some help? burning smell now car shakes-more info in msg.
 

hi guys. im having a problem with my a6 4.2 abt.


yesterday. while idling, some smoke came from the vent between the hood and windshield ..and then i could smell burning plastic or something through the vents.

after this, my car is now hard to start and revs weird. (itll rev from 900-1000 in half second bursts at idle) and the car shakes under throttle .

anyone have any clue what this could be?

Re: some help? burning smell now car shakes-more info in msg.
 

the plastic smell is sumtimes the heat shield around the manifolds that burn by touching the exhaust ... but the idle and starting hard i have no idea.. you have any check engine light on?

Re: some help? burning smell now car shakes-more info in msg.
 

no check engine light. the car is chipped so i dont know if that has to do with no cel. i checked as much as i could see as to what burned but there is no visible trace of anything that got hot.

this happened in -14C weather by the way . i believe its electrically linked. any ideas what i should check? would a melted coil or something cause this symptom?

Re: some help? burning smell now car shakes-more info in msg.
 

really hard to tell what the problem is i dont have enough info .. hehe look for other clues

Re: some help? burning smell now car shakes-more info in msg.
 

yea theres not much info but it could be as simples as an exhaust leak , or could be as serious as a blown head gasket. i see that your car is a 2000 which mean you probably have a good amount of milage on your car so a blown head gasket is def a possibility. as far as the rpm bouncing it is not unusual during a cold start when your car is warming up but once your car is warmed up there shouldnt be any rpm bounce during idle. if there is then theres a problem.

Re: some help? burning smell now car shakes-more info in msg.
 

it definatly isnt a coolant leak and the cold start rpm bouncing is not what i mean .


its a consistant power loss throughout the rpm range

i dropped my pants and brought it to the dealer to diag ...lets see how bad this is :P

Re: some help? burning smell now car shakes-more info in msg.
 

oh yeah...whats the cost of doing a head gasket on these 4.2l v8s?

Re: some help? burning smell now car shakes-more info in msg.
 

figured it out...number 2 coil died.

Re: some help? burning smell now car shakes-more info in msg.
 

how much did the dealer want for the diagnosis?

Re: some help? burning smell now car shakes-more info in msg.
 

200 :(