2 weeks ago i purchased a 2001 A4 2.8 Tip. with 66k from "Ramsey Pontiac" in NJ about 2 hours south from me. I had it for 3 days and the AC stopped working. I took it back to ramsey they ran a leak test and they said it was the hose from the compressor to the condensor, they had to order it i had to come back when they got it. in the mean time i went on vacation to Long Beach Island NJ. I got back sunday night and HAD to go straight to the car wash to get all the salt off from the beach. ( now to my CEL) i pressure washed the undercarrage just like i allways have with previous cars. i dried it waxed it and then i hit the road. at about 20 MPH my cel started flashing and my engine was sputtering. soon after that started the cel stopped flashing and just stayed on. if i stayed at one speed it would not sputter but as soon as i tried to accelerate it sputtered. this went on for about 5 minuites then it stopped alltogether, but the cel stayed on. monday morning i called ramsey to one ask about the cel sputter incident and also to find out if they got the hose yet, they had the hose but had no idea what happend with the cel. i made a appt. for this morning (wed). to come in and get the hose replaced and get the comp read to see the problem. by the time i got there the cel turned off by it self. they said that they read it anyway but nothing came up. 7 hours later they had the AC fixed and i was on my way. on the way north on 87 i hit a insane rain storm. it was raining so hard that i just turned off my wipers( i couldnt see eithor way) well the road had about 3 in. of water on it and the whole time i was driving through it my cel was flashing and the enging was sputtering. no matter what rmp i am at or what mph the second that i try to accelerate the stated acting up. as soon as the rain let up it stopped and was find, this time the cel didnt stay on, it just blinked while sputtering then turned off.
so i accually have 2 questions.... should it have taken them 7 hours to replace that hose? they said they had to tear apart the whole front end to run the hose. and second and most important whats with my cel? i think that when i washed it i hit some censor and got it wet and loosed it. once it dried off i was fine, but then with the heavy rain i think it got wet again.
sorry so long and mostly off topic but i just put my self in dept for 5 years and spent 7 hours in the dealer for one hose, i needed to vent.
thank you very much for any help

 

Water is causing miss-firing. Check the rubber boots around the
coils and ignition wires. Make sure there is no salt on the high voltage
wires.