AMG V8, Water Damage to Ignition Coils and Plugs
Discussion
I found this to be interesting so I thought I would add it to this thread
It's from a review by evo magazine regarding their long term use of an Aston Martin Vantage for review.
"After living with one on the evo Fast Fleet for six months, we can also confirm that while the powertrain and transmission are largely bulletproof, some of the Aston Martin-specific changes do have a lead-on effect. The Vantage’s single-opening front end design doesn’t appear to have the same efficiency in cooling the inherently hot-running V8 engine (it is called a hot-V, after all).
Over our experience, aside from a sticky passenger-side window, the only other issue we had was a fault with the coil packs, which were replaced under warranty."
Bulletproof? Well maybe they should have dug a little deeper about why there was a coil pack issue on a new car considering it was a review of the vehicle. They just seemed to gloss over it as if it was SOP. I suppose if you are a reviewer for a magazine Aston is less finicky about paying for warranty work.
It's from a review by evo magazine regarding their long term use of an Aston Martin Vantage for review.
"After living with one on the evo Fast Fleet for six months, we can also confirm that while the powertrain and transmission are largely bulletproof, some of the Aston Martin-specific changes do have a lead-on effect. The Vantage’s single-opening front end design doesn’t appear to have the same efficiency in cooling the inherently hot-running V8 engine (it is called a hot-V, after all).
Over our experience, aside from a sticky passenger-side window, the only other issue we had was a fault with the coil packs, which were replaced under warranty."
Bulletproof? Well maybe they should have dug a little deeper about why there was a coil pack issue on a new car considering it was a review of the vehicle. They just seemed to gloss over it as if it was SOP. I suppose if you are a reviewer for a magazine Aston is less finicky about paying for warranty work.
GreasyHands said:
I found this to be interesting so I thought I would add it to this thread
It's from a review by evo magazine regarding their long term use of an Aston Martin Vantage for review.
"After living with one on the evo Fast Fleet for six months, we can also confirm that while the powertrain and transmission are largely bulletproof, some of the Aston Martin-specific changes do have a lead-on effect. The Vantage’s single-opening front end design doesn’t appear to have the same efficiency in cooling the inherently hot-running V8 engine (it is called a hot-V, after all).
Over our experience, aside from a sticky passenger-side window, the only other issue we had was a fault with the coil packs, which were replaced under warranty."
Bulletproof? Well maybe they should have dug a little deeper about why there was a coil pack issue on a new car considering it was a review of the vehicle. They just seemed to gloss over it as if it was SOP. I suppose if you are a reviewer for a magazine Aston is less finicky about paying for warranty work.
In honesty I would take most of it with a pinch of salt, the C63S an old boss of mine had always had the fan running post a decent drive to continue cooling the turbos and the coolant pumps keep running after. In regards to the single opening then the side vents do genuinely let quite a bit of heat out. It's from a review by evo magazine regarding their long term use of an Aston Martin Vantage for review.
"After living with one on the evo Fast Fleet for six months, we can also confirm that while the powertrain and transmission are largely bulletproof, some of the Aston Martin-specific changes do have a lead-on effect. The Vantage’s single-opening front end design doesn’t appear to have the same efficiency in cooling the inherently hot-running V8 engine (it is called a hot-V, after all).
Over our experience, aside from a sticky passenger-side window, the only other issue we had was a fault with the coil packs, which were replaced under warranty."
Bulletproof? Well maybe they should have dug a little deeper about why there was a coil pack issue on a new car considering it was a review of the vehicle. They just seemed to gloss over it as if it was SOP. I suppose if you are a reviewer for a magazine Aston is less finicky about paying for warranty work.
In regards to the coil packs I doubt any journalist would want to know the details or upset the manufacturer involved. Plus to a degree this change was out of AM's hands. I do think in regards to your warranty the local area let you down hugely, but then in many cases it is the boots on the ground that destroy loyalty or equally make it.
Having had to pop mine back for gear selection unavailable last week, all checked over including battery conditioning and AMDS diag check with no charge.
Ninja is spot on when he mentions boots on the ground. They really can make or break a dealership and thus the brand locally.
The issues you have suffered are the very sort of thing where a dealership should take stock and just spend 5 mins thinking " this can't be right" and then argue your case for you.
