A few questions about my engine

[Paranoico]

Hello Guys,

I think my engine is starting to develop a minor illness. I've got a 2001 A6 V8 with 56.000 miles. The car had one previous owner and I do not have the car's service record.

The first symptom I found was that the engine did not pull smoothly at arround 3000 to 3500 rpm. It seems like it "coughs" when I floor the pedal in 3 or 4 gear... it does not deliver it's power as it does at higher engine speeds.

Then, this morning I found that the engine does not iddle propperly or evenly when I start the car for the first time during the day... ergo, not good idle speed at low running temperatures.

I have absolutely no idea if the previous owner ever changed the sparkplugs in this engine. Should I do this now and with this mileage? Is this an easy thing to do in this engine?
Air filter was replaced by me when I bought the car, together with Oil, Oil filter and brakes done all arround.

Help here will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Paranoico

[andre5]

You need to VAG your car to diagnose the problem(s) and find out what the error codes are. Without this info, you'll pretty much be changing parts by trial and error, and that can become very expensive.

[Paranoico]

Sounds right... I'll plug it in soon (discovered a VW dealer in town, so I plan to make friends with the guys at the workshop and see if they let me use the thing for a while...)

Thanks Andre.
Paranoico.

[Paranoico]

Thanks Man!

Will be looking for my front bumper replacement for a while now... but i'll get back to this asap.

Paranoico.