Coil Pack Failure

[flywalker]

My 05 GTi let me down last week when it failed to start .  I had noticed , on two occasions in the last few weeks,  that the engine ran rough with quite a bit of vibration for a couple of seconds on start up but it would settle down to run normally then . But on Monday I had been driving the car for an hour or so & parked it up for about 40 mins . On my return I couldn't get the car to start.
The engine turned over as normal but it just wouldn't start.  Had it towed in to the local  VW dealer.  They told me that one of the coil packs was knackered &  that there was damage to either a lead or cable   . They quoted me 40 euro for the coil pack . However when they rang today ,  the bill was 420 euro !!!  which seems nuts given the part is only  40. When I questioned the bill they said they had to repair the cable/lead ?? I am picking up the car tomorrow & wondered does anyone know   (1) is there much labour involved in changing a coil pack   (2) What have others paid for a single coil pack replacement including labour?   (3) What cable/lead could they be talking about ?? (4) If it a high tension lead , what would you reckon these would cost to replace instead of what seems like an expensive repair job ??   Really not looking forward to the row with the dealers tomorrow however any info offered may help my case....

thanks in advance

[Poverty]

rapiring a lead/cable doesnt cost 400 quid.

Replacing it all together is more pricey.

See if they charged you for 4 new coilpacks.

If they have id kick up, as that shows they were certain in their diagnostics whether it was a faulty lead or coils.

Quick resistance check should show whether the lead is faulty or not anyway.

[flywalker]

It's only the one coil pack which I think he said had caused damage to the lead .

[Poverty]

It's only the one coil pack which I think he said had caused damage to the lead .

coil pack causing damage to the lead. Wonder if you had what happened to DanGB.

[john_o]

coil packs can and do fail.
its rare but they can also get hot enough during failure to burn, which can also damage the associated bit of the loom that feeds that coilpack.
there is no HT lead as thats part of the 'coilpack' , only LT into the pack.

If it was just a coilpack = cheap
if the loom lead was also badly damaged then ask 'how' they fixed it. which bit and where does it connect?
(if its on the bill you can also get the part number), was it a genuine replacement VW part of the loom , or have they 'fixed' it using normal wire .........

if it was a replacement VW part of the loom then yes that would increase your labour costs.
ask for the 'damaged loom' back

you also want to know if they replaced all 4 coilpacks or just one

get a full breakdown on the bill and ask them to split labour hrs into areas of work.
you could also approach another dealer for a quote.

[ukdub]

coil packs can and do fail.
its rare but they can also get hot enough during failure to burn, which can also damage the associated bit of the loom that feeds that coilpack.
there is no HT lead as thats part of the 'coilpack' , only LT into the pack.

I have had two coil pack go. The first one burst into flames within 10 seconds of failure.  It went up like a firework.  All I thought at the time was 'good job I dont have an engine cover to hide the fire'. 

[john_o]

reason enough for an intake then 

[flywalker]

Thanks for the  info .  If the coilpack job wasn't so expensive I'd be able to afford an intake !!

[DanGB]

If the coilpack also sacrificed the engine wiring hireness, that may explain the cost.

I had an issue where the coilpack melted a connector and a bit of the engine wiring hareness it connects to.
So it had fuded the wire together with the iginiton coil.



It was easy enough to get a new black connector clip surround thingy as per picture above.
I tried to repair this lead, but could not find the little connector that connected to the igntion coil anywhere, the seat dealer didnt even have it in there connectors box. (im good friends with one).


So what i had to do is buy a complete engine harness and cut off this little section below and solderered that together on the rest of the wiring.
I got it from a breakers yard for £100, but new its about £150 or so.

[john_o]

 
still not a cheap repair


Anyone know where the nearest 'join' is in the loom (with connectors) ????
you would have though VW would have catered for this part to be an easy replace (but maybe not...)

[flywalker]

I hadn't realised how much damage could be done when they fail.
Have  the replacement  coilpacks been improved/modified or is their failure a fact of life?
Would it be prudent to have all 4 packs replaced as it seems the expensive bit is the collateral damage when they fail ??

[ukdub]

I hadn't realised how much damage could be done when they fail.
Have  the replacement  coilpacks been improved/modified or is their failure a fact of life?
Would it be prudent to have all 4 packs replaced as it seems the expensive bit is the collateral damage when they fail ??

The part number changed in may this year I believe. I guess they have been improved to stop the chance of fire.  Dont think they will be more reliable though.