Unfortunately when they do get it wrong you often find they dig their heels in to defend their original position come what may in some naive attempt to save face.
Yet I too have popped into my local dealers with a minor issue, they take a look, fix it and send me on my way free of charge and with a business card in case I have any more issues with it.
With any luxury brand it's a make or break situation based on.customer relations
The issues you have suffered are the very sort of thing where a dealership should take stock and just spend 5 mins thinking " this can't be right" and then argue your case for you.
Unfortunately when they do get it wrong you often find they dig their heels in to defend their original position come what may in some naive attempt to save face.
Yet I too have popped into my local dealers with a minor issue, they take a look, fix it and send me on my way free of charge and with a business card in case I have any more issues with it.
With any luxury brand it's a make or break situation based on.customer relations
I know this is old thread but I am having the same issue with the ignition coils. I picked up a 2019 Vantage with only 5700 miles a few weeks ago. A couple of days ago, the car had a check engine light so I hooked up a code reader and got a misfire code.
Took the car to dealer and they tell me the coils need to be replaced due to water ingress. I have the timeless warranty on the car so I thought it was covered. Apparently, it is not. Does anyone have a contact at Aston Martin that I can talk to or email? I know that being a second owner doesn't help be but at only 5700 mies I think new coils is not a maintenance item as the dealer has described the situation.
I have read all the posts about a new design on the newer coil packs so for me this should be covered by warranty. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Took the car to dealer and they tell me the coils need to be replaced due to water ingress. I have the timeless warranty on the car so I thought it was covered. Apparently, it is not. Does anyone have a contact at Aston Martin that I can talk to or email? I know that being a second owner doesn't help be but at only 5700 mies I think new coils is not a maintenance item as the dealer has described the situation.
I have read all the posts about a new design on the newer coil packs so for me this should be covered by warranty. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Wow, it’s truly toe curling the cost to do what used to be a simple spark plug/HT lead/coil/distributor change.
Makes me glad of my old 1980 V8! A few months back a misfire was detected, the culprit plug was found with a wet finger but whipping ‘em all out I decided all looked a tad oily/sooty so after a total of 15min and 8 x NGK BR8ES costing approx £2.50 each we were again firing beautifully on all 8
and they say that it costs a fortune to maintain the old stuff..
Makes me glad of my old 1980 V8! A few months back a misfire was detected, the culprit plug was found with a wet finger but whipping ‘em all out I decided all looked a tad oily/sooty so after a total of 15min and 8 x NGK BR8ES costing approx £2.50 each we were again firing beautifully on all 8
and they say that it costs a fortune to maintain the old stuff..
cb804 said:
I know this is old thread but I am having the same issue with the ignition coils. I picked up a 2019 Vantage with only 5700 miles a few weeks ago. A couple of days ago, the car had a check engine light so I hooked up a code reader and got a misfire code.
Took the car to dealer and they tell me the coils need to be replaced due to water ingress. I have the timeless warranty on the car so I thought it was covered. Apparently, it is not. Does anyone have a contact at Aston Martin that I can talk to or email? I know that being a second owner doesn't help be but at only 5700 mies I think new coils is not a maintenance item as the dealer has described the situation.
I have read all the posts about a new design on the newer coil packs so for me this should be covered by warranty. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
The way it is described, water ingress in general is not covered under timeless, it is in the exceptions.Took the car to dealer and they tell me the coils need to be replaced due to water ingress. I have the timeless warranty on the car so I thought it was covered. Apparently, it is not. Does anyone have a contact at Aston Martin that I can talk to or email? I know that being a second owner doesn't help be but at only 5700 mies I think new coils is not a maintenance item as the dealer has described the situation.
I have read all the posts about a new design on the newer coil packs so for me this should be covered by warranty. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
The spark plugs themselves, Service item. It is the coil pack that is not, worst case they should be able to just replace the boot not the coil pack
The final bit is where the dealer bit comes in for me, whilst not coil packs, I have had Works cover items outside of warranty via goodwill no problem
Edited by Ninja59 on Tuesday 25th April 20:03
GreasyHands said:
I find it interesting the a 2023 model would have the issue since they are supposed to be using the new boots with the ribs that were ostensibly designed to fix the problem. If the new boots don’t fix the problem then this is very disturbing.
