ARGH! Time for new ideas
 

Well, my new ignition wires showed up today and like so many of us do when we get a new mod, upgrade, or replacement part in the mail, I ran right out to put them in. Half an hour later, my problem remains. Something somewhere is missing and I don't know where it is. I can hear a distinct ticking, much like the sound of an arcing spark somewhere, but I can't see anything going on anywhere, much less where I originally saw the spark arcing that caused me to buy the new wires in the first place.

When it misses, it sounds like a light grunt from someone getting socked in the gut, kind of a 'huhf.......huhf huhf...' and from the tailpipe, I could feel the different pulses of exhaust gasses, it wasn't a consistent putter like normal. It's not popping like a misfire, and I've heard a couple of those since this started, it's just not firing period.

My next guess was to check the coil packs, but I don't know how to check those if I can't tell which cylinder is missing so as to move the wires around to see if the problem follows. All I can hear from the engine bay is the ticking and sound of something missing, but I can't tell which bank its coming from.

So could this be more of an ICM issue or timing or some other drastic thing that will cost me my life savings to fix?

Any and all replies, suggestions, opinions etc will be welcome, I need to get this sorted out ASAP as I have safety and emissions testing to do this month in order to do my registration.

TIA for the help,

-J

*bump*

C'mon guys, I really could use some suggestions here, I'm running out of time to have this figured out for safety/emissions as well as before having to get new cats.

ImTheDevil, Hiwords, Sineo, I know you guys have experience with the 2.8, any inklings of an idea of what might be going on? Could it be a vacuum line issue? This all started after I ran seafoam through the vacuum line and my recent code draw at autozone showed misfires on cylinders 1, 3, 5, and 6 so the problem has to be with something that isn't partial to one bank or the other, which as it is, that vac line runs to all 6 cylinders.

Thanks again,

-J

seafoam usually gunks up your spark plugs pretty good. It is expected that you will have to replace them after seafoam or clean em up on a wire brush grinder wheel. Sounds like thats your problem.

My apologies, I should have noted this in the original post. I had a thread a few weeks ago immediately following the seafoam treatment in which it was already suggested that the plugs were fouled. Since then, I have replaced all 6 plugs and just put on new wires yesterday, much to my dismay to have the problem not corrected. It is with that in mind that I need the new ideas because I don't know where to go now that those have been replaced.

What could have happened is... one of your exhaust valves in one of the cylinders might have only been sealing due to the buildup, once the seafoam removed the buildup, it stopped sealing so now you have no cyl pressure. check your compression and let us know.

That sounds highly feasible. However, the noob I still am with cars in general, much less Audis, I don't know how to check the compression. Is it easy? Does it require a special tool that I most likely don't have or have access to?

Thanks for the suggestion, keep em coming :)

It has been suggested by a good friend of mine who is also a mechanic that this most likely isn't an electrical/ignition problem considering it started post-seafoam treatment. He thinks its more likely that I have a clogged vac line, somehow caused by the seafoam, so any recommendations on how to get a clog out?

well since you have a 2.8 you cant switch around coil packs. 2.8 coil packs rarely go bad anyway.

put "compression test" in google and it will tell you how. you need a $20 (from harbor freight) gauge.

the ticking noise you are hearing could easily be valve chatter which is normal depending on how loud it is.

its probably something like your O2 sensors causing you to run a bad a/f ratio. unfortunately they arent cheap, but if they are the original sensors still this would be a good time to replace them anyways, they only last about 100k miles. you only need to replace the primary sensors, the after-cat sensors are not as important to how the car runs, they are more for emissions purposes.

That suggestion sounds like a good idea just to see how things are running, and replace the sensors as suggested, and I do appreciate the suggestion, however I got it figured out.

I took her down to a local tuning shop here in SLC that specializes in Audi, VW and BMW tuning, repairs, maintenance and the works, and the owner is a super legit guy, way honest, didn't try to sell me on anything I didn't actually need. I explained what was going on and he popped up the hood and took off all the cute plastic covers and listened to what was going on, plugged in his OBDII module (which wasn't a little handheld thing, he had a 30 foot long OBDII>PC cable and had all sorts of various diagnostic software on the PC. I think I might look into something like that to run off my laptop, that'd be convenient) and saw what was up and heard the ticking I was talking about and took a close eyeball near the coilpacks and sure enough, there was still a spark arcing right at the tip of it. Turns out those sparks are hard to see in daylight, he turned off the lights in the garage and we could see it clear as day.

True thing, ghost, the coil pack isn't bad, but I think the rubber is just worn or something cuz he slathered a dab of RTV over the arcing area (not in a way to affect the connection of the wire of course) and it's running 100% normal. No misfires at all, no hesitant/lurching acceleration, just solid, normal engine operation. I'm going to eventually get a new coil pack just cuz I'm sure this one is still stock and if the one had a crack in it that was allowing the arc to pass through, it could be likely the others will follow, but for now, my problem is fixed and I've had a pretty jolly day :)

Thanks again for the suggestions all who have followed this, I'm happy to say that this case is closed :)