Okay here is my situation. I just shelled out just over $1000.00 fixing my car; 2000 Audi A4 2.8L 30V Quattro sedan with the tiptronic transmission. The repairs where all to do with the rear drive-train and brakes, irrelevant to my situation, just wanted to express how broke I am. Mix this with going to school in two weeks, and well you get the idea.

Back to the car, when driving around I've noticed the car is very sluggish (sometimes) and now I've noticed that when it's sluggish the "Check Engine Light" begins flashing. I've done some looking around and my uneducated internet fueled guess is probably a faulty coil pack. Now popping the hood I found that I have this coil pack:

which then goes to these:

(which I assume are the coils?)
Then from there to the spark plugs.

I don't have the money to do a diagnostic, and I assume there is no way of turning the key 5 times, saying 4 Hail Mary's and staring at the dash funny to get your codes? I also don't have a lot of "proper" tools. Is there a way to test the coil pack and coils (do I even need to test the coils) that I could do with limited resources? Another issue I've noticed is that my VDO (which like many others has a screwed-up display) fades in and out at the bottom, where it displays what gear you're in. Sometimes it's bright and clear, other times it's faded and dim. I've also had the car become a turtle on me a few times. Driving along the car suddenly looses power, I can put the gas to the floor and nothing, I had to pull over and "reboot" the car.

Does anyone know what's going on with this damn thing? Is there anyway to get the codes? Are there tests I can do to find out what's wrong?

 

There are too many possible variables that could be causing your problems. You should really get someone to scan for codes.

The LCD centre display, it is very common that they fade away. No other fix unless you replace the LCD.

 

Hey, I see your from winnipeg, I have a vagcom cable for my laptop and can get the codes for you if you'd like and maybe even help diagnose your problem. let me know if your interested

 

Really, that would be great? How much would you charge for that, or what's your favorite 6-pack? My schedule is pretty tight, maybe we can meet up next weekend or something.

I discovered a new problem, my drivers auto up feature doesn't work after changing the battery, tried the pinch diy but no go, then today I was holding both the passenger and drivers window switches up and when they got close to the top the drivers side window reversed direction. Like the wires suddenly got crossed, wtf is up with that???

 

the window sounds like you need to re do the pinch protection thing again, its thinking its pinching and going back down.

for scanning your car im free every night this week, pm me what part of the city your in and ill give you my # and we can set somethign up