I agree. However, I wouldn’t be shocked if the engines they pull on the line still come from a large batch made before the superseded parts were adopted. I'm curious as to how many of these water ingress failures happen to cars with bonnet vents versus non-vented? The ignition coils on the M177/178 platform is/was a common problem. Water ingress shorted out coils.
On my AMG GTS I received a letter from MB stating the problem and extending the warranty on the coils. There was a newer coil introduced that had a rubber "skirt" on the coil shaft to prevent water ingress:
On my AMG GTS I received a letter from MB stating the problem and extending the warranty on the coils. There was a newer coil introduced that had a rubber "skirt" on the coil shaft to prevent water ingress:
By the way, one other comment in line with some other comments here in this thread:
I have personally changed spark plugs on the M178 platform, in fact, more than once. It is a tedious very time consuming task. You cannot compare the time to change spark plugs on many other (and perhaps older) platforms to this job. I had to use tools, some of which are "blind type" tools such as magnets on coil extenders, screw driver "clamps" on coil extenders, etc. Some of these tools are hardly ever used except, luckily, I owned them.
I have personally changed spark plugs on the M178 platform, in fact, more than once. It is a tedious very time consuming task. You cannot compare the time to change spark plugs on many other (and perhaps older) platforms to this job. I had to use tools, some of which are "blind type" tools such as magnets on coil extenders, screw driver "clamps" on coil extenders, etc. Some of these tools are hardly ever used except, luckily, I owned them.
HI. Thought I'd post my experience with two Aston Martins.
The first was a late 2018 Vantage. A few months after the warranty expired (Jan 2022) and with about 21K miles on the clock, I experienced a coil failure due to water ingress. I was told by the dealer repairing it that I'd be wise to pony up for all four coils because the replacement had been redesigned. I took their advice at a cost of almost £3,000.
In March 2023, I traded the Vantage for a 2019 DB11 Volanté. Last week, with 25,000 miles on the clock, the engine misfired. Same problem; water ingress around a coil pack. This time I'm three weeks inside the Timeless warranty period and AM are covering the cost of repair. However, they are only replacing the one failing coil. I guess when the work is being done at their expense, they're not so keen to follow the advice they gave me in Jan 2022 when it was me who had to pay.
I've taken it up with AM HQ. I don't expect to get anywhere but I thought I'd share my experience.
The first was a late 2018 Vantage. A few months after the warranty expired (Jan 2022) and with about 21K miles on the clock, I experienced a coil failure due to water ingress. I was told by the dealer repairing it that I'd be wise to pony up for all four coils because the replacement had been redesigned. I took their advice at a cost of almost £3,000.
In March 2023, I traded the Vantage for a 2019 DB11 Volanté. Last week, with 25,000 miles on the clock, the engine misfired. Same problem; water ingress around a coil pack. This time I'm three weeks inside the Timeless warranty period and AM are covering the cost of repair. However, they are only replacing the one failing coil. I guess when the work is being done at their expense, they're not so keen to follow the advice they gave me in Jan 2022 when it was me who had to pay.
I've taken it up with AM HQ. I don't expect to get anywhere but I thought I'd share my experience.
If this situation is as common as has been suggested, perhaps Aston Martin should delve into the history books.
BMC Mini (Austin Seven and Morris Mini Minior) launched in 1959, to a remarkable reception.
With the transverse engine (nothing seems to be unique, but it was fairly revolutionary), the electrical distributor was positioned immediately behind the front grille.
Rain falls, water passes through the grille, the distributor becomes soaked, engine misfires.
Inadequate design.
Dewi 2 said:
Rain falls, water passes through the grille, the distributor becomes soaked, engine misfires.
Inadequate design.
Which, with the exception of adding a completely inadequate plastic shield, continued from 1959 right up until the birth of the "new" Mini in 2000-odd, including being incorporated into various flavours of Metro. Mini owners knew to always have a can of WD40 in the door pocket. I even saw some rubber household gloves pressed into service (HT leads up the fingers) to try to keep the distributor dry - the pink Marigold looked very fetching.Inadequate design.
At least they revised the BIW floor-to-firewall seam overlap orientation so the joint no longer collected rainwater like a scoop and funnelled it into the interior. Did someone once call Issigonis a genius?
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