I get up this morning, drive 1 mile then my car freaks out, Flashing check engine light, heavy vibration from the engine and a loss of power. Nothing is leaking, no burning smells and all belts are fine, and the engine at idle has extra shake to it, but don't sound like its any different. I do not have access to a code reader and wondering if anyone could help me on this.

(i did a search for this problem and came up with nothing that matched)

 

Most likely a bad coil pack... Flashing CEL is VERY bad, do not drive until you get it scanned. The scan should read something like "misfire, cylinder X." Then swap that coil pack with another and see if the code follows. If that's the case, you know it's a bad coil. Replace, reset, and enjoy.

The reason you should not drive is because the cylinder isn't firing, so you're dumping fuel into the cat, which will destroy it, and is much ore expensive to replace. If the only access you have to a scanner is a local autozone or similar, then you have to consider driving carefully there, attempting to avoid the misfire...

ECStuning or blauparts.com will have the coilpack you need, and I think the '01s are only about 20-30 bucks.

Disclaimer: without a scan, you can't be positive that it's a coil pack, I'm just saying it's the most likely. There are a couple other things that could be the issue... But your description sounds very similar to the coil pack problem I had about a year ago.

 

The other problem with driving a misfiring car is that the engine is way out of balance and can take serious damage very quickly.

 

The balance was way off. fortunaly it happened so close to home. I grabbed one of my old coil packs and replaced the one I bought from advanced auto. It runs slightly better than it did yesterday. The check engine light is still on. Thinking O2 sensor could also need replaced.

 

The light from the misfire has to actively be turned off - it won't go out on its own. Definitely need to scan it again and see whether you have further ignition issues or something else like the O2 sensor you mentioned.

 

Are your coil packs recall eligible?

 

good question^. I think the '01s did have a recall.

 

no, the one that went out was actually a recent replacement that i picked up from Advanced auto a couple years ago. Since then i replaced the other 3 with OEM coils at 100k. So right now i am using one of the original coils to replace the replacement.

 

what he was asking you was,if your car is one of the ones,included in the coil pack recall from "Audi"not coil packs from advanced auto or anywhere else.

I know for a fact,being my 01 A4 b5 was included in the recall,i got all 4 replaced for free at my local Audi stealership I suggest you go to your local Audi stealership with your vin number and find out if your B5 is covered under the coil pack recall,it doesn't matter what coil packs you in have in your B5 at the moment,they will replace whatever coil packs you have installed,only one time,though.