Engine Management Light On - 1.8T Rumbling like a Chev V8 - NOT GOOD!!

[OvettC]

i am in the process of having the mother of all bad days, this morning i woke up to a leaking house boiler, then i spent an hour learning the wonders of changing your own headlight bulbs in the B6 Audi A4, afterwards when driving to a mates a Pigeon then flew straight into my rightside headlight cluster and now i have only dipped lights as the bulb shattered - incidently they're the new Phillips 80% brighter jobbies, work very well - On arriving at my mates i then discover i have a slow puncture on the back right tyre and now, as if this wasn't enough... on my drive home the engine management light comes on, the turbo spins down and the car starts rumbling like a chevy v8, the cabin stinks of petrol and it won't rev above 2000rpm, what the hell did i do wrong today?!?!?!
my god i am so beyond keeping a straight head on this i cannot even describe, i am praying that someone is going to say "oh yes, that's really common, all you have to do is...yadyadyada..." not, "oh dear, its ****** and you need a new engine..." pleeeeasseeee!!!!

 

[petewon]

Thats most likely a coil pack mate, the engines misfiring and not burning off the petrol. Do you smell eggy sulphur at all? Common problem, there £32 each from the stealers. Dont drive it.

What year is it?

 

[OvettC]

it's a 2003 - 1.8T Quattro - 190PS as standard. BEX engine.
I've just been reading about the coil packs, VAG on the whole has had a fairly disasterous time with these?!

What is a coil pack? is it something i can do?

 

[james0808]

It sits on top of your sparkplug to provide a spark,replaces the older distributor design each plug has its own and its very easy to change.

 

[petewon]

Yeah piece of cake mate, I was asking the age of the car as there was a recall on the earlier packs but with yours being 2003 they wont be recalled. The coilpack just sits on top of the spark plug so very easy replace.

It would be a good idea to scan it with VAG.COM to see if it deffo is a misfire (Im 99% sure it will be) and what cylinder its on but you could allways take a chace getting one then swapping it round till the misfire stops.

Easy job though, screwdriver is all thats needed.

 

[petewon]

Do you have VAG.COM chris?

 

[OvettC]

ok, cool, what i am going to do is see if i can excercise this under warranty on monday then and if not go from there. are there are posts on how to guides?

 

[OvettC]

I haven't got VAG.COM no, i'm wishing i did right now. Ebay time i think!

 

[OvettC]

oh right, that simple, might make sense just to do all four? at once then?

 

[petewon]

ok, cool, what i am going to do is see if i can excercise this under warranty on monday then and if not go from there. are there are posts on how to guides?

To replace them you just need to remove the engine cover, take the leads off the coilpacks and pull the coilpack out and replace them. It realy is that easy.

Try getting it scanned first though to make sure it is that. The best way to do it would be to scan it see what cylinder the missfire comes up on then swap the coilpack that has the misfire to another cylinder then scan it again, if it is a dodgy coil the missfire should follow the coilpack to the new cylinder.

Its a good idea to keep a spare in the boot as its quite a common failure.

 

[OvettC]

excellent stuff this starting to sound slightly more removed from the feeling of impending doom i had in the early hours of this morning!
VAG-COM is not cheap is it!?!? £200.00!?!? or so. Think i might wing it, and assume it is the coil packs, any recommendations on best place to source them?

Cheers.

 

[petewon]

Audi charge £32 each, VAG parts do them a bit cheaper http://www.vagparts.com/

You will need to get the part number of the existing one though.

You can get an evaluation copy of VAG.COM for free and a cheapo lead of ebay for £10-£15 but a proper version and lead are quite a bit more and well worth it.

 

[petewon]

excellent stuff this starting to sound slightly more removed from the feeling of impending doom i had in the early hours of this morning!
VAG-COM is not cheap is it!?!? £200.00!?!? or so. Think i might wing it, and assume it is the coil packs, any recommendations on best place to source them?

Cheers.

Eye I know the feeling mate, I didnt know WTF was going on the first time mine went, the engine just started to rumble, managment light was flashing the car stunk of petrol and sulphur. I thought I was looking at a hefty bill.

 

[OvettC]

Seriously many thanks on this, i will get busy with looking for the part numbers now. I'll let you know how it goes.

cheers again.

 

[petewon]

No probs Chris, I just hope it is that. Souns identical to what happened to mine.

Let me know the part number when you find it :thumbsup:

 

[petewon]

Heres a good article about it http://www.mylemon.com/VW_18T.html

Is you engine light solid or flashing?

