Blinking Check Engine Light

[phEight]

So I just had the high idle thread earlier, I hadn't been driving my car this weekend at all, but I turned it on the other day, the car was shaky and the check engine light was blinking, wasn't sounding too hot. I did a search on this forum came up with most people saying coilpacks are out.

However, If you guys remember I had a high idle issue that I made a thread about, and also the dealership over filled my oil awhile back, when I told them they said the levels are high but it's still ok, it's not too bad. The funny thing is when I first checked in the manual a couple weeks ago about overfilling oil it said it could cause damage to the catalytic converter... yesterday when I checked the manual for a blinking check engine light it says could be a damaged catalytic converter. Funny coincidence or what? I'm not sure what to do, should I still drive the car to the dealership? (about a 10-15 minute max drive)

Also I read through search that over filled oil could spill onto the coil packs and cause them to fail? I'm honestly not too much of a techy person I just learn what I can through what I read I don't work on my car at all. All in all, my car is not under warranty but it seems like everything is pointing in the direction of overfilled oil which Audi obviously did on the last oil change. This isn't recorded anywhere on paper (the complaint about overfilled oil that is), so I'm just wondering what to expect. Someone told me to take the car to a local autozone earlier on this forum so they can see what codes show up for the check engine light, but now the light is blinking and the car sounds bad so I'm not even sure if I should drive the car..

Any advice would be appreciated guys.. thanks a lot

edit: car is a 100% stock 1.8t

[Jersey R1]

Coilpacks...

[luvin_the_rings]

go to any random mechanic shop and have them scan the code from the ECU. Post the codes.

You will have misfiring codes if it is the coil packs, if you want you can (search: coil pack test) and find how to id the exact coil pack and replace it.

You will have catalytic inefficient or incorrect codes if it is your cat that needs to be replaced.

or both... lol

-Z

[jessefrank]

+1...another one for a coilpack(s)

My first coilpack that went out the car did just like you described. It didn't get a constant MIL. It happened on a Saturday evening, I didn't have any spare CP's, got the car home in limp mode (about a mile). Sunday I started it up...still blinking MIL and all the vibrationa/sh!tty idle (running on 3 cyl). Monday the MIL went solid...replaced #1 CP and all was well again (till my next CP went out the next month

If not a coilpack, get a Test pipe (unless you have to worry about emmissions) and the MIL eliminator adaptor or go REVO stage 1 w/ cat delete software.

Either way I'd get the oil overfilling documented. Get something in writing at least that the Audi Dealer admits they overfilled your oil...so later on if you have any issues from it you'll have a leg to stand on.

This just happened to one of my buddies; the VW dealer underfilled the oil in his 03 A4. The tech there was shorting people oil, just a bit from each oil change, just enough so the oil light wouldn't come on and taking it for his personal use. They checked his car, docuemnted it in their system, gave him paperwork stating as such and gave him a couple free syn oil changes.
...just ONE MORE reason to change your own oil and the fact that you can't even trust the dealer to do what's right(wait, most of us already knew that ).

[JustinCase]

Definitely coil packs.

[phEight]

Thanks for the replies guys, so what do you think about driving it right now? Is it ok or should I avoid it?

[A4 KiDD 810]

Can coilpacks cause power loss if only like 1 of them is bad, lets say the car will run but maybe not full power, but not enough to notice ? I had a random misfire a month or so ago, didnt know what it was from, but now that I read this its got me thinking....

[jessefrank]

Thanks for the replies guys, so what do you think about driving it right now? Is it ok or should I avoid it?

Manual says it can be driven short distances.
I wouldn't do it unless you absolutely have to get somewhere very close to where the car is now at. When my #2 cyl CP went out it dumped soooo much fuel into the exhaust (only drove it like .25 miles; I was right around the corner from my house) ... the turbo and cat were glowing like no other. I was afraid I may have burnt an oi seal in the trubo it got so hot.

A4 KiDD 810, I didn't get any MILs( and dont have VAGcom to randomly check for codes) when my first CP went. Before it went out I had three instances over about a 2 week period where under acceleration the car all of a sudden lost power, but then came right back on and drove fine (probably would have came up as a random misfire cyl#xx). 1st/2nd instance=no MIL, 3rd= blinking MIL for a few seconds, then drove fine w/ no MIL. ...then the CP went out.

