Just had my timing belt changed on my 2004 A4 3.0 V6 Automatic at 83000 miles. Drove fine out of the parking lot and was ok on the highway until I went to pass someone and the check engine light came on when the RPM's went high. The light flashed a few times then went out. My wife said it was making a funny noise this morning when cold but it went away throughout the day. I drove it and got the RPM's up to see if the light would come back on which it did and now has stayed on. Any thoughts would be appreciated, I live on an island and to go back to mechanic will cost hundreds of dollars in travel.

 

If the light was flashing, that's a misfire. It could be a faulty coilpack, bad plug, stuttering injector...you'll need to scan to see what codes are stored before you can troubleshoot.

 

The guy who read the codes for me said it was misfire cylinders one two and three. He said it shouldn't have anything to do with the timing belt change just pure coincidence. I did have the coilpacks changed per recall about five or six thousand miles ago. Any additional thoughts??

 

Is he the guy who did the timing belt? If so then of course he'd say that, since misfires on one entire bank of cylinders any time (but especially right after a timing belt job) indicates that the bank of cylinders (passenger side in your case) isn't timed properly. Sounds like that cam is off a tooth or so and he doesn't want to have to do all the work gratis a second time to fix it.

 

And for one, whats the chance that coils 1-3 (again, one whole bank of cylinders) would go bad simultaneously, while the others would all be fine, especially since none of them have more than a few thousand miles on them.

Your timing job was done incorrectly.

 

This was actually a different guy. I did however speak to the dealership where I have had all other service done except of course for this one thing. I told him that I had the oil changed at the same time and I had them use a Mann oil filter as I did not know where to get the OEM filter. The dealership guy said that there is a chance that the filter may be causing the problem as it may be allowing a slightly different amount of oil into the engine (or something like that I am not very good with these things) which could in turn cause a misfire as well as the pinging sound I heard when the car was accelerating. I am going to have the dealership mail me the correct filter and new oil and at least try that first. What are your thoughts on this?? Thank you for all of your help on this its very nice of you.