Ok so I posted before this but I still have the problems of no power what so ever and misfires when I try to excelerat to fast … the faults start out with bank 2 to rich then bank 1 to lean. Which if I give it to much gas I’ll get a random misfire code then cylinder 8 misfire and sometimes cylinder 5… those are the only codes I get. I’ve done a valve job, replaced the plugs, coil packs, fuel filter, pcv, air filter. I’ve checked the cylinder compression and I got 160psi give or take a couple psi on all of them. I swapped injectors from bank 1 to bank 2 and had no change in the symptoms… I knew w I was told that my pre cats could be clogged but I had a mechanic tell me that’s not the issue. Even though you can clearly feel more exhaust coming out the passenger tip then the drivers side. I mean it’s a huge differance… also I hear major rattle in my intake which I’m taking it’s from the flapper. I noticed it’s a little hard to move and when I turn the engine off the actuator arm doesnt go to the open position all the way I have to push it to make it go the rest of the way. Can this be causing my misfires or the lean conditions? Maybe my egr valves? Or could I have a vacuum leak at the intake spacers I put in? This is driving me crazy I’ve replaced everything this mechanic Hassan’s to and nothing only reason I haven’t done the downpipes is because I can’t get them off… is there someone in the Kaiserslautern Germany area that can help me with this? Thanks for your time and sorry if this post makes no sense I’m beyond tired and angry…
To be honest you kinda summed it up your self. To me it sounds like a colgged cat and to you it seems you can tell its probably a clogged cat. It could obviously be other things like a bad cam adjuster or something along those lines but with no codes for those things and just hearing what your saying all arrows seem to point at the clogged cats.
If you mechanic thinks it couldnt be that thats fine but tell him you want to pull the dps to remove the pre cats as they have been show to cause cylinder wall score issues due to causing heat restrictions as the cats get older so you simply want the cats removed
I know its frustrating because he refuses to do it because he thinks its pointless. Even though all the data points to clogged pre cats. Also told him about its performance gains as well as a cooler engine. And here I thought it would be easier to have my car fixed being in Germany. so two questions one does anyone know of a tuner shop or person in Germany that’s good with Audis that I could meet up with? And two as I stated above I have a massively loud rattle nose( almost sounds like the intake flapper is opening and closing fast and hard) in the intake at high rpms. At idle it makes a small rattle but if you press on the actuator arm for the flapper it goes away. Could this be happening because of the clogged pre cat on bank 2? Could it be so clogged when under load the exhaust air cant go anywhere so its being forced back into the combustion camber and through the intake valves into the intake forcing the flapper to open and close fast? could that exhausts air then make its way into bank 1 combustion chamber causing there to be more air then what the MAF thinks is there. Which is giving me the bank 1 to lean code? And since the exhaust air in bank 2’s combustion chamber is just recycled exhaust air and being pushed out the wrong way its not burning the fuel well and causing bank 2 to give me a to rich code… Is this what’s happening? Or is this not how it works?
So I got a chance to use a lift this past weekend and pulled my downpipes and Bank2 pre cat was clogged and collapsing. so I knocked out all the material in the pre cat for both bank1 and 2. Also replaced both upstream O2 sensors since they were taking all that abuse and they were white and chalky no carbon build up at all. The down stream O2 sensors were white as well but didn’t replace them because they just tell me if the pre cats are functioning properly. And since there not there it will always say there not. After doing the work my car is back to normal and even faster then I remember… no more lean, rich codes, no more misfires, and my fuel mileage is back to around 330 mile to a full tank of gas.
Next question… what is the best way to keep the Code for the cats from coming up? spacers, moving the O2 sensors to the rear of the main cats, or a JHM tune? I read up about the JHM tune and it says at a minimum in need gutted down pipes and 2.5 cat back exhaust. Do I need the cat back exhaust to utilize the JHM tune? I’m in Germany and they take there noise laws seriously and I’m afraid if I get a cat back exhaust I will fail inspection. plus I like the way my exhaust sounds now.
Thanks for the help.
JHM tune is probably the easiest and most guaranteed way to get rid of the Cat CEL. You don’t need an aftermarket 2.5" exhaust or down pipes to use the tune, it is just their recommendation so that you can get the most out of the tune
Yeah I know I can use the tune just wasn’t sure if it would go to waste with just having piggies. I’m just looking at a couple options of upgrades. and where to start first. Thank you for the reply.
Yes and the JHM tune will be like getting a new car almost. You will really enjoy the tune it makes a world of difference the fact that it will keep off the CEL will be like the last thing you think of. The good part about the JHM tune is you can flash at home no matter what part of the world you live in with the remote flash option and its adaptive so when you do more mods in the future the tune will adapt to help get you more power out of the car.
Its great to hear you got the car all worked out and its great to hear we were able to help put you onto the right track to getting it fixed. You should show a picture of the cat to the one shop that said that wasnt the issue. A quick thing to think about the rear 02s do more than just tell you if there is a cat or not. They play a role in the LTFT and help get the car better fuel mileage this is something most people dont know so just keep that in mind. The good news is if the rear 02s were having issues or were broken you should get a code for bad 02s
Yes for sure many thanks on the help! it feels so good to have my car back. And I did show the mechanic the cats he was shocked that it would cause that many problems. As for the rear O2 sensors they are only giving me the code for inefficient cats. which id expect because there not there… So the rear O2’s do play a role? right now I’m getting about 330 miles for a tank of gas which I think isn’t to bad for gas mileage. I I know I checked my fuel trims with a non VagCom scanner. and ban1 one LTFT is ~-3.4 and bank 2 is ~ -5.6. Much better then before when it was -20.
A question when you run a log for misfires on each cylinder over time what is an expectable number? If there is an expectable number? Keep in mind I have a non VagCom code reader. want to buy a VagCom cable but man 200$ so many other things I could use that money on.
Yes the rear 02 sensors help keep the fuel real time in check that is in part why you even have a LTFT data.