Hey guys, you probably noticed i have needed alot of help recently. My Audi has been nothing but problems. I am in desperate need of all your help as yet another thing has gone wrong. I Had a ton of work done and now i am poor however i get the car back from the shop and the guy says that i need a new coilpack i think no big deal, this has been done before. I order all bran new coils from ESC (hitachi E) The check engine light went from flashing to steady i drove it and it did not stutter at all. I thought great maybe the car just needs some time to reset and realize everything is running smooth. I drive it for about 2 miles and its still on so i check under my hood for curiousity and there is smoke coming from one of the parts to the left of the engine. (Not good with cars)

So i am like freaking out and i have no money left. After all i am just getting out of college and living on the budget is pretty tough. I am in desperate need of diagnostics of what it might be as i am quite literally afraid to drive it to autozone to get the codes run. Any help would be really apprieciated as i am pretty much in a panic! I am starting to loose faith in audi...

 

coolant flange perhaps. Check behind ur engine infront of the firewall. Right ontop of the catalytic converter might be ur source of smoke.

 

wouldnt cause a CEL though. check the codes

 

ok, if a CP went bad the CEL would be on. FAIL for the shop if they did NOT reset the light. The light will EVENTUALLY go off. Good job for stepping up to the "E" series CP. As a side note learn to swap these out for future blown coilpacks. The "E" are great but you never now when they can fail keep good old ones or new extras along with an allen key in your trunk. If you don't want to go to Autozone. Unplug the battery to reset the light, see what that does. If you have you radio code great, if not don't BLAME me for your stereo being in safe mode. This smoke you see is probably from a leaking VC gasket. Common, get the gasket and sealant. Theres a DIY on www.A4mods.com Do the work and save some money.

 

Update!

Ok, so i was brave enough to start it up and take a took. When idleing there is no smoke however there is definitly a strange sound thats hard to describe coming from where coil pack #4 is. The best i can describe it is a fast ticking sounds almost grinding. However it is still working i am assuming because i no longer get rough idles or the common symtoms assosiated with blown coilpacks. I mean these coilpacks are bran new so it should not be blown anyways. I did get new sparkplugs which i was later told are not the best, dont know if they are gapped correctly. Could that be causing the problem? Also as for resetting the battery i am afraid thats not an option as the previous owner did not include the codes

 

if they didnt reset your CEL, then you gonna have it for about 1 day of driving even with all 4 good coilpacks ---nothing to be worried about.
about the smoke, what kind of a smoke is that? oil/water/something else?

 

So i just checked and the coilpack and sparkplug are in perfect condition so i doubt that this loud ticking is a result from those. I mean it makes sense that if it were the spark plugs it would be happening on all of them rather than just on one. This is the coilpack that was originally blown too so i dont want whatever this ticking problem is to blow another. As for AudiProteins advice that it may take a day. This could be true and the smoke could be a seperate problem however i am afraid to drive it with this ticking going and smoke. However i mean the smoke was not like billowing out it was as if somone had lit a ciggarette.

I mean am i freaking out over something incredible simple or does this sound like an expensive fix?

 

ok, i dont wanna say that your car is OK but than something brakes after you start driving....
BUT
CEL- you still got a CEL on because they didnt erase it after they put new coilpacks in.
Smoke- could be anything... i see smoke coming out from the grill area (radiator) sometimes, everytime i open the good i see NOTHING
ticking sound- when i first got the car i thought that something was wrong with it because of that sound... try youtube some a4 1.8t videos with an open hood... its prolly just how the 4 cylinder engine works, its totally fine.
spark plugs- did u gap them?
is your car misfiring?
is there ANYTHING wrong with it except of "smoke" and a ticking sound?

 

Ok, to start from the bottom.

There does not seem to be anything wrong aside from this having to do with the engine. For example my rear right window will not roll up. However thats a project for another day. When i had work done the guy ran the codes and he specifically said it was coilpack #4 and that i should just replace all 4. He offered to do it but i declined knowing i could get hitachi E's. There is a high pitched sound when i turn the car on (not starting it) coming from the engine but i dont even know if this is a problem, as nothing else seems to be wrong. Its not like from a moving part or anything. It sounds elecrical, however again i dont even know if this is even an actual problem because i am still learning the sights and sounds of my car.

The sparkplugs were not gapped however they were bought from a lookup of my car. Meaning they might have already been pregapped if they are specific to my car i am not sure. However the car is not misfiring it runs beautifully.

The strange thing that worries me about the ticking seems to be originating from only the 4th coilpack, closest to the cabin of the car. Like if you put your ear to each coilpack there is clearly something wrong as all are silent and this one is loud. Sounds like it is clearly straining.

The fact that the car runs and drives great and that the sound is only coming from one instead of all four makes me think that the its not the sparkplugs that are causing the problem. Regaurdless i took a look at it, its still in perfect condition and i put it back in making sure it was nice and tight... same problem.

As for the smoke i saw it coming from the pipe that is to the left of the engine if you were looking at the car from the front. I am still trying to figure what exactly this is my best guess is that its my CAT?

Lastly i havent got to drive the car enough where the CEL would turn off as you suggested but do you think that it is strange that it went from flashing (normal for a coil pack) to solid?

Thanks for all your help man, you have no idea how much i appreciate it.

 

you didnt need to replace all 4 coils, but thats a very good idea to keep them in a trunk all the time as a spare.
does it happen when you turn your key into "ready position" (before you start the engine)??? if yes, then its totally normal, your electrical system and other stuff is getting ready.
Also, turn off you car and stay inside and listen carefully, you gonna hear liek something is moving inside the engine bay, thats basically the same thing.


if you are stock, they should be gapped to about .30-.32... but your spark plugs seem to be fine if they dont misfire

thats prolly coming from your vacuum lines (valves)that are located between the engine and the cabin, right where coilpack #4 is located
http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=259089
or your injectors http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...=ticking+sound
thats normal
yes, your CAT. could be anything. oil drop or water drop got on top of that which caused the smoke.


when you coilpack(s) go bad, your CEL starts blinking for about a minute. then its just a solid CEL.
CELs can be different, it doesnt mean that your car is about to die sometimes soon, thats just your ECU tells you that something is not normal.
The last 2 times my coils went bad, it took ECU about 1 day of driving to erase clear that CEL by itself.
My IMHO again, usually engines dont break all of sudden... unless there was a long term problem.
like someone has already said, valve cover gaskets tend to leak often on our cars. Take off that black oooo cover with 1.8t sign and look around the valver cover for any leaks.
p.s. your car is fine dude at least i hope