R36 dodgy coil packs?

[2muchcoffeeman]

G'day all,

I had a few days of rough starts and engine check light. Once on the move, the check engine light went out, all was fine and the car behaved normally.

When hooked up to the box, faults had been logged with #2 and #3 coil pack. The "fix" was to swap them with #5 and #6, send me on my way and to call the service centre if there were further problems....So far, so good- but I am yet to be convinced.

Has anyone else experienced issues?

[R36FTW]

Nothing yet for me but i'm under 1000kms still. Having had cars with coil packs before, unless the problem is a dodgy connection swapping them wont fix anything. If the coil itself is breaking down it needs to be replaced. Ive read VW's have crappy coil packs unfortunately and I'd be expecting more issues soon if I were you. How many kms on the car?

[2muchcoffeeman]

Hi R36FTW,

I have 10k km up so far. Mine's an MY10.

[Transporter]

As the ECU is switching the coils they want to make sure that when they replace the coils, that they were faulty. If the problem would repeat and it would still come as faulty coil #2 and #3, the fault is in the ECU (presuming that the wiring is OK).
However, the coils still can be tested of the car.

Replacing all of it is not good in the long run, since you never find out what is the faulty component.

[R36FTW]

Right, makes sense, Ive had cars with an ignitor that stepped up the 12v signal to the primary voltage required by the coils - when moving coils if the miss moves with the coils its the coil, if it stays on the same cylinder its the ignitor - guess its the same principle with these.

10K kms is nothing though, I'd be expecting coils to last an easy 80 - 100K kms like they do on Mitsubishi/Nissan etc. Many of my Evo mates are over 100 000 kms on stock coils. A previous nissan of mine had stock coils still going strong over 180K kms.

Transporter - How bad are VW coils?

[Transporter]

Right, makes sense, Ive had cars with an ignitor that stepped up the 12v signal to the primary voltage required by the coils - when moving coils if the miss moves with the coils its the coil, if it stays on the same cylinder its the ignitor - guess its the same principle with these.

10K kms is nothing though, I'd be expecting coils to last an easy 80 - 100K kms like they do on Mitsubishi/Nissan etc. Many of my Evo mates are over 100 000 kms on stock coils. A previous nissan of mine had stock coils still going strong over 180K kms.

Transporter - How bad are VW coils?

If I had the petrol engine under the bonnet, the spare coils would be in the boot at 50,000km. But I'm sure there are many, who never needed them.

[Wolfman_36]

G'day all,

I had a few days of rough starts and engine check light.......

Has anyone else experienced issues?

Sorry for late reply. Yes, I had my coil packs replaced under warranty (about 15,000 kms) because I reported that I had occasional issues with rough idle (felt like a misfire on one cylinder) on cold start. Would always clear up with a switch off and re-start. I never saw the check engine light though. Apparently a coil fault had been logged - so the dealer replaced the full set.