coil pack problem????

[earhythmic]

so tonight while driving on the freeway to a friends house my CEL started blinking, went off, started blinking again and then stayed on. I didn't think TOO much of it until I started to accelerate and felt this crazy vibration. Pulled over to the side of the road, turned off the car for about a minute and then back on again, then the CEL came right on. I tried to accelerate back up to freeway speed and felt the engine bogging down and vibrating like crazy. Luckily I was close to my friend's house so I just limped there and jumped onto AudiZine as soon as I walked in the door. Did a quick search and it seems like it's the tell-tale sign of a coil pack. Just posting this thread to get closure on the problem. So...is it the coil pack? Next question is: I've read a few walk throughs about changing them myself and how it's pretty straight forward, but I honestly dont have time to do that. How much is the dealer going to charge for something like this? I guess it kind of works out because I'm due for my 50,000 mile service pretty soon anyways. All help is definitely appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[xmoox]

i have a b5 s4 but i kinda had the same problem turned out to be spark plugs. A coil pack could still be going out though but the car is pulling hard and holding boost now after just changing the plugs. I would check sparks first then if there fine then its probably the coil packs

[Justincredible]

well there is several things it can be. The blinking is one sign that it is a ignition issue. Here is your best bet. If the car is not still showing a CEL that is a good thing. If there is still a CEL get to a parts store and have then check the code then either post the code on here or feel free to PM. or E mail me if they don't tell you what it is.

From there is your best bet to get to a indy shop. The dealer will take you to town price wise.

I saw you are in Cally see how close you are to JHM. Or call JHM and see if he has a recommended indy shop in your area.

IMHO it is best to find a shop that is performance oriented to get a referral from for work like this. Or any small thing that may require some diagnostic Audi work.

For the future get the cheap VAG cable and you will be able to look to your lap top to find the answer quicker

[earhythmic]

Yea I'm about an hour away from JHM. The thing is I work A LOT so so it's really difficult to find time to drop it anywhere. Luckily (and unfortunately) the dealership is about 5 minutes from my work so I could prolly drop it off in the morning, get a loaner, and have it back by whenever. I'm not too worried about cost. What I AM worried about is driving the car the way it is, and by calling JHM or trying to find an indy shop, that would just take more time, and this is my only means of transportation.

I just got back from my friend's house and the CEL stayed on the entire time. At freeway speeds the car seemed to drive almost normal, but on the side streets it's bogging down like crazy and vibrating like no body's business. uggghh...how annoying. When I searched The Zine it seemed like most people had coil pack problems around 50,000 miles. I JUST hit 50,000 when this started happening tonight. it's almost like clockwork. grr...

[Justincredible]

I just got back from my friend's house and the CEL stayed on the entire time. At freeway speeds the car seemed to drive almost normal, but on the side streets it's bogging down like crazy and vibrating like no body's business. uggghh...how annoying. When I searched The Zine it seemed like most people had coil pack problems around 50,000 miles. I JUST hit 50,000 when this started happening tonight. it's almost like clockwork. grr...

It this point I would say you should feel ok with the coil pack idea. One of my coil packs went out at 48,000 but I don't remember there being the same issue as your having. But If you are that close and you are not really worried too much about the cost the dealer is not that bad of an option. This along with the fact the CEL is still on and the low load driving is an issue. Get it in ASAP

keep us posted

[Jdubya]

I had similar issues a few months pack. lost #1 coil pack. I replaced them all just to be safe.

[wahpao]

had this exact problem this past week. everything you said from the blinking CEL to the vibrations I had. Definitely a coilpack, 100% sure. I even have the same mileage. Just run a vag com and find out which cylinder it is and save yourself the money from a shop. $30 bucks from ecstuning.

[nimski62]

I Get it in ASAP

Or you will fry a cat if you keep driving it like that.

[sakimano]

coil pack x39

sounds like the exact description I gave the Audi dealer 2 years ago when I had one die on my B6 avant.

they recommended replacing them all at once. I think it was about $300. To fix one of them was closer to $200.

Someone posted a coil pack replacement DIY recently. Feel like getting frustrated? Give it a whirl.

[serumk]

coil pack x39

sounds like the exact description I gave the Audi dealer 2 years ago when I had one die on my B6 avant.

they recommended replacing them all at once. I think it was about $300. To fix one of them was closer to $200.

Someone posted a coil pack replacement DIY recently. Feel like getting frustrated? Give it a whirl.

