Coil pack failed (V5 170)

[Slimy]

Just a quick posting here, hopefully it will be of use to someone. For a while now the car has been 'pinking', even with super unleaded fuel. I put it down to old spark plugs, as it was due for a service. So I swapped them out, but the pinking remained.

Then last night it got really bad, it felt like it was running on four out of five cylinders, and the ECU light started flashing. It did still run though, and I managed to get it home with no issue other than a fairly strong smell of fuel.

Having a quick look under the bonnet showed that four coil packs and associated plugs looked fine, but number one pack was in a bad way. As I pulled it out, the transformer came away from the metal body, and the internals just broke up. Finally after much swearing, I got it all out, then removed the plug. The electrodes were black, so it can't have been firing for a while.

Just to see if the plug was ok, I moved another coil pack on to it. But being a complete tool, I forgot to connect it up, and then found that the engine will even run on three out of five cylinders! I wouldn't want to drive like that, but it will run alot happier than four pot engines ever would.

So if you find your car pinking, or running a bit rough, check those coil packs!! I'm heading off to GSF to get a couple, one to replace the mashed one and a second as a spare.

 

[2003v5]

i just got 5 new coil packs for my car. £123 from seat dealer but a car parts specialist wanted £145, the main dealer was cheaper for a change.

 

[Yeltzman]

I heard that there's an official recall on coil-packs - flagged up on my 20VT when i took it in to have a bloody dash warning light turned off! Not sure if it's on all models.

 

[Howrare]

Hello Slimy,

Last time I went out in my V5 20v about a week ago it made the slightest of misfires. Ah I thought, I bet thats a coil on the way out. Just went out for a spin and low and behold it was running dog rough. Engine light is flashing, down on power, nasty vibration etc.

Two questions you may be able to answer.
Are the £30 coils from the likes of onlineautomotive any good?
Other than pulling all the plugs, and inspecting the diodes, or putting her on vagcom (only going to be main dealers out here in the mountains) is there another way of checking which ones gone?

Cheers

 

[Howrare]

New coil pack arrived today, and I very swiftly found it was #2 cylinder that had gone. Like Slimy my coil pack had totally come apart. Long nose pliers got the lower part out. I popped the new unit in and it ticked over just fine. The new part is from Bougicord by the way. Man points to me I thought! 5 mins down the road on a test drive though, found the car hunting, misfiring, and dropping power and then surging away again. I pulled over checked all the connections etc, but its still doing it. any suggestions?

I'm going to pull the plugs out tomorrow and clean them, but it only did a very short journey while the pack had packed up, and the plugs are only may be 2000 miles old.

 

[FR_Kris]

i just got 5 new coil packs for my car. £123 from seat dealer but a car parts specialist wanted £145, the main dealer was cheaper for a change.

Would these be any good?

http://samtechperformance.co.uk/presta/index.php?id_product=138&controller=product

 

[Howrare]

Nope, they aren't the right ones. Tolly V5's aren't TFSi.

 

[Howrare]

So, took the car for another spin. Revs fine right through the range, so I think the coil pack it working ok. as soon as any load is applied ie pulling away it chunters and misfires. Could it be the MAF? Looking at the service history it has had a replacement in the past.

 

[adaminnit]

get yourself a cheap universal obd2 code reader on ebay to know where to start, although you're most likely barking up the right tree, the code reader saves a lot of time.

 

[adaminnit]

e.g.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130859167785

 

[Howrare]

Yup I got a Gendan OBDII cable and downloaded the VCDS Lite software from Ross-Tech. I had two coils and a Lambda sensor out. All sorted now, and sadly sold the Tolly last week. Missing it.

 

[naveed321]

Hi Guys, glad i found this post! Having the exact same problems with my v5! had it for about 3-4 months and its been fine all this time and all of a sudden, engine light starts flasing and it now permently on, cars vibrating losing power and a nasty dirty smell like burnt oil or something,

so i can took the car for a full service as i hadnt serviced it yet thought that might help, changed the plugs, oil, filters and fuel filter, and 2 new coils!!

and notthing changed!! still all the same symptoms..

any ideas????

 

[Howrare]

Hi, get it on a diag, or get one off ebay. The Gendan one was very good. It'll tell you rightaway whats up. Also change all those coils, the others WILL all fail in fairly quick sucsession. I tried to do one at a time to save money. Fools errand.

Hope it all works out. Still miss my V5.