Need Help! Changed Spark Plus now...
 

I have a 98 A4 2.8 and I figured my car was due for a tune up. Bought it with 94k now has 102k miles on it. I pulled out the spark plugs and they were NGK Platinum's with the two prongs and that’s what I replaced them with, the same exact plugs. So I know my issue is not a gap problem. Also I replaced the air filter with a K&N drop in filter today so I did unhook a few things.

The Check Engine Light came on the day before but after I changed the plugs today on the first start up the engine began to shake violently, it didn't shake before, the Check Engine Light went from solid to blinking and also the exhaust note is different. I checked all the hoses and vacuum seals that may have come undone when I worked on it but everything looks fine.

The manual says the blinking light may be a problem with the Catalytic Converter.

I know I need to hook up Vag Com but I have been reading a lot of posts that say do not drive it with the blinking light so I am apprehensive about driving it to a shop or Advance/Autozone.

Any advice?????????

so it shakes but not rpms going up and down?

I wouldve checked the gap on the plugs and not assumed that they were correct or the same as the old ones. The oil on the filter could have messed up the MAF and create a misfire issue. Otherwise, I would back track all of the work you did and look for anything that is disconnected or loose. Could be as simple as a loose hose on the air box.

Spark plugs don't always come pre-gapped the right amount, so that is the first thing i would check and like AutoUnionFan said, oil getting in the MAF could be causing you problems.

To my knowledge there is no way to gap a two prong spark plug. They come pre-gapped with the protective cylinder around it from the box to prevent the gap from getting damaged from the factory. Am I wrong on this? Are there specific tools to gap a two prong plug? I only have the standard plug gapper.

Everything is connected back up, I back tracked twice.

I'll try to clean the MAF of any oil and see if that works.

The engine idles rough but does not jump in RPM's. I gave it a little gas and the shake became more violent as the RPM's rised.

Something made the CEL come on yesterday but whatever I did when I changed the plugs and air filter made it 10x worse.

you really can't regap a 2 prong plug with traditional tools. what you are experiencing is misfire when the cel flashes. i'd double check the plugs. don't drive the car or you will ruin your cats

$10 says your K&N dumped a whole bunch of oil on the MAF.

as stated, do not start or drive the car with a constant misfire.

Yeah, use Amsoil air filters, not K&N.

So should I take the plugs back to NAPA and get different ones? Single prong perhaps and what is the proper gap?

How do I get the oil off the MAF? There is a MAF sensor air flow cleaner spray I see from searching for it but will this get rid of the oil?

This article http://www.knfilters.com/MAF/massair.htm from the K&N site dismisses any possibility of Oil on the MAF causing my problem but I will try anything as I said if I can't drive it to a shop i'm pretty much on my own.

pull the filter, clean the MAF and check again w/o the filter

check that the coils are seated properly

check the connections to the coils

check coils are grounded properly

pull the plugs and make sure they arent cracked

blinking engine light means misfire correct?

correct.

that article is a bold faced lie. sure it doesnt happen to everyone but it certainly happens, K&N oil causes problems for more then just a few people. they just havnt bothered to do any R&D on the product which is why they have no evidence of it.

I pulled all the plugs and found that the middle plug on the drivers side was fouled. All the other plugs looked good. I tried to put in one of the best looking old plugs back in where the fouled plug came out and started it really quick but it's still shaking. I don't think the plug was bad but something made that plug foul and I am still at a loss. I'm not a very experienced mechanic I have to admit.

What did it look like? Can you get a picture?

Pics of the brand new plug I pulled out of the middle cylinder on the drivers side.

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...n/IMG_9058.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...n/IMG_9059.jpg

holy fuck that is not good at all

I think your engine's going to need to be torn down. Plugs should not look that bad even after 100k miles, let alone brand new.

Do a compression test, first of all.

My engine was running fine with the old plugs, all I do is put in new ones and now my engine needs to be torn down???? WTF??? This car is more trouble than it is worth.

I don't know how to do a compression test. I am only mechanically inclined to pull off old parts and bolt down new ones, change the oil, etc.... This car is a lemon plain and simple, nothing but problem after problem. I have owned it for 8 months and 8k miles and had:

1.The MAF sensor go bad the second day I owned it.
2. The breather hose cracked and broken
3. Oil leak from the back of the engine that leaked on the exhaust pipes causing smoke.
4. Cracked oil pan
5. Oil filter gasket leak
6. Crank Seal leak
7. Stock stereo lock and wouldn't unlock with the provided code
8. Its still slightly leaking what I think might be anti-freeze
9. Now this...........

The previous owner must have treated this car like shit.

Well, it's possible that there's a simpler explanation for it, but a plug REALLY shouldn't look like that.

I sure hope so and I thank you guys for all your help. I guess I have no choice but to fork out the money I don't have and tow it to a shop thats going to tell me I need 1 grand worth of work done to it.

Well I changed the coil and the wires and cleaned the MAF the best I could. It still won't start. It's like its hesitating to get gas or air. It won't turn over.

I got my hands on a OBD II and got these codes:

P1141 Load Calculation Cross Check Range/Performance

P0300 Random/Multiple Cylinder Misfire

P0304 Cylinder 4 Misfire

P0305 Cylinder 5 Misfire

P1250 Fuel Level Too Low

My fuel is low but it should have enough to start it. I tried to clean off the MAF but it has the weirdest screws in it I have ever seen and I don't have the tool to take it completely off so I just wiped i down in the housing best I could. I put the old air filter in and took the K&N out. I changed the spark plugs to the best out there, NGK Iridium cost me $20 more than what I originally had. It's still not starting. Have a new coil and wires on it too. There was some oil on the electrode of spark plug # 4 but a mechanic I asked said it might have dripped into the cylinder when I first changed it because the threads on the old spark plugs had a good amount of oil on them when I pulled the out but none on the electrode. This is driving me nuts. The car ran fine two weeks ago I do preventive maintenance and it completely dies on me.

I think P1141 is probably either the MAF or MAP sensor. MAF sensor is used to calculate airflow and the MAP sensor senses engine load via pressure in the intake manifold.

I'd say fix the P1141 and your misfires will likely be fixed.

The way to clean a MAF is to spray the wires inside of it down with a safe solvent. I use actual MAF cleaner to do that. Make sure to never touch those wires with anything.

You dont need to actually remove the MAF Sensor from the housing to clean it, though its better if you do. If you look at the inlet side of the housing, there is a hole for the air sample and looking at the rear, there is an exit hole. Spray the MAF cleaner into these holes while holding the housing at different angles. It should drip pretty good from both holes.

Not the actual Audi MAF, but you get the idea:

http://www.muscularmustangs.com/maf2.jpg

yeah check the maf. I had same problem and i replaced maf and spark plugs and my problem went away. But sounds like your maf just needs to be cleaned. if you bought plugs from napa i would return and go to audi for oem. Single prong.