AHHH VW Coil Packs

[guysh]

I got the silly car back last night and put it away in the garage after it being in the dealer for a week and a bit. The I get my golf out of the garage and go to pick up the GF (3 miles down the road). I wait idling at the side of the road for ten minutes then she arrives, after pulling out of a side road and giving it a bit of welling I suddenly get a warning light on the dash. Looks like a gearbox sign, but then again the car feels very rough. So i pulled into the side of the road and refer to the manual. It says that the warning light is for the KAT. Then it clicked after winding down the window the car sounds like a old air cooled beetle - obviously running on less than it's full complement of cylinders and pumping neat petrol in the exhaust hence the warning light of the KAT.

So from this I cunclude that one of the ignition coils has gone for a chop.

My question is does anyone know how long it takes to get swapped out and if VW yet have a reasonable stock of them?

[spnracing]

Sounds like an optimistic diagnosis.

If its just a lead a full set can be bought from Halfords for about £30-40 (get 8mm not 7mm) which will be as good as the ones VW will flog you.

Certainly worth trying before starting other diagnostic work.

[guysh]

Yer but the bloody things less than a year old. - Sorry don't mean to be rude...

If you go to www.vw.co.uk a separt window pops up explain the issues. I was wondering whether anyone else with a 1.8T V5 or V6 has had to do the same and if so how long it took VW to fix it?

>> Edited by guysh on Wednesday 5th March 08:04

[thub]

Didn't BBC's Watchdog do something on this fairly recently? Try having a look in their archive. (Sorry, too lazy to give you their URL)

[julianhj]

If it's the coil then you've possibly got a wait of a few weeks. VAG have a back order on these as there is a known fault with the original type fitted to certain sized engines. Get back to the dealers and they will probably sort out a similar sized car via the VW Assistance scheme.

These have been going wrong since November, so there is quite a backlog...

[guysh]

Well my car is an import - I hear some of you cry - villain support UK dealerships!!!!

Well I do I get my car serviced here etc...

Anyway after alot lot of messing about I have discovered that my car is not under the VW assistance thing but under something called VW mobility gurantee which apparently equaits to the same thing! Anyway I have a chap coming to my house this afternoon to findout whats wrong with the car (the suspect it's the coil pack) and if he can't fix it then he will take it away and supply another car in the mean time. The only thing that slightly worries me is that VW UK said the car could be sorted at the very latest by the end of the month. The local dealer said it would be unlikely that I would see my car inside of 2 months...

[funkihamsta]

This is a massive problem. People were at one point buying several at once due to how often they were dying. Some strange underground market has sprung up as the dealerships/garages were emptied of any spares long ago.

[jc8542]

A guy at work has had his V5 off the road since 2nd Jan with coil failure. I am guessing you may be at the end of a very long queue.

[julianhj]

Guysh - what's the update?

Hope you're back on the road - two months is a bit pessimistic I think, but 4 weeks doesn't seem unrealistic at this point.

[Aprisa]

When I picked up the wifes A3 last week after some warranty work the dealer was on the phon eto VAG, he then told me that this one dealership (Bham) has 47 cars awaiting coils and off the road!!
Nick

[guysh]

Car Has dropped off at the dealers today as VW Assistance eventually told me they could not get hold of the part - but the local Dealership would have to verify that the coil was the problem and therefore needed to see the car before ordering in the part. I await the dealership to ring me back and tell me how long it's going to take.

julianhj said: Guysh - what's the update?

Hope you're back on the road - two months is a bit pessimistic I think, but 4 weeks doesn't seem unrealistic at this point.

[julianhj]

guysh said: Car Has dropped off at the dealers today as VW Assistance eventually told me they could not get hold of the part - but the local Dealership would have to verify that the coil was the problem and therefore needed to see the car before ordering in the part. I await the dealership to ring me back and tell me how long it's going to take.

Did you get a courtesy car yet?

[corozin]

Volkswagen issued a recall notice the coilpack problem.
Here's the text (taken from the AutoTrader website):

VW and Audi Engine recall
05 February 2003

Advice:
The Volkswagen Group is instigating a worldwide recall of 2001, 2002 and early 2003 models with engines including the 1.8T turbo unit. This includes models from Seat, Skoda and Audi, as well as Volkswagens - this engine has featured in a huge number of different
vehicles, including the Audi TT, Volkswagen Golf, Skoda Octavia and Seat Leon. Other engines affected are the W8 unit in the Passat, the 2.8-litre V6 as in the Golf and Passat V6 4MOTION and the 3.0-litre
V6.

The recall is to replace ignition coils, which have been found to fail. Warning signs of coil failure include a blinking warning light on the car's dashboard, a loss of power and rough or uneven power
delivery and idling, but all ignition coils will be replaced regardless of any signs of failure.

The companies involved are contacting owners over the next month, but anyone concerned should call the relevant customer services department for further advice.

There should therefore be a reasonable supply of the things pre-ordered at the dealers.

[funkihamsta]

Yeah but even despite this problem being quite obviously massive and long running, VW were really dragging their heels over the recall.