#1 is on the right side of the engine when standing at the rear of the car looking fwd.
On some VW engines the timing is slightly skewed for #3, because it runs hotter. But that is not the cause of your problem. You likely have some crud partialy plugging the main jet. There may be other jet pluggings too, so I suggest you pop them out and blow thru everything with a shot of air. And check for power to the electric idle jet if it's got one.