Hi all! New here to the forums but I have been reading them for a while now.

I have an issue with my 1996 a4 quattro 2.8 V6 5spd manual.

I bought this car about a month ago with 160,000 miles on her. Runs,, well ran awesome. I was told that the cats were old and about depleted. I had to drive about a 1000 mile round trip and the car ran great to Las Vegas and back to Northern Ca. But as I entered back about the last 70 miles of my trip went south. I noticed that the car started missing bad and then the engine light came on and then started flashing at me from time to time, then became solid on again. The car is still missing bad but drivable. Well I took it to the muffler shop here today and they told me both cats are now completely hollow and there is no restiction of material in the exhaust. Would too little back pressure throw a code and cause the engine to start missing like this or do I have more problems than that? I read up on this issue on the forums but all I could come up with are the usual coil pack probs. Oh yeah those vacuum lines on top of the engine under the shroud.. Some of them look like they lost a fierce battle.. Should I start there?
Thanks!!
Shawn

 

i don't think too little back pressure would do that. i mean people gut their cats and have no problem. you need the codes read and then post them. it helps us diagnose it better. and yes start with the vac lines but i doubt it'll do much but also change out the coolant temp sensor. it's been known to cause random problems that are mysterious in every way lol

 

Well guys I fixed it. Number 6 spark plug was bad. Replaced it and it's good. Hey is it ok to run Autolite non platnium plugs?