Alex M.

Hi All,

I have been fighting a weird problem on my car for just about 1 year now. Chasing down the problem lead me to replacing all my vacuum lines, my diverter valve, and my clutch. Unfortunately, none of those items completely solved my problem. My problem was a sudden but quick loss of power (under power / acceleration) which over time began to happen more frequently and sometimes having a longer duration. There were no codes posted and the check engine light never came on.

At first it felt just like little the last time my diverter valve went bad. I change the valve but nothing changed. I then changed all the vacuum lines (which were quite crumbly) but still no change. Next at 135k miles I figured my clutch was probably starting to slip under power so decided to change it since it was probably time anyways. Well that wasn't it either. The clutch looked good and probably could have lasted another 30k-70k miles.

The other weekend I was driving to a show in SF. After slowing down for the toll booth, I gave it gas to speed up but the car started with a little stumble. I let off and slowly gave it gas (dropping the boost) and it seemed OK. Then it started again but this time I wasn't on it. Next thing I know is the check engine light is flashing and I'm in the middle of the Bay Bridge! I babied it across the bridge and got off as soon as possible.

Well to make a long story a bit shorter, it turned out to be my #3 coilpack! I was VERY surprised that the coilpack took so long to finally give out since I believe it was the cause of my problem this whole time. I ordered a pair of coilpacks from Autohaus, threw one in and my year long problem was solved!

Hopefully this story can help somebody else avoid the false repairs I went through. Also, if anyone locally (SF Bay Area) wants to pick up a used but fairly good flywheel (or other used clutch parts), let me know.

Alex M.
'99.5 A4 1.8TQMS

Audi0s

Im a tech