 

[OvettC]

its flashing... just out of curiosity i decided to try my RAC Audi Roadside Assist and they have dispatched an engineer who'll be here in an hour, they have liased with Audi MK and they have agreed to honour the coil replacement (if it is that!) outside of the warranty and even though its an 03 plate car... but i'll try and get the part number as well.

Should be interesting....

 

[golf]

It probably will be a coilpack judging from the symptoms, but as mentioned previously it is a very quick and easy change. It's best to have it scanned first to see which cylinder is misfiring.

 

[J7USS]

Whilst on the subject of coilpacks, Is there uprated Coilpacks and whats the Difference if there is???

 

[dualmono21]

dont think there are uprated coil packs
but this is a common fault
besides the s4 i also have a leon cupra which has basically the same engine ive had that for nearly 8 years now and 2 coil packs have gone down on it
identical symptoms to what you are describing
let us know if the roadside assistance manage to sort it out for you

 

[A4Andy]

****, this happened to me yesterday too! The coilpack thing I mean.

 

[petewon]

Whilst on the subject of coilpacks, Is there uprated Coilpacks and whats the Difference if there is???

There were some earlier ones which were more problematic (I think the H type, #06B 905 115H), they were replaced by te "J #06B 905 115J" type but they still have problems, just not half as bad as far as I know.

 

[OvettC]

The Failed Coils in mine were all L Series (example: 06B 905 115L) i've apparently achieved a new local record and achieved 3 failed coils out of four, i like to be unique !!

They have now replaced them with R series ones, and according to the Audi Assist chap they haven't been called back since with those. Somehow i managed to speak to the right person and they agreed to change all four under warranty without dispute, very unusual.

I have attached a pic of the knackered one:

All i gotta do now is sort out the tyre and the headlight again!!

Nearly there, cheers for all the advice and i hope my information has helped in some way.

 

[petewon]

Well done mate, pleased you got it sorted. Must say 3 going at the same time is new to me too, never heard of that. :thumbsup:

 

[petewon]

Just wondering Chris, did the car feel any different prior to the coils failing?

 

[OvettC]

..that you should mention this, as the car feels more willing to rev and it might be quicker but might also be that i change my driving style to match as i can be slicker with the gear changes and matching the revs as its much more dynamic and made it easier to drive as a result and therefore quicker!

However it also may be a slight illusion as its pouring it down here in Northampton and driving a Quattro in the wet does give you a false and true sense of speed if you know what i mean? Mostly because all the traffic around me are typically front wheel drive merrily spinning their wheels away! So in the wet the car feels faster anyway is what i'm getting at on that point.



When it dries out i'll conduct a mini test!

 

[OvettC]

sorry slightly misread your q! but yes now i can see that the engine felt grumpier and less willing to rev prior to the coils failing, and as stated above, it now feels freerer so that in its self is a definite conclusion.

 

[golf]

Whilst on the subject of coilpacks, Is there uprated Coilpacks and whats the Difference if there is???

There is actually. Hitachi make there own version of a coilpack and apparently it makes the engine run a little more smoother, and they are not prone to failure unlike the OEM coils.

 

[petewon]

sorry slightly misread your q! but yes now i can see that the engine felt grumpier and less willing to rev prior to the coils failing, and as stated above, it now feels freerer so that in its self is a definite conclusion.

Oh right, mine felt loads quicker prior to the coil failing. Im guessing it was something causing extra boost that put too much stress on the coil. Just a thought.

There is actually. Hitachi make there own version of a coilpack and apparently it makes the engine run a little more smoother, and they are not prone to failure unlike the OEM coils.

Cheers, might be worth getting a few as spares.

 

[OvettC]

ok, i've had a day of driving and yes you're right the engine feels tighter, although more willing to rev it doesn't quite have the same amount of get up and go, but the fuel economy has improved as 200 miles today only used just over half a tank whereas it would have been well on its way to a quarter to empty by now. so thats good.

 

[a4sline190]

Same happened to me last night, was only half a mile from home. Got a new coil pack at dealers, replaced it 2 min job and all fine now, bought a spare to keep in the glove box aswell.

So hopefully no more problems for a while.

 

[OvettC]

hopefully though it seems to be one of those things that will only happen once during your ownership of the car.

The technicians i've spoken to at Audi N'pton are all par per course about it and will change all four without aggro. Which is apparently very different to how things were some four years ago where VAG Group would only allow having one knackered coil changed and then people were going back to have another done every other month when the other coils went some were having to wait two months for delivery of parts.

If anything hopefully it shows the industry can actually learn.