Chat Help me I'm losing hope

C

carsen80

A2OC Donor
Hi All

If you have read my previous couple of threads you will know that about a month ago I bought a very nice 52 plate A2 FSi (the one in my sig). It is a very rare colour with some sort after extras and I love the car. However, an hour after picking it up from the dealer the EML came on and the car started misfiring. The car came with a warranty so back it went.

To cut a long story short it has been in the garage 3 weeks, had a new manifold, flaps actuator and potentiometer and I was due to pick it up today. I rang the dealer this morning to check and the EML is has come back on again with a misfire on cylinder 3. I spoke to the mechanic who thinks it is either a wiring fault or the ECU. I have suggested a bore scope check on the injectors just in case, but I got the impression ideas were running out.

I really like this car and due to its colour its a genuine one off but I'm starting to loose hope. I've owned the car a month now but only had it in my hands for three days of that. I'm starting to worry that even if it is fixed how reliable are FSi cars and should I go for a TDi instead.

what do you think. Should I wait and hope it can be fixed? should I cut my loses and start the hunt again?

Cheers
 
The manifold/actuator/pot are the common problems on the FSI, as is the weak head, hows the compression? This si the problem with the FSI cracking motor, but an utter pain when it goes wrong :(
 
Its had a compression test and that came back ok.
The car runs perfectly from cold but as it warms up it gets a bit flat in second and third. After about 20 miles the eml will flash and it will start misfiring.
If I start from cold and drive it until it starts to warm up but before the fault starts to occur, switch off and restart the fault is there straight away.
If I leave to cool down it runs perfectly again until it warms up.

By the way I noticed that an earthing wire has been spliced into the loom of the coil pack to cylinder 3 which runs to a bolt on the side of the head. So someone has had a stab at fixing it before.

Its a mystery!
 
carsen80 said:
Its had a compression test and that came back ok.
The car runs perfectly from cold but as it warms up it gets a bit flat in second and third. After about 20 miles the eml will flash and it will start misfiring.
If I start from cold and drive it until it starts to warm up but before the fault starts to occur, switch off and restart the fault is there straight away.
If I leave to cool down it runs perfectly again until it warms up.

By the way I noticed that an earthing wire has been spliced into the loom of the coil pack to cylinder 3 which runs to a bolt on the side of the head. So someone has had a stab at fixing it before.

Its a mystery!
Click to expand...

If it runs well when it is cold but runs bad when it is hot, then could it be the temperature sensor telling the engine that the water temp is cold when it is hot and so over enriching the mixture etc.??

A shot in the dark and unlikely to be the cause but not a lot of money to buy a new sender, and they are known to fail anyway.

Steve B
 
Hi i have an fsi that needed new injectors but when they got really bad it would run really bad when cold (FSI runs very rich when cold). So from your description i would start to look at the coil packs failing when getting hot. Also look at why the loom has been modded. Has the car had lambda sensor changed ? if its not an audi part i would get a genuine sensor as some non audi sensors require cutting into the loom. I was advised when diagnosing my fsi's misfire that due to the sensitivity of the edu only fit genuine sensors and quality coil packs. Has the car car got the correct bosch plugs? I have seen fsi's with issues that have had normal ngk plugs or the short type plugs.
As others will tell you when they run they are a dream. I love my one and its my daily driver and next week i will have personally done 100k miles in it since i got it in 2008. good luck mike
 
I really hope you resolve the problems it's a beautiful car. Sounds like the trouble is trial and error and checking those components Mike has mentioned. The trouble will be how much patience both you and the garage have to go through each check. As the garage will be counting up the non billable hours and parts costs their patience may run out first. I don't recall you saying if you had a warranty or the dealer is operating under sale of goods responsibilities for merchantable quality ?

Good luck with it and I'm sure you'll have good advice from FSI owners like Mike.
 
The previous owner of my FSi had problems with rough running when hot, which sounds like what you describe, and the cure was new coil packs, new spark plugs (possibly unnecessary but sensible), and new inlet lower manifold & vacuum unit/rod/arm. This car didn't need a new lambda sensor, but if you replace that too, you will have replaced almost everything involved and I would be surprised if you still have the problem after. The FSi is a delightful engine when it works, the most powerful and most refined offered in the A2, and to be honest it does not suffer from a lot of problems. It just has this problem that you've met. Fix it and you'll be OK for a long time, probably. So I would encourage you to persevere with it. If the supplying dealer cannot fix it, consider going to a VW specialist for a diagnostic check (and ask the supplying dealer to pay - may be a long shot of course) because this engine is not unique to the A2 and good VW mechanics do understand it.
 
