I'm sorry for the lengthy post but I'm in a bit of a pickle with this little car of mine and would greatly appreciate any feed back. Its tough being a girl in the world of automobiles but I do pretty well- change my own oil, replace my own break pads, change my own headlamps, replace my own tires. However, when new problems arise and I need a bit of help-as you will see below-I don't get the help I need, just bills and BS....

I have a 2006 A4 2.0t quattro with 126K miles (the Audi ignition coil recall replacement was done a few years ago). A few months ago the CEL came on reading a misfire on cylinder 3. I had it replaced by some less-than-qualified local mechanics- naivety at its best, i suppose-and a few weeks later the light comes back on and reads misfire on cylinder 4, again they replaced it. About a month goes by and the CEL is back on this time cylinder 2, they replace it. Of note, they did not use OEM replacement parts but generic autozone parts instead. They said they replaced the coils and the spark plugs and all was well for a few weeks then the CEL light comes on for cylinder 1. I took it to the dealership they say its the last coil that needs to be replaced and $150.00 later I had another new coil.

I finally got some smarts and decided to open the hood and look for myself at what it is that is causing the problem because a few days after leaving the dealership the CEL light comes on and its reading a misfire on #2...again.

I was appalled at what i saw when I lifted the hood.... a missing wiring housing conduit (leaving all the wires to the coils sitting on the engine), 4 zip-tied coils (zip ties to secure them as the conduit was no longer there), a completely shredded housing unit for coil #2 (guess they couldn't figure out how a clip works) that was causing a loose connection from wires to coil since the only thing holding it in place was a zip tie (which would get hot and break off), and last but not least, I pulled out the spark plugs that were "replaced"; turns out, they weren't.

I learned my lesson! Next time make them buy me flowers or take me to dinner before they screw me!!! SO, I ordered the new conduit (ECS tuning), the new housing unit (from dealership-$30), and new spark plugs and replaced/repaired everything myself. Total time to fix/change everything 30min.Total cost to fix/change everything <$100.

Unfortunately , CEL keeps coming on reading a misfire on #2 after replacing coil, spark plug and making sure wires are all secure. My next thought was to check the injectors. But today the car started shuttering and no acceleration between 20-40, like the coil really did go out. So i pulled out coil #2, double checked it and put it back in and it runs fine. I'm at my wits end with this little issue. any thoughts?? advice??? (other than never let those dipshits touch my car again lol)

p.s. i promise no long post ever again

 

You either have bad injectors or excessive carbon build up on the intake valves.

 

One thing to help with gummed up injectors, is using top tier gas. Just do a web search on that, and you will see which brands of gas meet the new higher standard. If it is carbon build up, try taking the car out on the highway and running it at least 3000 rpm's for at least 20 minutes. Believe it or not, it's one of Audi/VW's suggested methods of cleaning the carbon of the valves. It's otherwise known as the Italian Tuneup. The company actually mentions it in detail on the patent paperwork for their direct injection engines. It gets the valves hot enough that the carbon can't stick to the special metal. See, the carbon on the valves disrupts the smooth flow of air to the cylinders, causing it to not swirl the fuel mixture correctly, and the spark plug then doesn't ignite it. Depending if you have a manual or automatic, it's quite easy to get the car to 3000 rpm. With a manual 4th gear at 60 mph, or 5th gear at 75 mph will do it. Actually if you've ever GPS'd the car, you will discover that the speedo is off and 60 is really about 55 and 75 is really about 70. Because these cars are direct injection, no detergent laden gas touches the valves, so they get gunked up quicker.

 

Thank you!! I'll try it. Happy Thanksgiving!