likes the revs to be above 3000rpm but I would assume that is normal as the maximum torque for this engine is available at 3800rpm so I would expect it to be a bit 'slow' on the low end. I usually do my gear changes at around 3500rpm and there seems to be no hesitation there so if you change our gears at lower rpms then maybe try doing it a bit later?

 

I would assume my problem has something to do with the clutch sensor which would normally tell the ECU to keep the revs a bit higher between gear changes to avoid jerks. In other cars there isn't usually anything like this and you need to rev-match to make for a smooth gear change. In Audi it's supposed to be a bit 'clever' but seems to cause issues on mine. Or it could be a complete rabbit hole 😄

Marcin

hi Marcin i saw you had second gear problem in 2017 i bought one same audi a3 2010 1.6 petrol manual and have same problem in second gear when its cold that problem come and when the engine is warm it driv ok want to know what u did and did u solved the issue if you can tell me so i will do same thing thank you 

[Mic166]

Hi. I don't know why it would be 2nd gear. I had a problem with mine shutting off power, and thought it seemed it could be a problem with fuel. You won't believe this - I opened fuel (Diesel) filler, and there's a small drain hole just underneath it for rain water etc. I got a piece of copper wire, and ran it down through, removing the gradual build up of muck from over the years, and magic, the car now runs fine!

Mike.

[cliffcoggin]

Mike, is it definitely a water drain or could it be the vent or breather that allows air into the tank? A blocked vent could result in fuel starvation.

[Magnet]

Hello Omeed,

A couple of points which might take you forward a step:- 

I would send the original poster a personal message, since he has not returned to the forum since a week after he joined it in March 2017. 

Be aware that his 1.6 engine is unlikely to be the same as your later model, and the overall technology of the back up and sensor systems on yours could be more complex. 

You say it’s OK once the engine is warm but not when it’s cold, and I wonder if this issue may not be directly linked to second gear, but any higher gear (when cold) if you did choose to move to a higher gear. Possible cause when cold?? Could (in caps) be linked to the coolant temperature sensor (CTS) which senses the coolant temperature and signals the ECU which controls the fuel mixture - making it richer when cold (as with the old choke) and leaner when hot. Generally CTSs fail to an arbitrary setting so the mixture at cold may be too weak. You could forget about this as an explanation if the car starts instantly on very cold mornings. 

Fuel filter? Always worth changing - although unlikely to be the offender here? - since Audi did not/ still doesn’t? , recommend a service interval for its change for petrol engines. Worth changing at least every 60k miles in my book. 

Apart from contacting the original poster, not sure how much of the rest might help, but...

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

[Baggies73]

Hi I’m having an issue a3 2009 1.6 petrol base engine in 2nd gear only power loss all other gears are fine 

[Baggies73]

Sorry bse engine code

[cliffcoggin]

53 minutes ago, Baggies73 said:

Hi I’m having an issue a3 2009 1.6 petrol base engine in 2nd gear only power loss all other gears are fine 

Can I assume you have investigated the many suggestions listed in this topic over the past seven years?

[Baggies73]

5 hours ago, cliffcoggin said:

Can I assume you have investigated the many suggestions listed in this topic over the past seven years?

Only just started playing up taken it to a lot of garages and they are stumped just thought someone might of had an idea or solution if it’s happened to them