pulled a plug and they are the NGK BKUR6ET-10's. same ones that ECS has on their site for my car. They are light brown but with some white speckling on the tips which would indicate a lean condition. must be the ect making in run lean

 

Try a higher octane gas.

 

Does it sound like a can of spray paint being shaken?

 

higher octane fuel??? it calls for 91 and i run 93. and as for the paint can, not really but I'm sure it's detonation(pre-ignition) i know what detonation sounds like, but this was just much more faint and wanted to see if anyone had any other ideas of what it could be. went to my friend rich's house and put it on the vag-com and it said that the ect sensor was not sending a plausable signal. gonna pull it and get a new one and see what happens. thanks for all the input, much appretiated.

 

I think this post is about finished so i dont think that I am jacking it. I notice I have a sound a bit like shaking a can of spray paint (except not quite that high pitch) along with a ruff idle (steady rpm, but the car kinda shakes). What does this mean ?

 

IAC (idle air control) valve could be a culprit of the rough idle. what condition is the car in when you hear that rattle sound?? under load, sitting at idle??

 

Detonation doesn't happen at idle, if I were you I would look for bad motor mounts (look to see if purple liquid or puple crust is on the bottom of them) check for good spark plugs and make sure they are factory reccomended spark plugs, and check the idle air control valve (alot of times this will seem like a misfire at idle but when any pressure is applied to the gass pedal it will stop). It could be piston slap or a rod knocking. Any more details? (cel's, does it do it under load, is it constant)

 

It pretty much does just happen at idle, and if i touch the gas it will smooth out. I have a cel on but it was on befor i noticed this (although now there could be 2 codes stored, Hell there may be 50 ). Sometimes I seam to expierience a very small loss in power during acceleration, it might even be more of a hessitation or unsmooth powerband then it is a loss of power. Im not sure if they are related or not but I thought I would mention it anyway.
My vag-com was suppose to come in the mail a few days ago, but as usual the post office is late, and has me worried. I will scan the car soon as I get it.

 

hope you get your VAG soon then we can proceed

 

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