Running to Rich and Air Intake System Leak

[1099ezg]

Okay everyone, I’m going to start at the beginning to give some background here.

One day a few weeks bsck it hit around 30 degrees F where I live, which was the first of the season. I’ve only had this car during the summer so it was the first time of the year it’s been this cold with the Audi b8. I was in a drive through line, and noticed it started rumbling and my RPMs starting frantically moving from 700-1000 back and forth until I put it in park. I was worried it could have been the spark plugs so the next day I went out and changed those. There was oil in the tube area on the top of the plug, and the bottom of the plug was ashy white.

A day later, my check engine light comes for the first time on saying im Running too rich bank 1. I thought maybe I didn’t torque the plugs in correctly so I took them out and they were black and fouled already. The old ones never looked that black.

So since I saw some oil in the tubes and knew of an oil leak on my valve cover, I decided to change the whole valve cover gasket and gasket near spark plug tubing. After that it was running good for the most part, and the CEL turned off. I changed my oil a few days later because all of the pieces of gasket material that got stuck in the cam shaft area I wanted to clean that out. When turning the car on after switching the oil, the rpm’s started fluctuating like crazy again for a few minutes. I was guessifn maybe there was some lodged gasket material that I moved out into the filter or something.

So I get on the highway later that day and while accerating hard my car started jerking, almost felt like a failing transmission shifting jerk and the cel went on.

When I got home to read it, it says Air intake system leak and the fuel to rich bank 1 again. What is going on???

I reset it again to see if it would come back but has not yet, however accelerating hard (past 2.5k rpm starts the jerking)

I almost thought it was detonation at one point, and my gas mileage has been significantly worse as well. It idles and drives at low speeds great.

Oh, I also put new plugs in again during the cover replacement, and cleaned the MAF to see if that was the problem.

Anyone else experience this or know a common fault? I don’t have a OBD 2 reader that can read data at the moment, but hopefully I will by the end of the week.

There is no visible leaks from vacuum lines or anything, and the air filter was recently changed. I put everything back together as I should with all torque specs completed right.

[1099ezg]

It seems kinda weird because it’s running too rich, but is also recording there’s too much air in the intake so it’s running lean too?? Confusing

[JLAllroad]

What plugs and fuel are you using?

Have you checked for single cylinder misfires?

What is the status/condition of your ignition coils?


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[MyDimeIsUp]

Just a quick note that a generic OBD2 scanner won't do for this car. Its best to pickup VCDS/VAG-COM so you can scan individual modules of the car and do other things like long coding, adaptations, etc. Unless you already have an Autel, if your a DIY'er get VCDS/VAG-COM

[Slow_Q5]

What is the status/condition of your ignition coils?

Any way to check this through VCDS? Like an output test or the like?

[JLAllroad]

Any way to check this through VCDS? Like an output test or the like?

Misfires by cylinder will narrow down the diagnosis if there’s a single cylinder, move the coil from that cylinder to another and see if the misfire moves.

If one is bad and there’s more than 50k miles I’ll replace them all, keep the working ones as spares in the boot.


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[1099ezg]

I was using Densos iridiumbut they fried and got burnt due to the CEL, so I got crappy autolites double plat for now. I have not checked for single cylinder misfires, and no misfire codes have shown as far as I have seen. The coils didnt look great, burnt oil in the middle section of the coil due to the old valve cover leak, and burnt oil on the bottom section of the metal coil as well. I did not replace them because I read somewhere that if the coils have not failed theres no need to replace them.

Also, what is the best brand of VCDS VAG-COM? I would rather not spend a ton on a reader, but if it saves me from spending $150 for a diagnostic at AUDI I will do it any day.

Also, I noticed that it is only really bad when it is COLD out.

[MyDimeIsUp]

I was using Densos iridiumbut they fried and got burnt due to the CEL, so I got crappy autolites double plat for now. I have not checked for single cylinder misfires, and no misfire codes have shown as far as I have seen. The coils didnt look great, burnt oil in the middle section of the coil due to the old valve cover leak, and burnt oil on the bottom section of the metal coil as well. I did not replace them because I read somewhere that if the coils have not failed theres no need to replace them.

Also, what is the best brand of VCDS VAG-COM? I would rather not spend a ton on a reader, but if it saves me from spending $150 for a diagnostic at AUDI I will do it any day.

Also, I noticed that it is only really bad when it is COLD out.

Theres only two companies that really sell VAG-COM and that's Ross-Tech's VCDS and OBDeleven (steer clear of OBDEleven as they now are charging a yearly membership subscription and has been 2 years since they said they'll add data graphing). The VCDS HEX-V2 Enthusiast will do just fine for most everyone. https://store.ross-tech.com/shop/cat/VCDS/

[1099ezg]

Got it!

Also, it feels like it may be backfiring, that might be the better word. Could it be a stuck
Throttle body? Or maybe it is the MAF? Or is there really a leak somewhere? It is only on highway entering where I really feel it, but it feels like my car is jerking extremely hard like I just mis shifted in a manual car

[1099ezg]

It feels like my car is coughing while accelerating, no popping noises or anything though

[JLAllroad]

What temp plugs are you using? Personally I wouldn’t use anything other than an NGK 2667 or 2668

What fuel?

Are you tuned?

Bad coils, bad injectors, bad spark plugs, bad compression, bad hpfp cause misfires, sounds like you have misfires, you need to know if they are random and intermittent or in a certain cylinder.


