Ok had this car for a week...04 2.7t with 57,000 miles. On the hwy today, tried passing and noticed a huge loss of power and vibrations throughout the car. Check engine light came on and I got off and feared the worse. Opened the hood and the engine was shaking the whole car with idle bouncing around a few hundred rpm.

Turned it off and restarted and it was still doing it. I noticed when accelerating the check engine light would blink (meaning cats?). I pulled over again to find my dipstick dry. Filled it up and no difference. I've searched and read posts regarding power stages, coil packs, 02 sensors, and coolant temp sensors. What is causing this and is it doing damage to my car?? I'm bringing it to the local VW dealer on monday to check the codes.

Also, I've seen build up of black deposits on the chrome exhaust tips. I didn't have to smog this car since I bought it from a dealer. Is this normal? (pics incoming)

 

Ok I got codes p0300 (multiple/random misfire) and p0304(misfire on #4). Cleared them and then drove the car to get the blinking code and only got p0304. Why is p0300 not reappearing? What could cause one cylinder to miss? I read on here that the coil packs in 2.7ts do not fail as often as other a6 engines. What could be causing this? A bad plug? If it was a power output stage it would be effecting half of the cylinders, correct?

 

misfiring

 

Which ones are the power output stages? 1 or 2?

 

I am trying to post a picture to help :-X!!!! it is glitching

 

I'm getting connection reset messages too. Also got them the other day. Something must be going on.

Replaced all the spark plugs and now I only get p0304 on acceleration. I don't get a code under very light driving. So could i have a bad coil on that cylinder?

Excuse my ignorance but cylinder 4 is the front most cylinder on the drivers side, correct?

 

Swapped cylinder 4 and 5 coilpack and misfire moved to cyl 5. ordered a new pack at NAPA and should arrive tomorrow morning.