Could only be one of three things....

[Ringo]

1.  The ride in S4madman's car has warped my perception

2.  All the work (new head) done during my little water pump/timing belt fiasco didn't come out right.

3.  Losing a turbo or some boost related component.

Symptoms:  I've been babying the car since I got it back last week.  I just wanted to give it a little time to break in.  However, today on the tail end of Storrow Drive I got cut off by one of those Grand Am Gt's.  Traffic was just breaking loose and I was rolling around 15mph in second gear.  So I decided to give a little chase.  

I punch it and the reves start to crawl up from around 1800.  Now I know I'm way down on the band, but I remember the car pulling like a champ (100% stock) even down there.  Anyways, i get a very weak acceleration until around 4000 but even after that it just doesn’t seam right.  Now the car is still fast but not what I remember and it certainly doesn’t make me say DAMMMMM.

Any thoughts?  Have I just been swayed by the power of the darkside(tasty little chips) or might I have a problem?

[S4MadMan]

...do you have access to a VAG-COM?  If so check for DTCs.  If not, best to find someone with one and check.

Hope everything's OK.  

[naughtyconductor]

i had the same lack of zip, but madman was good enough to plug his into my car at the BBQ and found a DTC referring to bad cam timing or something.

on monday i got it back from the dealer for the 20k service and it's pulling just like it used to, though the chip has smoothed out over time.

[Ringo]

S4MadMan said:

...do you have access to a VAG-COM?  If so check for DTCs.  If not, best to find someone with one and check.

Will anyone have a VAG at the Dyno Day.  Or a better way to say it would be, if you have a VAG could you please bring it.

I might stop by the dealer if I can get them to agree to do the same VAG check without me having to drop it off for the day.

[S4MadMan]

...I have class from 7am to 6pm.  

Ringo said:

Will anyone have a VAG at the Dyno Day.  Or a better way to say it would be, if you have a VAG could you please bring it.

I might stop by the dealer if I can get them to agree to do the same VAG check without me having to drop it off for the day.

[kirath]

Ringo said:

Will anyone have a VAG at the Dyno Day.  Or a better way to say it would be, if you have a VAG could you please bring it.

I might stop by the dealer if I can get them to agree to do the same VAG check without me having to drop it off for the day.

I wil have my vag.  We might even want to hook up a boost gauge to see what kind of bost you are producing...

[Ringo]

kirath said:

I wil have my vag.  We might even want to hook up a boost gauge to see what kind of bost you are producing...

Yo Kirath,

How tough is that to do?  Jeff the service guy from Brookline is going to call me around noon today after he has talked to the mech that did the work.  I'm thinking about trying to get them to check for codes and maybe I could get them to do that as well.  Should be easy for them, right?

It's just one of these things were I can't quantify the difference in acceleration, it just doesn't seem right.  Hell if everything checks out with the dealer, maybe I'll try to squeeze in a dyno this weekend just to make me feel better.

[BiTurboBoy]

did the dealer do a compression test after they had teh head replaced?  that can be very telling.

[Ringo]

BiTurboBoy said:

did the dealer do a compression test after they had teh head replaced?  that can be very telling.

Now that I think about it the only compression test they told be about was the one they did on the good head.  That's one more thing I can ask them about thanks.