Engine cutout/stuttering Options

[black92_tsi_awd]

Well the saga continues....

Drive to work th last few time, the engine picked up a stutter at a steady state cruise. It would stutter/cutout 2-3 times in quick succession and then run fine.

Well this morning it does it twice and I turn around and head back to the house. Come to a stop sign and it starts running REALLY rough, engine sound like it was throwing parts around inside.

Any ideas? Can a bad ignition coil cause a stutter? Bad plug wires?

[black92_tsi_awd]

Well I picked up another transistor from Mitsu90-thanks!

Brought it home and rechecked the one on the car and the new one. Apparently the first time I checked the transistor on the car I was doing something wrong, because it works fine. Per the Haynes guide, it has continuity with a 1.5V applied to the proper pins and none when power is disconnected. I checked both transistor and they work the same.

So I rechecked the coil:
The primary voltage should be in the .7-.86 ohm range and it measures .8 across pins 3-2 and .7 ohm across 3-1-so OK
Secondary voltage should be 11,300-15,300 and mine measure 12,860 and 12,980-so OK

I checked the plugs-all look the same

I checked the wires, all have resistance between 3.24 and 5.37 k-ohm. The longer wires have more resistance, so that seems correct. I did mist water on the wires with it running to seem if there was any cross firing, I saw nothing.

Any other ideas? I need to check the fuel filter as Goat suggested...but that wouldn't explain the code 44. Anybody had a coil or transitor test good but still be bad??

I'm going to be pissed (and releived) if it was just a loose connection.