CEL - Misfire - Help Diagnosing

Looking for some feedback on this, but I believe it to be the actual Denso Iridium plugs.

So I twice noticed over the past month a weird stuttering of the engine when I applied heavy throttle in order to accelerate thru a changing stop light. This is the only two times I have felt this, as I don't ever drive hard or am heavy on the gas.

So I went and tested it tonight and gave it heavy throttle not quite WOT, in 2nd & 3rd gear. I got the stutter and the ECS and CEL came on. The ECS light went away after turning the ignition off and back on; the CEL stayed on. I pulled a scan from the VAGCOM, and got returned 3 errors all regarding a cylinder misfire.

So I'm presuming that it's likely the Denso Iridium plugs that installed back before winter. I had already installed the plugs when I saw a few posts on the forum about our engines not liking the iridium plugs and that the platinum was the preferred/recommended plug. I left the plugs in because I never noticed any issues after installing them.

So do we think that it is indeed the plugs?



3 Faults Found:
000768 - Random/Multiple Cylinder Misfire Detected
P0300 - 001 - - Intermittent - MIL ON
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 10100001
Fault Priority: 2
Fault Frequency: 2
Reset counter: 255
Mileage: 84346 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2015.03.17
Time: 17:59:36

Freeze Frame:
RPM: 4761 /min
Load: 81.9 %
Speed: 63.0 km/h
Temperature: 84.0°C
Temperature: 42.0°C
Absolute Pres.: 1010.0 mbar
Voltage: 13.843 V

000769 - Cylinder 1
P0301 - 001 - Misfire Detected - Intermittent - MIL ON
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 10100001
Fault Priority: 2
Fault Frequency: 2
Reset counter: 255
Mileage: 84346 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2015.03.17
Time: 17:59:36

Freeze Frame:
RPM: 4761 /min
Load: 81.9 %
Speed: 63.0 km/h
Temperature: 84.0°C
Temperature: 42.0°C
Absolute Pres.: 1010.0 mbar
Voltage: 13.843 V

004874 - Cylinder Disabling
P130A - 001 - - Intermittent
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 00100001
Fault Priority: 2
Fault Frequency: 1
Reset counter: 255
Mileage: 84357 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2015.03.17
Time: 21:23:19

Freeze Frame:
RPM: 5807 /min
Load: 86.2 %
Speed: 76.0 km/h
Temperature: 65.0°C
Temperature: 20.0°C
Absolute Pres.: 1010.0 mbar
Voltage: 14.224 V

Readiness: 0000 0000

I believe the easiest way to diagnose this would be to swap the plugs and clear your codes to see if they come back. If they do come back, then you'll need a new coil pack for whatever cylinder it's complaining about.

I changed the plugs out; put in Bosch double platinum.

The cylinder 1 plugs was bad. The center electrode was basically just a bump. The tip was no longer there. After putting in the new Bosch plugs, I wasn't experiencing anymore issues when I was WOT.

Check you gapping on the plugs too! On my GTI I was having misfires at the top of 4th gear only. It was only that gear, i'm sure 5th and 6th would do it too. Changed my spark plugs and regapped and it worked!