Spunky

WoW, thank you everyone for your input. This appears to be a common issue with many of us and it is great to know what to do. Thanx Chaos for your great feedback. My question I will put out there is in regards to changing our OWN COILS...... If I still have an existing warranty with Audi, would it be advisable to change my own coils?? I wonder if we do it on our own it may screw up warranty issues??? Any thoughts/comments to this? Thanx.

sxrxrnr1

Amazing to me that everyone is so accepting of these coil pack failures as if they should be a regular maint item like changing the spark plugs. Of course they are priced at about 10 times the price of a spark plug for a regular car. My wife's 2004 A4 just blew two of them just after the car was out of warranty. And most likely will blow the other 2 soon. 200 bucks for incompetent engineering on the part of Audi is a bit much too take. Is it any wonder that Consumer Reports in their annual frequency of repair gives Audi a continuim of black marks(the worst rating possible)? And that incessant chiming from the interior alarm whenever the seat belt is disconnected or the driver door is open. Christ the gear shift is in park, not drive. Who are these morons who coming us with these ideas and who in marketing lets this stuff out the door. Don't even get me started on the fact that their is no accessory position on the ignition switch(lose the radio when you shut down the motor,,,,yes I know that you can turn it back on, but you miss a few seconds of the ball game). Ranting is done, off to Audi for their ounce of blood again.

Incidentally the new coil packs give an intense spark jump noise when pulled from the spark plug with the engine running. The remaining ones that have not been replaced do not give you this noise. Does this mean that the voltage is minimal on these old "L" ones compared to "R" ones, or does this merely mean that the "L" ones are about to fail and are doing a poor job of sparking even though still working(kinda)?

Anyone know how to turn off the incessant chiming? I even looked at the new Audi's. Considered one until found that chiming is still an issue. Finally they wised up a bit, by not turning off radio when engine is stopped until you open the door. Christ Chevy figured this out 20 years ago.

My very first posting, guess this is enough for today.

K04-S4

I have a 2.7T and 3.0 with original coils and both engines approaching 100K KMs. Just replaced first failed coil on a 1.8T 225HP TT at 140KM's. Having said that, recently replaced a failed coil on two seperate A4 1.8T's shortly after each had spark plugs replaced.

Interesting that the 1.8T's seem to blow coils quicker than the V6's.

Chaos

i have yet to change any on mine but i do have a spare new one in my trunk im at 130k

sxrxrnr1

Additional information on the coil problems on my wife's A4. I had previously noted that I had replaced a single coil and car still ran poorly. I also noted that the new coil had a sharp spark crack when pulled from the plug while engine was operating and that the others did not. I've now replaced all coils, car runs fine(forgetting for now the possible frying of the cat converter).

What is of specia. interest is that another problem appears resolved after replacing all coils. I had reported this problem to my AUDI dealer at several different service intervals. The problem was that the car would hesitate and stumble at times when accelerating from a dead stop. At times it would even stall when making a full left hand turn(power steering load on engine?) from a stop. At times in front of oncoming traffic. The dealer kept telling us that this was standard operating procedure with CVT transmissions and outside of service software upgrades, that I must learn to live with it. Yes this is correct. Now with these coil replacements, the problem appears gone. It appears that these coils gradually fail slowly,,,still function but at reduced voltage(hence the lack of spark crack when older coil is pulled from plug). This likely causes the stumbles that I experienced because of partial misfiring. I plan to contact Audi about this to gain their opinion and likely denial.

My remaining question is this. Must I have a analyzer tool or must I pay Audi to reset the codes in the ECM so that I no longer have the error(engine check light) on the dash. It no longer flashes because coils are replaced, but does remain constant on. Or will it disappear after a number of stop start cycles?

Needless to say, I am extremely disappointed in the performance of Audi in turning out such a YUGO like electronic product, and their extremely poor response to a likely life threatening situation with the stumbles and stalls that we experienced. Ralph Nader would have a ball with this.

PwrDriftr

I raised this Ignition Coil issue with the service staff at Mississauga Audi, a few weeks ago when my car was in for service. According to them the issue is that owners need to keep them dry (so no washing the engine when detailing). Apparently getting them wet shortens the life span of the ignition coil.

QT

Anything else that can prolong, or shorten the life span of the ignition coils?

wanthema

prolong? dont drive it.

shorten? driving it.

Chaos

The CEL should reset by itself its better to get it scanned to make sure there are no other codes if it stays on.

SpoolinS6

u guy are lucky at your coils being 50 bucks or so try 140-170 a coil for my s6
i just ordered 5 new ones i said **** it and just bought all new one from ecstunning.com cheapest i could find them for and theyre OEM BERU's i also bought some samco hoses:P lol