Sitting at a stop light last night, my '05 CTT started to idle very rough. I could feel the whole car just bouncing on itself...I only had another mile to drive luckily. Over this mile, the car seemed to drive fine once past 1000 RPM. When parked the rough idle came back worse and the interior lights were clearly dimming and brightening intermittently. I couldn't worry about it last night due to other plans but when I drove it home this morning (about 7 miles), the idle was even worse and now the thing began to vibrate horribly when accelerating. Now the Emission Control Warning Light (Check Engine) is on. Off the start it feels like it was just missing and then it would "catch" but with lots of shaking...It was the absolute worst when I slowed down to 25-35 mph and then tried to re-accelerate to 45-55 mph. It felt like the thing was gonna just self-destruct. When I parked in my garage, it sounded really bad and I could smell a very different smell. I can't really explain it and I can't be sure it was coming from my car, but it smelled "funny".
So, I have searched and read quite a bit on here about the coils, spark plugs, and other related issues. I am thinking this is related to that from the similarities I read.
Now here is my situation...I obviously need to get the car in to the shop/dealer, which is obviously closed today on SUnday...
Is it ok to drive the car about 15 miles to the dealer?...I cannot afford to have the car die on the way to the dealer, as I must be at work immediately after dropping the car off...I am kinda scared to drive it again after how much worse it drove this morning and the Emission Control Warning Light being on...

Should I just call Roadside Assistance and have the car towed to the dealer?
Will they tow it to the dealer today even if the service dept. is closed?

Any other thoughts, diagnoses, opinions are greatly appreciated?

At least I am leaving town on Tuesday for a week, so they'll have plenty of time to "fix" things

 

Thats how mine behaved when the coil went - I called roadside - they said as long as the CEL was steady and not flashing it was ok to drive a short distance - for me about 15 miles too. I would think they could tow it even if service is closed if you wanted.

The smell I had was somewhat electrical.

 

This is a very old post... however I am having the exact same issue. Wondering if the original post was resolved by coil replacement(s) or plugs and or coils? Also, wonder what the smell was?

 

classic plugs and coils

 

Exact same problem as top post

Durand- Did you get sorted? what was issue?

Many thanks

 

You should change the coils and plugs yourself. It's not difficult. I call it bonding time.....!

 

Doubt you'll get an answer from someone who made 1 post a year ago....but I could be wrong.

 

There is no doubt in my mind that was the issue, once you have had it yourself it sticks out a mile

 

Sounds like bad coil(s) to me. Mine smelled a bit like sulfur when my coils failed.

My dealer changed my coils and I was reimbursed by PCNA for the repair.

 

My apologies all... I was not notified by email that there was ever a reply.

So... I had my 2006 Cayenne towed to my local stealer who replaced the coils and plugs under manufactures extended warranty. They claim the cost would have been 2K, but I ended up walking away without paying one cent --- My apologies for the delayed response once again but this time I subscribed to the thread.