Timing chain tensioner failure?

[SuPeR GTi]

what year gti?

 

[wlu]

Not sure if it helps you any, but your car lurching and not immediately accelerating, as well as feeling a bit sluggish sounds exactly like what happened to me. I had a CEL flashing and misfire codes as well, the only thing different compared to your situation is that my car would still start, though it would take a few extra cranks sometimes. I immediately thought carbon buildup and injectors so I brought it down to a shop that specializes in euro cars, to do a carbon build up cleaning, replaced the injectors, as well as new spark plugs and R8 coil packs. Fixed the issue immediately and the car actually felt better than it ever did in my hands (bought it used). Can't really tell you which of the things I replaced ultimately was the fix for my issues, but if you're in there I figure you might as well do those things. Services were done at 52k miles.

 

[MK6_604]

Not sure if it helps you any, but your car lurching and not immediately accelerating, as well as feeling a bit sluggish sounds exactly like what happened to me. I had a CEL flashing and misfire codes as well, the only thing different compared to your situation is that my car would still start, though it would take a few extra cranks sometimes. I immediately thought carbon buildup and injectors so I brought it down to a shop that specializes in euro cars, to do a carbon build up cleaning, replaced the injectors, as well as new spark plugs and R8 coil packs. Fixed the issue immediately and the car actually felt better than it ever did in my hands (bought it used). Can't really tell you which of the things I replaced ultimately was the fix for my issues, but if you're in there I figure you might as well do those things. Services were done at 52k miles.

I ended up doing the carbon cleaning and got all injectors replaced, my car feels totally different now. Snappier throttle, better powerband, better mileage. Just all around better.