I had the stock coils w/ about 40k on them. I had 3 go in about a 1.5 month period. After the 3rd I just replaced the last one and carry 2 spares.

[dougyfresh]

Can coilpacks cause power loss if only like 1 of them is bad, lets say the car will run but maybe not full power, but not enough to notice ? I had a random misfire a month or so ago, didnt know what it was from, but now that I read this its got me thinking....

If one (or any) coil pack is bad on our four cylinder engines the ECU will throw a CEL and the car will go into limp mode. When that happens all turbo boost is bypassed and the car runs very rough and can't get out of its own way.

If you've experienced a single misfire or two that didn't evoke 'limp mode' you probably won't even notice. You will still get a CEL but it won't be flashing, it'll be solid. What happened is a misfire occurred at some split second point in time. It really should not do this so you should look into potential solutions (plugs, plug gap, coil packs, etc..)

[ThatGuyAlex]

to see if its a coilpack without a scanner do this.

1.turn the car on
2. Pop the hood (leave the car on...lol)
3. Start unpluging each coilpack one by one but
Unplug one (see if the car tries to die, if so its not that coil pack, plug it back in and go to the next one) The one that you unplug and makes no difference in idle or how the car sounds is the blown coilpack.

Also if you car sound like a Subaru when you drive it, its a blow coilpack.

[doublezero30]

driving the car with a blinking CEL is never a good idea. it can do damage to the engine and if the cat isnt damaged already, it could damage the cat as well. i dont suggest you drive it anyplace, but hey..its up to you.

try the method alex posted but be aware that it doesnt always work(didnt for me at least). theyre are very inexpensive tools you can buy to diagnose a misfire.

1) http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...d=spark+tester
with this one you take the coilpack out of the car, and pop it on this just like it would sit on a spark plug. then clip it to a ground. start the engine and if it sparks, youre coilpack is good. you can probably also make one of these out of a spark plug and aligator clip if youve got a welder.

2)http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...d=spark+tester
this one determines a bit less, but is still usefull. you just start the engine without pulling anything apart and place the grooved end over the coil. inside where the fuse thingy is will spark/light up if there is spark in the cylinder. if it doesnt, it could be the coil, plug, or injector. (i would suspect a coil or plug first though).

also, one way to test if youre cat is shot is by just knocking/banging on it. if you here stuff rattling inside it...you need a new one. this doesnt give you a 100% yes or no though since a cat can melt together and not have any pieces break loose.

[Tgr_Clw]

Can coilpacks cause power loss if only like 1 of them is bad, lets say the car will run but maybe not full power, but not enough to notice ? I had a random misfire a month or so ago, didnt know what it was from, but now that I read this its got me thinking....

Yes. Replace the CP on that cylinder, don't wait until if completely fails.

[Pr0n]

In September I had a flashing MIL. VAG'd it and I had 3 cylinders mis-fire at the same time. The Check Engine light came off without me having to clear it and I haven't had a problem with it (according to recent VAG-COM's and bringing it in to the dealer) since then and my Check Engine light is off.
Anyone else ever experience something similar? I'm wondering if it was a one-off or if I should actually replace all the coilpacks.

[rmamiye]

i changed my coil packs and spark plugs a few months back because of misfiring. today when i was driving all of the sudden it started misfiring again. when i went to check under the hood i noticed that the cat was glowing like the sun at night would. when i checked the codes i was getting a burned coil #2 so i changed it thinking that it would solve the problem with the cat.
none-the-less, after driving for about 10 min the cat started glowing again. what could be the cause of all this? could it be related to any of this?
thanks

[drow]

On my 2003 a6 2.7t, the coil packs were bad and there was a recall on them and the dealer changed them all for free. I would check on that 1st & get the coil packs taken care of first. Good luck,,,,

[Let it snow]

This thread died long ago.

[onceover]

I never understand how people find these threads just to add their input. I can see if you have the same problem and it was never resolved in the thread...