Got a 97 A4 1.8T quattro. The car has been running rough under hard acceleration. Sometimes when under full throttle it willpull hard and hit 15lbs of boost, but other times it only hits 10lbs of boost. The CEL came on so I went by Advanced Auto today and pulled 3 codes. Here they are:

P0303- Cylinder 3 misfire
P0422- Main catalyst below threshold (Bank 1)
P1300- Manufacturer control ignition system or misfire

Do you think I have 3 different problems or are these all related to one problem? This is my first A4, I LOVE it, just want to get it running to its fullest. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

P0303: Coilpacks / spark plugs been changed at all? If it's a 97, you might want to get around to that....
P0422: I don't know off the top of my head, but it has something to do with the catalytic converter.
P1300: No clue at all.

Sorry if that's not much help, but I tried.

 

Thanks for the response. I will check the plugs and CP's. If it helps the car has 98K miles. I think I have a boost leak. Does anyone think that this would be causing any of these problems?

Also, what are the best spark plugs to run in 1.8T?

 

Non chipped I would run the NGK BKR6E's or something similar to that. Once you are chipped NGK BKR7E's.

As for the codes, check your spark plugs. I think your first and last code could be related but I'm not sure. Try changing your plugs and erase the codes and see what happens.

Josh

 

How can I tell if the car has been chipped? I just bought the car, and the guy that owned it was an idiot that didnt know anything about the car. I do know that it has an exhaust, and upgraded intercooler, and a few other things but not sure about chip.

 

Hmm... I would open the ECU up and see if there is a sticker on it or if anything in there looks out of place, or not stock. Thats really the only way unless you have a boost gauge, which since you have a turboed car I would get anyways.

Josh

 

I do have a boost guage on the car. What is the max boost on a stock chip?

 

Max on a stock chip will be around 9-10psi. What are you running?

Josh

 

When it finally gets there, through the rough acceleration, I hit 15lbs.

 

Change your ICM (ignition control module) for the miss-fire and erase the fault codes.
If the cat efficiency fault comes back you damaged your cat converter from too many miss-fires so you need to replace that as well.