So the past week it seemed my Audi was acting a little strange, like it has lost a bit of power, although it is hard for me to tell, I have only been driving it for around a mouth and am still not really used to what’s normal for it. I also thought it may be due to the humid weather. But the past few days I have noticed a little “skipping” in the engine, almost hesitation but I don’t know if I would call it that, when it happens it just feels like the engine is missing a beat, its hard to describe, it also seemed to be happening more when I was in a high gear (4th, 5th, or 6th) and at low RPMs trying to accelerate. Then this past Friday coming home from work (only two miles thankfully) it started acting up more, I almost could not go above 3k in some gears, and when I did I got a flashing CEL that would go away after a bit once I started to drive slower. Its weird the CEL only comes on once the car starts acting up, it flashes the whole time then goes away. I did some searching on Audizine, they suggested a coilpack, so I went to the dealer an bought two for $40 each. Then I went to autozone and rented a scan tool, thinking it would tell me which cylinder was misfiring and I would replace that coilpack and be done with it, but when I pulled the codes I got four…

P0300 - Random/Multiple cylinder misfires detected.
P0301 - cylinder 1 misfires
P0305 - cylinder 5 misfires
P0302 - cylinder 2 misfires

Now does this mean three of my coil packs are really bad? Or could it be a much bigger issue? Also should I clear them out then try driving it and see if I just get one cylinder this time? Will one misfiring cylinder cause others to misfire as well? It just seems crazy that three would go bad at once, I guess it possible, but I am really worried that it is something much bigger causing it. Any experience with this?

 

Im guessing its a 3.0L?
Yes its very possible for more than one coil pack to go bad, the only real way to find out if the coil packs are indeed bad try swapping two of them to different cylinders and see if it changes.
If it doesn't, the 3.0L has had problems with the injectors getting clogged over time, a full can of seafoam in the gas tank should cure that.

 

Thanks for the reply, yeah it’s the 3.0, 2003 with 70k miles. I could put in the two new ones on let's say 1 and 2, and then see if 5 is still misfiring. Do the coilpacks just pull out and then unclip from the wiring harness? They seem like they are in there really good. Also does anyone know the firing order for the 3.0?

 

Once you get the two little screws out of the ignition wiring harness and get the wiring off yes they pull straight up, they are in there pretty good but try not to pry on them with anything cause that has been found to be a major cause of failure with the coils when someone changes the plugs.

 

Do you have to take those two screws off of the harness to get them out? They are at such an odd angle I dont know how I am going to get in there, they also look like a Torx bolt, am I right?

 

Yeah you have to take off the harness to get them out without breaking anything.
They are T15 torx fasteners, i usually use a bit rachet to get them out, its a tight fit.

 

also u could try puttin some fuel system cleaner in cause the same issue was happening with mine only on the first cylinder instead but one i put that stuff in let if mix for like 10 miles and it completely went away just the cel is still on cause i never got it cleared cause i got a o2 sensor replaced

 

Man I can not get to the damn bolts to get the harness off, I need the right tools, this is frustrating because it should be such a simple swap, yet I think I am going to have to get it towed to a shop. Anyway thanks for all the info and help!

 

Yeah sorry about that buddy, you can get a bit ratchet i think at an autoparts store for pretty cheap which makes taking out the screws as easy as taking a s***

 

Yeah, I think I am just going to bring it to a shop, I hope I will be ok driving it 10 miles or so as long as I keep it under 2.5 grand. None of the coil packs appear to be fully blown yet, so the engine is not running or idling rough as hell yet, but I just dont want to cause any more damage. Also I have heard (people have been telling me) that Audi had a huge recall on coil packs for certian years/models, I wonder if mine is covered? I doubt it but its worth asking into.