A6 2.8 Sputter HELP!
 

hello, i am new to this forum and i have a question. i recently purchased a 99 a6 avant quattro 2.8, it was running fine but today when i went to lunch it started sputtering like it had a miss. i did some searching and it seemed the problem would be the coil packs. so i got on michell and got all the specs for the coils and plug wires. all plugs and coils were in range (12.3k-12.5k for coils) (4.9k-5.0k for plug wires). i didnt pull the plugs, i'm guessing thats what might be the problem. it seems after the engine get up to full operating tempurature it goes away (the check engine light stays on). anything else that might be the problem, any help would be greatly appreciated.

RE: A6 2.8 Sputter HELP!
 

I'm new to Audis, but had a similar problem after purchasing my 99 Avant 2.8... turned out to be leaky valve cover gaskets. The two rear spark plug wells were filling with oil which would then short the spark from the respective wire. When you pulled your plug wires off to test them, did you notice any oil on a few of them? Mine was bad enough the oil was dripping from the wires when removed from the plug. The valve cover gaskets are pretty easy to replace and not expensive. I've had no further ignition problems in four months of driving...

Also, I would highly recommend Ross-Tech's Vag-Com (ross-tech.com) software to anyone planning to work on their own car. I've been pretty impressed with Audi's level of self-diagnosing through the ECU's management of... well... everything. If you have the ability to interrogate the ECU, it can narrow down misfire problems nicely. Again... I'm no Audi expert, but that's been my experience in the 6 months I've owned my car. Good luck.

JJJ

RE: A6 2.8 Sputter HELP!
 

thanx for the info, i 'm thinking about purchasing vag-com. i acually fixed the problem (hopefully). i ran some seafoam through the engine (brake booster vacume line) and it stopped doing it. i started it up the other morning and it sputtered once so i got some new plugs. i'm pretty sure it was the plugs, it didnt look like they had been changed (or removed for that matter) in all 104,000 miles. i put in some ngk v-powers, alot cheaper then iridiums