This morning on my way to work my 2002 A4 1.8t (63k) started to hesitate under acceleration (manual trans) and then the CEL came on and started flashing about once a second. The power dropped and I could hear the exhaust sort of pop a little, like it might be firing only 3 cylinders (?). It started at about the point where the car usually hits its operating temp, if that makes a difference. I use Shell gas primarily and just had the timing belt replaced and the rear seal replaced. I'm the second owner and I know the coil pack was replaced somewhere in the 25k region. When I parked the car there was a definite wet sort of cooking smell, not burning, coming from the exhaust. Didnt smell like coolant. And I could definitely hear something through the exhaust that sounded like a rhythmic muffled clank. Right now she's parked in the paring lot and I am afraid to drive it too much because I know from experience that these problems can get more expensive the more you drive on them. I bought a new set of coils when I got the car thinking that I'd need to replace them, but I didnt since the service tech @ the dealer told me to wait until it started running like crap... is this what he meant? How do I determine if its the coils? Or a knock sensor? or an O2 sensor? ANY advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Mike
- posted
14 years ago