Strange Starting Problem?

[bleuachdu]

Hey guys, I am experiencing some odd things lately when starting my car. This has been taking place for about the last 3 weeks. Here are the basics:

2003 Audi A4 Quattro 1.8T. 90K miles (bought it CPO with all the overhauling done at 60K). No mods or anything.

So here is what is taking place. I hop in the car and get myself settled in. It doesn't matter if it is first thing in the morning and its been sitting in the garage all night, or if its a Saturday and I've been running errands for a few hours. Warm or cold, this always happens. I turn the car over and it starts (usually not right away, but it doesn't turn for more than 1 or 2 seconds) and then it dies almost instantly. It typically will rev up over 1K RPM and then just quit. Sometimes it sounds rough, sometimes it sounds like I started the car and quickly turned the engine off (e.g. it revs down smoothly). Then I will turn the engine over again and it runs nice and smooth. Ocassionally on my 2nd attempt at starting, it will not turn over. This happens pretty rarely.

No rough choppy idle or anything. The engine sounds great once its going. I haven't experienced bad gas mileage (though it may be slightly worse). Sometimes if the car is stopped for only a few minutes, it will start right back up. Other times it won't.

This seems very strange to me; its a very tempermental sounding problem. Any ideas what i should do? I really don't want to take this to the dealer because it is a tremendous hassel everytime i'm in there. I have checked a 1.8T common problems thread at another forum found here:

http://www.audiforums.com/m_311488/tm.htm

But since my problem is kind of a mash up of a few of the symptoms there I didn't see a very clear cut way for me to get an answer.

Help!

You guys have been tremendous help for me in the past, and I laud your knowledge and assistance in advance.

[chaostrick]

I have an '03 A4 3.0V6 Quattro, and I too have had the same problem. I took it to the dealer and they said it was a battery problem, they replaced the battery, and the frequency has gone down, it still happens, but not very often anymore. There was no indication of a low charge or a bad battery, it was the oem battery that came with the car from the factory (bought the car in Germany from the factory).
Hope that helps some.

[andymcstump]

I'm having identical issues with a 97 1.8t. Pretty sure it's the immobiliser. Really don't want to take it to audi as worried about cost. Did you get it sorted?

[capsoula]

i have the same problem , but it's not the battery , its the engine sound go very loud and bad for the first 2 sec, thenits gose smoth and silk. but when i change oil nver happen untill 3 or 4 weeks after changing the oil its comes back the sound.