Looking at the DIY, it didn't seem that frustrating. I was frustrated trying to get to the air filter!

[40valve]

Are you completely out of warranty? It's covered by CPO for sure.

Replacing coil packs is a piece of cake if you end up doing it youself.

[earhythmic]

yea I'm JUST out of the CPO warranty..of course!

I'm sure it's a piece of cake job to DIY, I just honestly don't have ANY time. My only free time is in the car driving from one job/gig to the next. I dropped of the car this morning at the stealership and they're going to replace all of them. They scared me with a couple stories

"once one goes the rest are soon to follow" and "a few weeks ago we replaced just the bad one for a customer and he was back 2 days later and another one had gone out, so at that point we just replaced them all."

I'm just going to have to bite the bullet on this one. An $800 bullet...

On the bright side, the shuttle car was a new A8L

[Justincredible]

well look at it this way, better to spend 800 on all the work then 8000 for a new motor.

[sakimano]

Are you completely out of warranty? It's covered by CPO for sure.

Replacing coil packs is a piece of cake if you end up doing it youself.

was it your DIY? I couldn't remember who did it.

p.s. what's the cost of DIY coil pack (all 8) vs. the $800 the OP paid?

[40valve]

was it your DIY? I couldn't remember who did it.

p.s. what's the cost of DIY coil pack (all 8) vs. the $800 the OP paid?

It wasn't my DIY. I have not seen one on here though. I was going to write one but it might be few weeks before I get to it. Maybe I'll do video instead of pics.

If you are buying coilpacks from ECS you are looking at ~$250 and an hour of your time, 2 hours if it's your first time.

[Maverick]

what does the term "indy shop" mean actually?
english is not my first language.

anyway, changing CP is very easy! if you do it for the first time, it will take you 20 min the most to change one!

[serumk]

[QUOTE=Maverick;3251878]what does the term "indy shop" mean actually?
english is not my first language.[QUOTE]

It's short for "independent shop."

[JMG]

had the same problem last month and it was a coil pack. Don't drive it around like that, get it towed or get to the dealer right away. If you have no time then yeah, no choice but to bite the bullet.

[Maverick]

[QUOTE=serumk;3251964][QUOTE=Maverick;3251878]what does the term "indy shop" mean actually?
english is not my first language.

It's short for "independent shop."

thanks
ehhhh, I am ready to throw a brick at my head now. lo

[earhythmic]

Just got the car back. Ending up being $525, so less than what I was expecting (the $800 quote). And yes, I did get it to the dealer right away. Drove a total of about 20 miles from the time the problem started til I drove into the dealer..does that count as right away???

All is well again and I can get back to

[Maverick]

$525 for what exactly?

[earhythmic]

here's what the invoice says:

Verified run GFF and found fault for misfire on cyl 1. Swapped coil 1 and 2 and misfire jumped. Removed and replaced only 6 coils due to part out of stock. Found some loctite screws holding coil pack harness down and two out of four broken. Fixed

parts: $180
labor: $330
plus 8.75% sales tax

So I totally could've done it myself for more than half the price, but again, I rarely have time and this is my daily driver so I can't really go without it.

[Maverick]

o lord.... $330 for labor....
i suggest you make some good friends with local Audi guys. they can swap the coils for you for much cheaper.
$330 for labor and almost 9% tax, I highly consider that is robbery but "welcome to audi" as the service manager would say.

[earhythmic]

^^^agreed. I'm actually buddy buddy with one of the service techs at that dealership. He owns his own shop which is the one that I usually frequent, but it's about 30 minutes in the opposite direction, so not exactly convenient. He installed my short shifter and did a bunch of the VAG mods for me, as well as worked on tons of stuff on my old A4. I have credit on account there also, so I only take my car the dealership for CPO stuff and/or emergency things (like today).

[johnjsb]

The only problem i see is your going to get raped again when the other 2 go out(its only a matter of time). $218 would have gotten you all 8 and a diy job a couple of hours if you take your time. You might as well find out which ones were replaced and order 2 more, hopefully they left the easy ones 5&6.here is the link to see what your in for, it looks worse that it is. Now that i've done it i'd say 30-45min in a parking lot or the side of the road.
http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=255418

[johnjsb]

wait I thought coils were covered under cpo

[earhythmic]

I've read that they're covered under CPO too. I'm CPOed up til 50,000 miles



I have 50,070

[deviant-customs]

I am having similar problem and need to know what cylider is which ? can someone label all 8 of the with numbers for me ? I just bought a 2004 S4

Thanx