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[1099ezg]

I’ll have to check the temp, but it was the reccomended one other than NGK, I use 91 usually, sometimes 93 but nothing less.

I am not tuned,

I will say I did get rear ended a few weeks back, no problems before that, could be coincidence but could be something they could fix when I take it in the shop who knows.

CEL just came on again, does this put the car in limp mode? I will check for misfires and cylinder this week. I am at Volkswagen right now test driving a car for my girlfriend, maybe I can get their vag reader while I’m here 😂. Just want to make sure running it is not at risk of damage to the engine for short term

[deadheaded]

If the code indicates an air leak, you have an air leak. The air leak, wherever it is, is likely creating the mixture issue, which can also cause misfires. Check all your intake and vacuum line connections, particularly where you have recently worked.

[MyDimeIsUp]

If you have a P2279 code like I used to, hook up a smoke machine or take it to a shop that has one. Turns out when I put my dipstick in, I never cut the top loop off and every time I closed the hood it was smashing the dipstick into the dipstick tube, eventually cracking my dipstick tube. A smoke machine at a shop quickly showed that it was the dipstick tube. Make sure they have what looks like an inflatable balloon that they can pop into the intake tube right after the air filter box. Previous shop I took it to said they couldn't find a leak with their smoke machine and they plugged their smoke machine into something other than the intake tube after the air filter box.

[Theiceman]

One company makes vag-com.... Ross tech.
VCDS stands for vag comm diagnostic system

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[1099ezg]

So is my car in limp mode? Is it safe to drive for a week until I can get a smoke test?

[Theiceman]

having a the check engine light on is not limp mode. but if the EPC light is on it is in limp mode.. you also do not want to drive it if the check engine light is flashing..

[1099ezg]

Hey guys so I got someone I know with a VAG reader and this is the result

DTC
System Codes Description Status

01 - Engine Control Module 1
P017200 Fuel Trim,Bank1 ,System too Rich Passive/Sporadic

01 - Engine Control Module 1
P218800 System too rich at idle, Bank 1 Passive/Sporadic

03 - Brakes 1 02214:000 Tire pressure warning Passive/Sporadic

19 - Gateway 00384:011 Optical data bus - Open circuit Passive/Sporadic

56 - Radio 02984:011
Connection between impedance converter 2 and window antenna - Open circuit
Active/static

5F - Information electronics 1
02067:000 Optical data bus unauthorized awakening request Passive/Sporadic

6C - Camera System Rear View
02203:011 Audio-/video input 1 - Open circuit Passive/Sporadic

[1099ezg]

The air intake leak code did not show up this time, I cleared it a week prior so unsure if there is a leak or not

[1099ezg]

Going to get a smoke test this week to see if I can find any leaks, if there is none, what is the most probably part on these A4’s that fail causing too rich conditions?

[MyDimeIsUp]

Going to get a smoke test this week to see if I can find any leaks, if there is none, what is the most probably part on these A4’s that fail causing too rich conditions?

I would say HPFP or fuel injector but I can't remember off the top of my head what/any codes are triggered. Those who have dealt with these before can comment one what codes are logged.

[1099ezg]

I checked my temps and they are 200 degrees so that is ok. I noticed sometimes on the highway though my short term fuel trim is negative 10 then goes down to like -3 most of the time, It looks like it hit -20 on the long term trim for a second as well...

I realized this code reader I had some VAG technology in it as well. IT said my EVAP system did not pass. I also saw this code in here, not sure if it is related but it was stored. I am going into the dealer for diagnostics next week. I have narrowed down the misfires to only accelations onto the highway or on the highway when I pass somebody. Once I pass the throttle pedal too much too fast it jolts. Outside temperature I have now determined is not causing the issue.

I hope this turbo charger code is not real.... But it could make sense if when I put the throttle down something witih the boost is messing up.

I will attach some pictures of my data here shortly with my MAF sensor data as well. It looks like IDLE my maf is running around 2 g, and on highway around 25-60g

One thing I noticed that doesnt seem possible, but it said my fuel rail PSI was 570 psi lmao, if that was true my car would have blown up by now right? I dont know if the HPFP is having any issues, I was just in there when I changed my valve cover gasket and changed the seal in there too.

2984 Raw code: 0BA8 ECU: 56. Head unit (MMI) (VW TP2.0) Status: Pending fault present, Pending fault present during this driving cycle, Test is inhibited by other DTC, Validated and stored in non volatile memory, Validated fault present at time of request Audi: P024500: Turbo/Super Charger Wasteg.Solonoid A Low Audi: Connection of resistance transformer 2 and antenna on glass; Connection between impedance converter 2 and window antenna

[1099ezg]

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I decided to add RPMS and Speed on here as well. No misfires occured during this recording as far as I remember. I think if I let it misfire I can freeze the frame so I can try that next. I started on the highway for this recording and ended on a regular road for a few minutes before stopping. I stopped at a few red lights on my way back.

[1099ezg]

Does anyone have any idea?

Also, the turbo wastegage solinoid is the n75 valve.

The rich codes have not came back but the n75 is still present as pending. Could the n75 valve be causing my engine to run too rich if the flap is possibly not opening, but my engine was still flooding fuel into the chamber?

I am sending it to Audi for a diagnosis but my dealership wants 199 for the diagnosis so if this could be the cause of all of my issues I would love to go ahead and just replace it and see if there’s any updates.

Since it only happens on acceleration I’m really thinking this might be the solution