I had some weirdness occur when I started my car yesterday: 2007 A4 3.2L with 6-speed manual.

The idle was rough, the check engine light was flashing, and the ESP light was on. After 10-15 seconds I switched off the ignition, and restarted the car. The idle was fine, but the EPC light was on.

I drove to an auto parts store (the car ran fine) and asked them to read the codes. All that showed were cylinder misfires that I've been notified of before (most likely due to carbon build-up), and an issue with the Intake Manifold Runner Control that I haven't taken care of yet. I know these generic code readers don't show everything.

I restarted the engine, and the EPC light was no longer on.

No problems with the car since then and it is running fine. Engine light is on of course due to the above mentioned misfires and IMRC.

I'm concerned that this might be a preview of unpleasantness to come.

Any ideas?

 

Misfiring most likely due to carbon build up? -what?

The flashing cel is alerting you of a cylinder misfire. The first thing you should probably do is change the spark plugs with a set of Bosch double platinums and run a fuel system cleaner through it (I recommend a full can of seafoam to a full tank of gas)

Hopefully that will narrow down the misfire, but those are both things that probably need done anyway..

Next thing would be coil packs or fuel injectors.. But coil packs first

 

Your coils are fine. Don't listen to that guy. When a coil goes it goes permanently. Run some seafoam through the car. Then when it clears up install new plugs.

 

I personally think you might have a sensor going out. Perhaps Crank position sensor. But time will tell.

 

that's not true! coils soft fail all the time..

 

It sounds just like what was happening when my Jetta GLX with the VR6 developed a crack in the coil pack. If the car sat out overnight in temps in the 40's, it would run rough and the light would blink. Once it dried it was fine till next time. It got to the point where it was happening much more frequent, and I was reduced to putting a hair dryer on the coil pack. It got replaced shortly after that.