RIrings

I have an interesting situation with my 2002 A4 1.8T. I decided to replace the valve cover gasket to fix an oil leak. The car ran fine just leaked oil. I replaced the gasket and spark plugs and upon start up the car misfires. I replaced all 4 ignition coils, checked for vacuum leaks, replaced the cam position sensor, as well as the coolant temp sensor, all to no avail. I also inspected the timing belt, no missing teeth. The car is still throwing codes P0300, P0301, P0302, P0303 and P0304 (random and cylinder 1-4 misfires). I've searched forums for days and am out of ideas. Any suggestions?

Prospeeder

did u attach the little ground next to the coils on the valve cover? Did you notice if the triangular breather hose has torn on the bottom? did you leave something loose? retrace your steps. you obviously did something the cause it.

RIrings

Thanks for the tips. The ground wire is tight and I don't believe there are any leaks on the breather hose. I performed the tennis ball boost check and didn't hear anything. I actually went back and repeated the procedure to see if I missed anything, nothing changed. I'm not getting any codes but I wonder if the timing is advanced or retarded. Maybe the timing belt hopped a tooth on startup? I'm trying to determine if there is a way to check the timing marks without ripping the whole front end off. At that point you might as well go ahead and do the belt anyway. You can see the marks on the valve cover but the one on the crank shaft is proving elusive. Thanks for your ideas.

Prospeeder

timing off would usually set a Camshaft crankshaft correlation code. It sounds like there a really big air leak to me

RIrings

I agree on the codes. It's frustrating I'm only getting misfire codes. It would be nice to have another avenue to pursue. The car starts up alright but after its been idling for 30 seconds or so it starts misfiring and chugging like crazy. Maybe I'll run the leak test again but I couldn't find anything the first time.

Prospeeder

try unplugging the MAF and see if it stops. Unplugging the maf will make the engine basicly ignore the unmetered air leaks and just run on preset maps. would help narrow it down for sure

RIrings

I thought of that. I unplugged it the other night with that thought in mind. It actually ran more poorly.

RIrings

I just checked my timing marks. It's difficult to see but with the upper marks aligned the mark on the crank is at 10:00. The suspected mark it should align to is at 12:00. I thought it was possible for the belt to have skipped a tooth, but this far off seems extreme.