Hey folks,

I've got a 2006 A4 3.2 Quattro S-Line Toptronic and it appears to have slipped into limp-home mode a few times recently. The first time was a few weeks ago on the morning that I was bringing the car in for scheduled service. (~30k miles). I brought this issue to the attention of the service manager, and she said that there was no record of the incident on the vehicle's computer... so hopefully it was just a fluke.

Now it's happened two more times and I've documented the date/time hoping that the service folks can identify the problem. Each time, the car felt like I was towing something. The engine wouldn't rev past ~ 5100 RPMs, and the acceleration even at lower engine speeds felt poor. On 4/11 I was driving just briefly in city traffic, and when trying to pass realized that I couldn't because there wasn't much power. I pulled over, turned the engine off, got out, set the alarm, unlocked, got back in and restarted. That appeared to reset the fault and the power was back. The car was only running for about 9 minutes when I discovered the lack of power.

The next time was on the highway - 4/16 ... same symptom exactly, but scary as hell as I floored it to pass and failed to accelerate... forcing the guy I pulled in front of to throw his middle finger in the air in a desperate attempt to create some wind resistance to slow his vehicle.

So, can you folks tell me:
- Does this sound like the car is going into a 'limp home' mode, or is something else going on?
- Does my car 'log' these events in the computer? If so, should I notate the ignition start/stop times, or mileage?
- What information should I bring to the dealer's attention to make them take this as seriously as I do? They didn't seem to last time, and frankly I was a bit pissed. I went ahead and gave them a perfect 'score' on their service evaluation since it's not anonymous, and hope they'll address the issue in the hope they'll win my long-term business. They already know I'm not happy with my original dealer.
- Any other thoughts or advice?

Many thanks!

- Jason

 

sounds like a coilpack to me.

 

Sounds similar to your problem, it would come and go intermittantly.

 

Thanks for the reply. The power losses I've experienced would persist until I restart the car. ie: Only the 'reboot' seems to 'fix' the problem. Driving for miles and miles makes no difference. Once it's acting like this, it continues until the reboot.

Is that what yours was doing with the brake light switch failure?

Thanks again!

- Jason

 

Thanks - I'll mention this possibility to the dealer.

At the moment, they've said not to bother bringing it in because it will probably not show on the computer. Rather, I'm waiting until the next morning commute where the car acts up, and I'll be driving directly to the dealer for them to see it BEFORE cycling the ignition. Naturally I expect the next symptoms to be at off hours, during a sales call, etc...

Do these faults really NOT show up somewhere that the techs can diagnose? What are they doing with all that memory space... just logging my speed and location so they can bust me for speeding?

Thanks again,
- Jason

 

Sounds different, I just had total loss of power for a few seconds

 

This morning the car was a little tough to start (cranked for a few seconds), and ran very rough... lots of vibration, check engine light, and wasn't really drivable. Audi roadside assistance came and brought the car to the local dealer who will be looking at it in the morning.

Based on descriptions of coilpack failure I've read here, it certainly sounds like that's what's going on. Hopefully the previous 'limp' experiences were related and will go away once the coilpack(s) are replaced. It would have been NICE if the dealer could have figured this out when it was in for service rather than stranding me today, but hey... at least the roadside assistance was free and quick.

Thanks!

- Jason

 

I'm experiencing the similar problem. Did you ever find out the cause for your problem?

Thanks!