A2 horrid car (now with multipe error codes)

Hi All. On her way home, my wife heard a loud beep and then got the warning sign. I connect up the ODBII scanner and got a list of codes: P1028, P0300, P0302, P0303,P0304. Although the car seems to be running fine, I rest the codes and they came back after a few miles. So the P1028 is Intake manifold air control solenoid, the P0300 is multiple misfire and the rest is the misfire on cylinder 2,3 and 4. I have done many searches on thees codes and get everything from vacuum leaks to faulty cail packs and damaged wiring all the way through to compression problems. Any ideas on what this all could be. Can anyone point me to the Intake Manifold air thingy. Its not a part I am familiar with.
I despise this car but cant afford to replace it at the moment so am hoping I can keep it going for another few months. Thanks Russ

Hi i can see its 4 cylinder but is it 1.4 or 1.6 FSI ? cheers mike

It would appear to be an FSI according to OPs profile Mike.

Hi Gents, sorry, its a 2003 1.6fsi with a BAD engine and 105k on the clock. Had multiple problems with it. I think it was just a bad buy. This is just the latest of a string of problems.

Ill start with simple and cheep things---new fuel filter--injector cleaner agent added to high octane fuel--check correct bosch spark plugs (multi prong) are fitted and in good condition. I'm not familiar with the p1028 intake manifold air control solenoid--but check the wiring and plugs for the EGR valve and throttle body. Also inspect the EGR feed pipe (20mm dia corrugated pipe runs from right end of exhaust manifold under the high pressure fuel pump to the EGR it can crack/split causing misfires.
But it could be many things including failed injectors but thats ££££ so fingers crossed for you. cheers mike

Hi Russ,

Have you seen this thread?

A poor earth connection could well be the cause of your troubles. It's certainly worth checking, in my opinion.

Regards,

Matt.

Ive recently bought a 1.6 FSI which had a knackered water pump. (so i dont know if it misfired before) Tonight i changed the cambelts, tensioners, sparkplugs, oil etc
It started up fine but when it had been running for 5 minutes it started misfiring. I have yet to pull the fault codes but im guessing i will have similar ones. This thread has come up at the right time for me so i will be keeping a close eye on it.

Hi A2sumo, thanks for the tips. Will look into the egr again as that has been problematic in the past. A bit of history: I gave it a full service with top oils and parts, down to radiator flush the lot. The performance improved a bit but I was expecting more from a 1.6fsi. So de-carbonised all cylinders, again small improvement. But one thing that was very irritating was power surges at about 40mph. So I made and egr blank and fitted it(there's a thread on here) Surging almost gone and got a clean bill of health at last MOT on emissions. I also don't get the epg light so have not done anything further. The little beast still lacks power at low revs so I took it to an Audi performance specialist who said he couldn't find a fault but agreed that it was not running well. I couldn't afford random parts and labour at £80 per hour so I took it back and started again on diagnosis. I bought one of those OBDII bluetooth scanners to help. I also bought an endoscope and checked carbon build up as I believe that the fsi engine is prone to problems. I took off the throttle body and cleaned it, I replaced the cam sensor and went over every earth in the car. I use momentum fuel and regularly use injector cleaner. I picked up a used set of injectors just in case so I could swap them over but that is quite a job. Above 3000rpm, its fine, but I dont usually drive at those revs, and below that it just lacks power. My 1.0L corsa has more power at 1500rpm. Have said all of that, the audi has been running for 8-9months without any new problems, other than today!. Regards Russ

The FSI can feel weedy at the lower revs especially if carrying multiple passengers. When i had the injectors fail (1&3) I was advised to drive it using more revs and throttle to keep it clean-i now enjoy the performance and still get around 50 mpg every week. Often referred to an "italian tune up". Good luck mike

Hello Russ,

On an Owners Club Forum it is not really "cricket" to title a thread horrid car!
Nevertheless you'll receive some help even though you don't appear to be a fan of the marque.

In your first post on this thread you mention the loud beep and a warning sign, but you didn't advise exactly what the warning sign was, so that might help a little if you can remember exactly what was being shown.

Generic cheap hand scanners can be useful for code clearing but sometimes they can also be misleading, so it might be worth having it scanned either by a VAG dealer or an indy with VCDS. If you do go this route you must make sure you get a print out of all controllers and fault codes before they are cleared down, or you'll just waste more money.

You appear to have been trying many different things to resolve what appears to you to be a poor performing power unit, but you approach is, if you'll pardon me, a bit scatter-gun. You've de-carbonised all cylinders? Blanked off the EGR? Cleaned the throttle body? Replaced a cam sensor? Checked the earths, Serviced it?
It might be good to understand how and why you carried out the above, as some things need to be re-calibrated, re-set, genuine OE parts, new gaskets, etc.

You also advise you don't push the car through the rev range, and drive within the 3k rpm window, so there might be a lack of understanding of this 1st gen FSI technology.
Maybe the 1.4L petrol or diesel units would be better suited to that driving style.

