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Hi all,

Hope you can help me out...

The engine management light on my B6 S4 started to flash today and the engine was running particularly rough when applying any amount of throttle. I had no choice but to continue my journey (about 7 miles), albeit very sedately, and the light was then permanently on.

There is a slight smell of fuel and the nearside exhaust is noticeably hotter than the offside. Feels like not all cylinders are fireing. Unfortuantely I don't have VAG-com to scan for codes, but my gut feeling is coil pack(s) or perhaps lambda sensors.

I'm supposed to be at a wedding tomorrow, so the timing is not ideal. The plan is to take it to Audi in the morning and see what they find. Should I get the car recovered to Audi or do you think it will be safe to drive teh 10 miles or so?

Any guidance / help / wisdom greatly appreciated.

Jez

Very unlikely to be lambda sensors. Sounds like coil packs. If you have Audi Assistance or similar get it towed to the dealers. Better to be safe than sorry.

Got the RAC coming out to take a look and will ask them to recover it to Audi. Certainly not firing on all 8 cylinders - hopefully it is just the coil packs.

Thanks for your advice

All sorted - friendly RAC man diagnosed no.3 cylinder coil pack as dead. He had one in the van and I'm back up and running

wierd. . . iv got the EXACT same problem, cylinder 3 coil pack. Although i was more unluck in that the AA man didnt have one in stock and it seems the whole audi dealer netwrok in the SE is out of stock save for Milton Keynes who are delivering one tomorrow for me

Had this the other week, was reliably informed that driving with a coil pack down can severely knacker the cats, which is mega bucks to rectify. So if it happens, drive like you're on your test, stay well away from full throttle!

I nursed the car home barely exceeding 2000 rpm with very light throttle. Covered about 7 miles in total, so hopefully the cats will have survived.

Quite surprised how rough the engine felt with one cylinder down - far worse than one of my old golfs when only running 3 cylinders!

back up and running now after a full service

car is amazing !