tshort

On Sunday night I was about to take my family out to dinner... the car started rough, and the check engine light was flashing, plus there was a definite smell of gasoline.

Called up the dealer on Monday to set up an appointment, they were scheduling on the 18th. I said "what should I do about the check engine light?" They said, "if it's steady, it's OK to drive." "Well, it was flashing..." "Oh, let me get someone to help you."

So I had the car towed to the dealer by noon on Monday. Tuesday just before noon they call to tell me my coilpacks needed to be replaced! WTF! I thought my 2003 3.0 A4 that I bought in July was "safe". Nope, Audi apparently expanded the number of cars that may have this problem!

Of course, I also told them to fix my rear defroster (we had a winter storm here this weekend, and my rear window was coated in ice). They claim some aftermarket thing caused the fuse to melt... well... all I have is the Phatbox (which they installed, and should be working off the CDC connector power) and a radar detector connected to the hot side of the wiper fuse (drawing less than 1A, otherwise, the detector's fuse would blow). "Oh... uh... I'll talk to the tech again..." Geez! (Unless it's the LoJack... hmmm...)

One good thing was the rental car they gave me... the center console with the cup holders and covered bin is a whole lot better than Audi's excuse for a center console!

cyberpmg

I believe that some of the early '03 models were still affected by bad coils. If so, you should have received a letter from AoA to get your coils replaced.

Avant XP

if you could let us know the build date of your car, that might help determine whether your's is an "unexpected" coil pack failure. (I believe the cut-off was about October 2002 or so.)

tshort

Don't know the date of manufacture, but I'll put it in when I get the car back.

I'm insisting that they figure out why the fuse on the rear defroster blew... (rather than just having them replace the fuse, since it blew "hot").

RespectTheA6

early 03s have the old coilpacks. i had to get mine replaced and mine is an 03