You dislike the car, and you suggest your 1L Vauxhall Corsa has more power at 1.5k RPM - Really?
It's been running fine for 8/9 months, and the first sign of an issue you're proclaiming your hatred of the poor little thing!

If I were you I think I might be tempted to part ex the FSI for another 1L Corsa and save myself from further upset.

Cheers
Jeff

My 1.4 ran really bad after cleaning the throttle body, before doing a proper throttle body calibration with VCDS. After that, it was all hunky dory.

P1028 Intake Manifold Air Control Solenoid - Open Circuit

An "Open Circuit" fault is a good starting point! I believe this is a primary failure.
Why:

• Faulty intake manifold air control solenoid
• Intake manifold air control solenoid harness is open or shorted
• Intake manifold air control solenoid circuit poor electrical connection

#1 in this picture

Hi Jeff.
Believe me, part ex-ing is definitely where I want to go, but a car with no error codes gets more than one with(I assume). As for the little beast, there are many pluses to it, hence buying in the first place, but if the feedback is that I have to be doing 3000rpm to get a reasonable drive then I definitely didn’t do my homework and it must go! I/we(she who must be obeyed) don’t drive fast, we wanted something that looks nice and can be used for school run and to work and I thought the A2 would tick those boxes. I bought the car with full service history, although not all if it is Dealer. On to specifics, the warning light that came up was ”fault in the braking system”. But connecting the OBDII didn’t have any of those errors at all. As I said, the car seems to be running fine. The brakes are working fine. All disks, pads and brake fluid were replaced last year with OEM parts, which along with a very good service and new tyres is something that I just like to do, gives me a known baseline for services and monitoring of wear and tear( I also did front shocks and springs to get rid of the slightly notchy steering). In my experience second had cars tend to respond well to these things, but the Audi does not seem that keen. The warning only came up once and there were no error codes other than the ones I have noted. Anyway, I won’t moan about it anymore.

Hi Steaman, just seen your post. Thank you, I will look there this afternoon after work. A connection or broken wire fault would make some sense.

russeleoin said:

............the warning light that came up was ”fault in the braking system”

Click to expand...

Hi Russ,

If the warning light that was lit on the dash was in the middle part of the instrument cluster, and looked something like this symbol, (O), in amber, and a RED ! then the issue might be a wheel speed sensor or the brake pad warning connector failing (assuming the inner left-hand (n/s/f) pad has good thickness).

As I said, if your generic code reader did not identify anything amiss on the braking system, but the vehicle alerted you of this problem, you need to take what your code reader advises with a pinch of salt.

I would suggest having the car scanned with VCDS the next time the claxon goes off before attaching your code scanner to it, then you should have a reasonable starting point for diagnostic troubleshooting.

Cheers
Jeff

Hi Jeff, yep, that's the one. I will check all the brakes and pads and sensor this evening. I hope it will be something simple like that. What about the errors then? I can clear them, but they just come straight back after 10 minutes of driving or so, so I assumed that there must be a problem. It could be the scanner, I use the full version of Torque and a Bluetooth scanner, which works a treat on the ford and corsa. But I suppose it could be a scanner. Getting to Camspec(local bunch and very helpful) is a bit of a problem as I would have to take a day off work. Regards.

Hi Russ,

I'm not sure whereabouts you are located - Horley rings a bell from when I used to live in Guildford, but I'm sure you'll find a kind soul on here with VCDS who is willing to scan your car.

I've no idea about phone apps or generic scanners, but do know from various posts on this forum that not all DTC's are reported/reported correctly.

It is common for the wiring to fail on the brake pad wear indicator, especially if 17" Sport alloys are fitted.
It's a fairly easy fix if the failure is on the connector, if you can handle a soldering iron and heat shrink.
This failure usually is not captured by a DTC, hence why you might not have noticed.
If this fault occurs again, the ABS system will not be operational while the warning alarms are visable, so have your wife take care.

Wheel speed sensor issues should generate a logged DTC.
The speed sensors can be difficult to remove, so patience will be required if tackling that job.
Soak the retaining bolt(s) in easing fluid for a good while before atempting to remove them and go careful.

Cheers
Jeff

a2sumo said:

The FSI can feel weedy at the lower revs especially if carrying multiple passengers. When i had the injectors fail (1&3) I was advised to drive it using more revs and throttle to keep it clean-i now enjoy the performance and still get around 50 mpg every week. Often referred to an "italian tune up". Good luck mike

Click to expand...

Still, a healthy FSI engine puts out more torque at 1500 rpm than the 1.4 engine does at its peak. It shouldn't seem weaker than a 1.0 corsa.

I find my fsi a bit weak, but it depends what you compare it to really.

So I used the car yesterday. It drove no worse or better than normal but the errors come up on the scanner. I got home, took the front left wheel off and checked the speed sensor, disk and pads, all good(I'm going to assume that they are wearing equally for now as I didn't check the front right). Had a visual check of the ABS pump and pipework, all look okay. I have not had the brake warning come up again so for now and going to ignore it. If it happens again I will take the car off the road. I didn't get a chance to look at the Air Intake Solenoid, but will do that this evening. I am considering looking for a 1.4 diesel to replace this one with.