Help! Engine management light!

[sebbelcher]

Uh oh! I was running a little errand down to town and on the way back, only about half a mile from my house, I turned on to our road which is steep uphill, gave the throttle a mash and... nothing. Then the engine management light started flashing (the one that looks like little engine, not the "EPC" one) and I had to drive home at about 5 miles an hour, it barely made it up the hill.

I guess this is 'limp mode'?

So anyway, got back home, as soon as I came to a stop the engine light went out. However the car was wobbling quite violently at idle revs.

I tried my cheapo VAG-COM cable, but it appears to have given up on me, just keeps saying the car is not ISO/ODBII compatible.

Anyone got any ideas what might be wrong? Is it safe to drive it to the dealers (which is 30 miles away) or should I get a tow from the AA?

Cheers.

 

[pjmspeedy]

Check to see if it's your coil packs.

 

[Broken Byzan]

I would say it's a coil pack too. Is the engine juddering?

 

[Cockney Boy]

If your car is a Diesel, then it could be the N75 valves, i had a few replaced on my old A4. This will cause the managment light to come on, occationally the managment light will go out if you re-start the engine. But best get it to the garage just in case.

if your car is in "Get home mode" then you wont do any damage

 

[sebbelcher]

The car is a petrol 1.8T, so its probably not that valve problem.

I would say it's a coil pack too. Is the engine juddering?

Yes juddering is exactly how I would describe it. I've read a fair bit about coil-packs failing on this forum. Is there a way to tell if this is the problem without VAG-COM, can you tell by looking at them?

If not, I guess I will try and find an indie garage who would be kind enough to run the fault codes on a Sunday! Coil packs are pretty easy to replace right?

Cheers,
Seb.

 

[Broken Byzan]

Easy to replace, yep.

If you can locate a new pack on a sunday. stick that in cyl one, start the car if its worse, the the original coil was ok, if its better you have found the bad one. Continue like this till you sort it.

 

[sebbelcher]

Easy to replace, yep.

If you can locate a new pack on a sunday. stick that in cyl one, start the car if its worse, the the original coil was ok, if its better you have found the bad one. Continue like this till you sort it.

Assuming it is the coil-pack! I'm not sure about the technicalities of how they work, but would it be possible to confirm with a digital multi-meter or continuity tester?

Locating a pack on a Sunday might be tricky, so I think the best bet would be for me to drive the back roads to work on Monday morning ('get home mode' might be a bit frustrating on the motorway!) and there is a GMF just down the road from the office.

Is it definitely OK to drive the car like this? I'm guessing if one cylinder is not firing I must be dumping quite a lot of fuel out the exhaust, does this risk damaging the cat at all?

Ta.

 

[pjmspeedy]

The car is a petrol 1.8T, so its probably not that valve problem.



Yes juddering is exactly how I would describe it. I've read a fair bit about coil-packs failing on this forum. Is there a way to tell if this is the problem without VAG-COM, can you tell by looking at them?

If not, I guess I will try and find an indie garage who would be kind enough to run the fault codes on a Sunday! Coil packs are pretty easy to replace right?

Cheers,
Seb.

Where abouts are you from because if it's just by chance that your not too far from me I have a brand new one in my glovebox that I carry around as a spare. If you don't want to post then PM me.

 

[sebbelcher]

Where abouts are you from because if it's just by chance that your not too far from me I have a brand new one in my glovebox that I carry around as a spare. If you don't want to post then PM me.

Cheers for the offer, that's very kind. I'm in the South West, and I see from your profile that you are in the North West, so I don't think it's going to work out, the West Midlands are in the way! Thanks anyway.

 

[pjmspeedy]

Cheers for the offer, that's very kind. I'm in the South West, and I see from your profile that you are in the North West, so I don't think it's going to work out, the West Midlands are in the way! Thanks anyway.

Oh well never mind. Would have made life easy if we were local to each other.

Good luck for tomorrow

 

[sebbelcher]

I removed a coil pack from the engine, cylinder 1, to verify the part number. It came out easy enough, but the tip at the spark plug end was coated in engine oil... is this normal?

Saw on another forum that Audi advise not driving on a failed coil/plug due to the amount of fuel dumped down the cat. As its a good 30 miles to the nearest garage, I think I will get the AA out tomorrow morning... with any luck they might have the part!

 

[J7USS]

Avoid driving it if I was you because like you say, you'll get closer to damaging the CAT.
Get your coil packs from VW, they are cheaper - £90 for all 4 IIRC. Audi would have robbed me of £137. It amazes me how Audi can fluctuate their prices when they feel like it. At the time,VW were asking £23.89 per coil pack and thats inclusive of VAT or 2 for a little over £45!!

 

[sebbelcher]

I got the local village garage to order the part and it came yesterday afternoon, little bit more expensive than getting it direct, £30, but saved a lot of hassle.

Did the repair on the side of the road outside the garage, it was cylinder 3, so took 3 attempts and I was beginning to lose hope! The fix was obvious the moment I turned the key on the 3rd attempt though, completely back to normal.

So thanks to pjmspeedy and byzan for the coil-pack diagnosis, spot on.

I'll definitely be getting one of those for the glove box