Once in a while, while on my way to work when the car starts in the morning (starts fine *knock on wood*) The car will idle at about 1000-1100 RPM's (not in gear) and will not slam into gear either. The performance will not be up to par most of the time but for what i can say for the little bit it is, is WOW! The idle will will fluctuate by 200-450 RPMs and just bounce around...(that is what the tach reads) The exhaust note does not fluxuate accordingly. Could it be my opti getting messed up? could it be something else? I am confused on what to do, because the performance is really bad and that is what i bought the car for! This is an ongoing problem with this car of the performance being crappy. Its a 94 A4 Z28 with 59,000 miles...what should i try not? It has a Cat back and a lt4 KM. Any ideas would be appreciated! Thanks!!!

 

sounds like the opti. do smell fuel when you turn off the car?
-b

 

Yes it does smell like gas...as if the cap on the take were open! But it seems like its under the car, maybe its from front or rear of car. also the exhaust smells worse than usual...i cant explain the smell but i know its not good! Thanks! Any more input? is it my opti?

 

since your opti.'s craping out it's not sending enough voltage/at the right time so you have unburned fuel(the gas smell). I'm sure your opti.'s going bad but not sure if that's your only problem won't know till you put a new one on. I'd say definitly your opti. is one of the causes though.
-brandon

 

*UPDATE*
Today on my way home from work i got a little antsy and pulled out infront of a car sooner than i should have...i thought i could accelerate quickly enough to be safe, but as i got half way out onto the highway and punched the gas...the car never downshifted and the RPM;s seemed to rise and the car barely climped MPH...

At this point i was really pissed off and thought i would "Show the car a lesson" but once again i punched it and it did the same thing....didnt downshift and barely accelerated. When i got home I sat in the driveway ant watched the tach....now it only jumps from about 500-700 RPM;s in Park at idle. It was not drastic like the other day.. i gave it a quick few revs and on the third rev it backfired pretty good. i did it some more and never back fired again. when i got out of the car i because nauseaus to the smell of the exhaust...its worse than ever...its not rotten egg, but an unexplainable smell that is truely horrible. Please help...my PCM will most likely be going out next week to PCM ForLess, because he only is like an hour or two away from me. Thanks...HELP!!!

 

check your connections all your voltage connections, especally your coil. I had the same problem.