Bought my first a4! HELP!!

[sobo]

Hey all! I upgraded a few days ago. I sold my old audi 90, and bought an a4!

I bought a silver 1997 A4, 1.8T Quattro 5 speed with sports package. Its got an MTM chip(any good? advertised as 50hp and torque) and a Borla exhaust system. It's also got a K&N airfilter. 144,000 miles. Engine rebuilt due to sludge(recall from audi) 30,000 miles ago and front end completely built 10,000 miles ago.

It's really quick and a blast to drive! But, I have a few concerns.

1. The engine ticks when cold and warmed up. It also ticks while idling and faster when revved. It sound like it's coming from the belts and whatnot from the front more than anywhere else. Is this bad? If so what is it?

2. This is what really concerns me. I can drive my car from start to 5th and wind it out. No problem. But when I'm coasting at 50 and want to go to 65 in 5th, when the turbo kicks in the car hesitates and loses and gains power sporadically until I let off the gas(surging). Slowly accelerating doesn't make the problem happen though. Why?

3. The front left part of my suspension makes popping noises when I go over bumps. The left does not. Whats wrong?

My car is throwing no codes. I've seafoamed it through the crank and gas tank. I run 91 octane gas. It has new mobile 1 oil with a mobile 1 oil filter.

Hopefully your more help than the jackasses over at audiforums(no dash)

Thanks!

-sobo

[mackuk]

the noise you hear from the front suspension could be a number of things. I suggest you get the wheel off and inspect the suspension, or take it to a garage to have them look at it. common problems could be upper wishbone wear. this is pretty common, they can be a bit of a pain to replace. it could also be the lower ball joint or perhaps a worn trackrod end.

The issue you have under throttle could also be a wide range of problems. The car has been chipped, it may be something as simple as the wrong grade of fuel. Try running some premium in it and see iif this makes a difference. You should also check for air leaks in the vaccume systems. I would also try some injector cleaner fuel addetive. It could be some contamination in an injector or a fuel line.

The noise you hear from around the timing belt is what would worry me the most. You really dont want a belt to go in a 20v. Have thet checked out asap. I recomend not driving it until a belt or belt tensioner problem is ruled out!

Mack.

[docurley]

I would also have the car serviced as this should be a standard thing when buying new, and slap in some new sparkplugs while your at it.

[sobo]

Hey! Thanks for the responses guys.

For the hesitation problem: I think I'm going to check the spark plugs first. I run 91 octane fuel in it as it is, I'll try 93 eventually. I recently seafoamed the engine so the fuel injector problem can be ruled out. How do I check for vacuum problems?

For the suspension problem: Like I said, I just had the cars entire front end rebuilt. I'll check the ball joints and what not.

TIMING BELT: How can I inspect this? The water pump was redone 2 years ago so I think the belts were done then too.


thanks!