2001 A4 starting issues

A friend of mine has a 2001 A4 (1.8 tubro) with 96,000 miles on it. She had mentioned to me the other day that it was starting hard. It does always starts, but once running it runs a little rough. I was thinking that it could be the spark plugs or possibly the fuel filter. I believe that these are the original spark plugs. Does anyone have a better opinion on this? Thanks

A friend of mine has a 2001 A4 (1.8 tubro) with 96,000 miles on it. She had mentioned to me the other day that it was starting hard. It does always starts, but once running it runs a little rough. I was thinking that it could be the spark plugs or possibly the fuel filter. I believe that these are the original spark plugs. Does anyone have a better opinion on this? Thanks

96K? I would ask her if the regular scheduled maint. has been performed.
if not, yes, definitely start with the obvious tune-up components. a turbo (or standard aspirated car) not getting adequate air, fuel, spark is going to run rough; especially if she is either stop and go traffic and/or off-road (dirt, const. areas, etc.).
find out about the maint. and get more specifics from her; is this symptom intermittent, or all the time; during idle or driving; after warmed-up; etc.
the starting hard sounds like ignition or fuel delivery; does she have a service light on? if not, then no misfires as of yet, doesn't sound like the turbo or a vacuum leak...
if you do start with plugs; go with the triple elctrode NGKs from Audi or possibly the Bosch+4 platinums, as standard, single electrode plugs for most high end european (Benz, Audi, Saab) cars will only make the matter worse, or more difficult to diagnose.

hope this helps,
ctesla
ASE cert. instructor

Check for cracked vacuum hoses by the intake manifold. Especially the one right next to the coolant resivour thats really big and looks like a " L ".

Doe's she get a smell of fuel when trying to start and when it does a really smelly smell?

i have the same problem with my 1996 a4 quattro when i turn the key it revs up and then dies there is 3 lights on the dash board flashing water,fuel and the hazard what should i do
thanks