Old Library

Hey all:

My coil pack finally gave out.  36.4k miles and the thing went belly up.
Seeing that check engine light come on was the saddest thing I've seen with 
my VR6 (besides the SUV dent/scratch on my hood and grille).
Ain't life a beeeeeeaaaatch!
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I had my coil pack just go at 35,000 miles.  I thought I was going to have
to dig into my wallet for that one, but I called VWoA and complained and
they covered it under the 50,000 emissions warrantee.  They seemed to
expect that the coil pack was gone early and covered with no questions.

So, call them or tell your dealer, but you should be able to get this
covered.  I think it's a manufacturing defect with the number we on this
list have been seeing. 

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ARGGHH!!!! I asked my dealer if it was under warrantee and he said no. Mine
went last month at 36k also. The pack alone was $375. Labor wasn't bad
since it's a easy change. But still that's a significant chunk of change.
Who did you speak with at VWoA? I may be giving them a call.


[...] 32 lines deleted


Erik Schmidt
Sports Editor
Cleveland Live
www.cleveland.com/sports/

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I'm up shit creek on mine, as mine is (apparantly) failing
intermittantly at 51k miles. I looked at the coil pack itself and it
appears to be made by Telefunken. I also see that Telefunken (or at
least part of it) was sold in '95, and I wonder if the newer parts sare
made by someone else or if the remaining company may have changed names. 
Can some of you look at your coil pack to see who makes it? Maybe we can 
find a cheaper way to get this part.

Josh

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mine is failing at 57,000 miles what up with that?
$375.00 I can't afford.
what are my options.
The vw tech said he has had good luck taking them apart and cleaning them
and sealing it with silicone grease.
mine only seems to run shitty when it is raining or it wet out and the
engine is not warm.
is this a coil pack?

Jef

[...] 58 lines deleted
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Chris Trapeni wrote:
 
> I had my coil pack just go at 35,000 miles.  I thought I was going to have
> to dig into my wallet for that one, but I called VWoA and complained and
> they covered it under the 50,000 emissions warrantee.  They seemed to
> expect that the coil pack was gone early and covered with no questions.

Hmm, gotta read the fine print in the emissions warranty.. which vary by
state BTW.  Methinks that they HAD to cover it if they agreed to do that.

I wonder if they've ever been challenged in small claims court on the 10/100
"powertrain" warranty?  Sure the fine print excludes stuff like this, but
jeez they advertise it and lead people to believe that it covers anything
in the engine or tranny, which is far from the truth... the right judge
might side with the plaintiff!


--
Kevin Collins
Huntington Beach, CA
'86.5 Scirocco 16V 2.0
'99 GTI GLX VR6
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Factory/1780
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Jeffrey Marotzke wrote:
 
> mine is failing at 57,000 miles what up with that?

Congrats, you got a good one!  Many have had them fail earlier than that.

I just got rid of my '97 at 56k miles, the thing was probably ready to
take a shit at any moment... I hope the damn thing is improved in the "new"
VR6!


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Kevin Collins
Huntington Beach, CA
'86.5 Scirocco 16V 2.0
'99 GTI GLX VR6
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Factory/1780
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Looks like it was a bad coilpack and not the 15W that was the source of my
misfires. What's the earliest anyone has ever had a coilpack go out on
them? My car is only 19K miles old.

el

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My coil bought it at about 13xxx, with mods had a helluva time getting it
fixed.
Mike D


Eric Liew wrote:
[...] 21 lines deleted

Mine went out at about 52,000.  Also had the notorious 95 spark plug wires
go bad at about the same time....

John Jacksack

P.S.  Aside from that the 95 I've got hasn't had any significant trouble in
4 years / 58,000 miles....

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[...] 36 lines deleted

I have been experiencing a misfire on cylinder one.  this is
noticed by a rough idle and when you floor it the car will not go.
At this point the check engine light will come on a start
flashing.  when the light flashes it means chill out lead foot.

the coil pack has porcelain base and is made of three separate
coils that each fire two plugs at once.  What you
 say! two plugs at once.  well it ignites the fuel in one cylinder
as well as firing in opposite empty cylinder that is drawing in a
new c harge of air. (Bentley manual)

I have been told by an old vw mechanic that the porcelain base
cracks and can let in moisture into the pack and cause trouble with
its function.  I had him take mine off and seal around where the
wires snap on.  This some times does the trick.

I still have problems with loss of power and misfires that cause
the check engine light to flash.  This only see management server
to occur when the car is cold and damp.  Once the car is warmed up
I don't have any problem.

But how long will the coil pack continue to function like this.  I
know that it is not doing to get any better.

Has anyone dissected their pack?  Can you take it totally apart?

If I cannot fit this thing I will have to buy a new one.  or used I
don't like being stranded in the show :(

I did a search for on AJ.com for used auto parts and found several
places that would sell a used pack

I have been away from the list for awhile and see that it is still
filled with a lot of B.S.

good day 
Jeff Marotzke

Just a thought, I have seen here from time to time that some of the VR6's 
seem to like to go through coil paks and people are wondering why, the other 
day I was watching Shadetree Mechanic, and they mentioned something about 
coil packs(in general, not pertaining to any VW) seeming to fail or quit 
working when people replaced spark plug wires with aftermarket ones. I think 
they mentioned something about voltage variances or resistance differences 
that the coil pack didn't like therefore "burning" it. Again, just food for 
thought, but seems to make sense to me. Any ideas?

Is a difference in the smoothness of start-up (seems like it takes longer to 
actually start) and a rough idle symptoms of a bad coil pack??   I had my 
engine replaced at 12,000 due to hydrolock.  I now have 68,000 and ever since 
the replacement I have had a rough idle and it has always taken longer to 
start-up.  I took it to the dealer many times and they could never find the 
problem......

I have also had a misfire and rough idle until the engine was fully warmed up 
in wet weather which has since been fixed since I replaced a spark plug wire 
which had a cut in it.  I continue to have the rough idle and "un-smooth" 
start-up.  Any suggestions would be great.  Please respond privately as well. 
 

TIA,
Glen 
'98 GTI-VR6

In the spirit of helping improve your document for others who have
yet to experience the joy of a bad coilpack, I'd like to provide the
following feedback:

1.) My car idled rough for about a year (especially on rainy days)
before the check engine light came on, and when it did, the car
stalled, and I was stuck on a highway in a snowstorm. When I was able
to get it started again, the arcing was very noticeable. To be fair,
I've read elsewhere that these coil packs also go bad due to
corrosion on the inside, so I don't know if my rough idling was from
the cracks in the surface or internal corrosion, but I think if it
was corrosion, it would not have been dependent on humidity/rain.
Maybe saying the check engine light WILL come on is a bit strong.
Anyone experiencing rough idling in wet/humid weather should probably
check the coilpack, regardless of the check engine light, IMHO.

2.) On my 97' GTI VR6, I was able to remove the coilpack with out
removing the plastic engine shroud. It didn't even get in the way.

3.) You should point out that the posts on the coilpack are numbered
1-6 to indicate what cylinder they should go to. The spark plug wires
should also be numbered, to make it easy to reconnect the wires
correctly. I know this is obvious to anyone who has ever looked under
the hood, but maybe someone will read this who never has looked under
their hood.

4.) On my car the check engine light went out 24 hours after the last
fault occured, regardless of how many times I stop and start the
engine. I had several opportunities to observe this before I coudl
replace my coilpack :) I don't know if this behavior is the same for
other models/years, and is based on ym own experience, not anything
I've read.

Prentice
97 GTI VR6