This is after the misfiring incident. I've changed to new NGK BKR6E's gapped (and double checked) to 0.032" for stock boost. After installation of new plugs, the car started first try, but maintained extremely low RPMs for a second before dying. The next attempts to start were met with nothing but a whining starter and the smell of gas.

When the car was running and misfiring, it smelled horribly of unburnt fuel. Cylinder 1 had the normal white powder look. Cylinders 2-4 were coated in carbon, indicating a rich setting. The codes previously pulled were random cylinder misfires and misfires cylinder two. I cleared these and no new codes were entered while trying again to start the car today.

I'm really confused. I thought maybe the car had flooded. I park on a slight decline, nose down and I thought this may have aided flooding. I am hesitant to say that though because the car has sat there for 3 weeks before without problem.

Some other ideas were a cylinder leak, maybe out the valve or rings, a bad ICM, and a fuel injector on the fritz. Could one injector being dead cause the others to attempt to pick up slack and run rich in three cylinders?

Basically I really want to just get this car running again so I can get it sold. TDI time for me, at least during the summer.

 

Get a bitchin' truck! Powerstroke! POWERSTROKE!

 

i got an injector you could have cheap, it is off an 01 awm 1.8t

 

If you smell fuel then your pump and pump control are fine. That leaves air and spark. You know you're getting air, but the fuel may not be the right amount for The air you're getting (your rich cylinders would corroborate that). Or your ignition system is crapping out (which is in keeping with what you've seen up to now). Have you swapped coils around? I'd try cleaning (or replacing) the carbon coated plugs and put different coils on those cylinders to start with and see if you still get carbon on those plugs. If so, I'd suspect an ICM issue. If the previously-OK plugs carbon up, then coils are more likely. The kicker to me is that you're not registering any more codes.

Have you tried disconnecting the battery for a few hours? That'd drain the caps that maintain ECU memory and put it into relearn mode - maybe that will help it at least fire back up (kind of make it forget that it's not running right - I'm thinking that if something took a crap, the computer may have tried to compensate too far and lost the ability to run the engine). Put it back to relearn and it'll run off preprogrammed maps that won't change until the computer relearns the engine. By doing that, you may get it to throw some codes that'll help you further in troubleshooting.

 

Try another ICM. Mine would run really badly on 3cyls and sometimes didn't even start. I replaced the ICM and runs real smooth since then

 

ICMs are expensive.

Devil, the car wont start, and there's no combustion I dont believe, so I dont think the plugs are carbon fouling again. I will recheck, but the plugs currently in are new, never driven in. I might take off my SMIC to throttle hose just to check for anything weird (like metal). Could I possibly have the plugs out of the engine bay, the holes covered with tape, and see if they're sparking?

 

Have you tried resetting your TB

 

I'm drive by cable, will that do anything?

 

So any suggestions to find out if my spark plugs are sparking? I have push down coils, so when I set the plugs on the valve cover and cranked, they didnt fully make connection in the boot, inhibiting spark. I've got air (I'm 99% sure), I've got fuel (the right amount? I think so) so all that's left is spark.

 

one thing i can think of is maybe the spark plugs came from the factory with a crack in the ceramic. i had bought a set of plugs a while ago installed them with the correct gap and what not, startd the car it miss fired really bad and died. took the plugs out went back and got a new set and put them in the exact same way i did the previous set and was fine. not all parts that come from the manufacturer are 100% sad to say. i would just take em back and see if they will exchange you for a new set and tell them these must have been damaged before you bought them, but good luck trying to convince them that.