ennui75

Hey all,

I'm hoping AW can help chime in w/ your knowledgeable 2 cents! My 2006 A6 3.2 FWD w/ 33K miles has been having a difficult start about once a week (but getting more frequent). When this occurs, there's a rough idle, poor acceleration up to 20mph and misfiring. From a stop, the car cannot make it up an incline unless it first gains some momentum/speed. Every other time, the car starts up and runs fine.

My indy Audi mechanic has tried replacing the potentiometer (p2401), changing spark plugs, replaced two coils (cylinder #3, #4 indicated misfiring) and some other adjustments but nothing has worked. Since this only happens once every few days or week, the car seems fine after each tweak or fix the mechanic's made but inevitably the same issue creeps up after a few days.

Any ideas? I've search the forums to no avail! Thanks in advance for your input! I'm not a DIYer but I'd like to suggest potential problems to the mechanic before I'm forced to bring it to the Audi dealer service center.

dafrazi

Can you provide a VAGCOm (VCDS) scan and the stored codes?

raj99

could not agree more...give us some data to go on. Otherwise were are just guessing.

Based upon what you've stated as the problem, and since you've already replaced plug and wires, it could be MAF or other sensors related to ignition. go to you indy mech and ask them to give you the VCDS related to the misfires ASAP.

SchwarzS6

No MAF in the 3.2 but otherwise I agree with the two previous posters. Get the car scanned by someone with a VAG specific scan tool like VAG-COM and post the results. There are a lot of possibilities and the scan should point you in the right direction.

mystrodo

When was the fuel filter last changed? I'm betting never! and that will cause issues especially as dirty as fuel is today...your burning corn/wheat fuel which is not the best for direct injection systems..change the fuel filter and every other tank or so run the ZERO Ethanol fuel, your engine/injectors/valves etc will love it. Find the stations near you:


http://pure-gas.org/

cebo0650

Turns out there is a ZERO ethanol gas station 2min away from my house.
I filled up yesterday and I could swear the car idled much smoother then it typically does when I first start it in the morning.

I'll continue to fill up there for the next little while to see what happens. I hear one can also expect better mpg with zero ethanol fuel.

daredevil1

Replace the rest of the coilpacks. There's a recall on them.

gmen75

This is the OP - AW wouldn't let me response to the thread (weird error) so I created a new login.

Thanks for the responses - I came back from a biz trip and the mechanic had replaced the MAF sensor. Not sure if a simple cleaning would have worked but I read that it's a common problem. So far, so good - after 1.5 weeks!

If this problem returns, I'll ask my mechanic for the codes and post them here! Thanks again for your help!

gmen75

Update - so the issues and CEL came up again after two weeks. I decided to bring the car to the dealer to get a diagnosis. They did a (long overdue) ECU software update and said the car needed a carbon cleaning on the intake manifold and valves for $1200.

After reading some forum posts about the ongoing carbon build up problem, I called Audi of America to voice my thoughts. Audi of America said they would call my local dealer (Audi Beverly Hills) and see if they could assist in my car issues. The dealer called me back the next day and said they would do the carbon cleaning for free and threw in a free rental. Hopefully the software update and carbon cleaning fixes the problem but I was very impressed and thankful how Audi of America and Audi Beverly Hills handled the situation - especially for a 2007 vehicle!

FormulaElement

Wow nice! Im surprised Audi is going to do it for free.

With your symptoms I think the carbon cleaning will fix it. Especially if it's never been done before.