Thanks for the replies

I have decided to persevere with the car.
Based on your replies and because of the otherwise excellent condition and uniqueness of the car, and the fact it has had a new clutch, 4 x bosch coil packs/spark plugs and the alloys prefessionally refurbed.

For those who are interested I will put up some pics of it when I get it back and start the process of adding rear electric windows and BOSE to finish it off.

Many Thanks
Jonathan
 
Hi Jonathan
It definitely sounds like an injector to me.
I had the exact same symptoms on my FSI. It would run perfectly for say half an hour, then it suddenly seem to lose power and the eml would flash.
The error codes were always reading a misfire on cylinder 1.
My garage went trough the same steps of changing the spark plugs and coils, and the compression test was fine. But the symptoms never changed.
But since having my number 1 injector changed (I couldn't afford to have all 4 changed), it's been like a new car.
I recommend you ask the garage to try this as a next step as they seem to have tried most other things.
I hope you get it all sorted soon!
I'm sure you must be desperate to get it back :)
Adam
 
carsen80 said:
For those who are interested I will put up some pics of it when I get it back and start the process of adding rear electric windows and BOSE to finish it off.
Click to expand...

Most definitely interested Jonathan. With Bose and rear electric windows that'll be a mouth watering spec on your wee car. Most things are 'do - able over time. Even your brokensky is fixable with a refurbishment service soon to be available from Tony.

Look forward to hearing how you get on with the fix for now, and maybe seeing your car in the flesh at a meet someday.
 
jackhay said:
...and to be honest it does not suffer from a lot of problems. It just has this problem that you've met.
Click to expand...
Err, I won't say that. "BAD" FSI engines do often encounter problems, from various causes. Coil packs, injectors, manifold mechanism (flap, rod, potentiometer, vacuum actuator), various sensors, thermostat, lambda/Nox probe,...
They highly benefit from a clever mechanic who understand how it functions, not a "diagnostics reader" who replaces every component that comes in the possible causes of the faults read.

Adam_A2 said:
Hi Jonathan
It definitely sounds like an injector to me.
I had the exact same symptoms on my FSI. It would run perfectly for say half an hour, then it suddenly seem to lose power and the eml would flash.
Click to expand...
Same for mine ! OK when cold, then when warm, poor running, poor MPG.
Had the 4 injectors replaced, though... even if only one was reported faulty.

But now my FSI still has the EML on. And not full power available. And not as quiet as it should. It pulls better when cold...
Error codes related to cat efficiency and inlet manifold flap not reaching its setpoint.

Anyway, the misfires were completely cured by the new injectors, for a long time now.
Now it runs way better than before the injectors change. And the MPG is OK, if not good.
 
Misfire on Audi A2 1.6 FSI.

a2sumo said:
Hi i have an fsi that needed new injectors but when they got really bad it would run really bad when cold (FSI runs very rich when cold). So from your description i would start to look at the coil packs failing when getting hot. Also look at why the loom has been modded. Has the car had lambda sensor changed ? if its not an audi part i would get a genuine sensor as some non audi sensors require cutting into the loom. I was advised when diagnosing my fsi's misfire that due to the sensitivity of the edu only fit genuine sensors and quality coil packs. Has the car car got the correct bosch plugs? I have seen fsi's with issues that have had normal ngk plugs or the short type plugs.
As others will tell you when they run they are a dream. I love my one and its my daily driver and next week i will have personally done 100k miles in it since i got it in 2008. good luck mike
Click to expand...

Many thanks to who ever posted the post on random misfire on FSI engines on A2 s'. Having located the earth strap on the passenger side, below the headlamp, this happened to be loose, and corroded. After cleaning the contact area, and applying some MS4 silicon grease, I have no problem with misfires. As a friend of mine had said to me that if there is a faulty earth, the coil will act as an earth, with a live going through it, and this causes a misfire.
A simple solution to what could have been an expensive out lay. Bad earths can cause all manner of problems.
 
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