Could someone enlighten me on what I've heard called the VAG coil problem?
We've had two (out of three) ignition coils go on our 2002 Polo.
What is the problem, is there any cure for it, how frequently do they go?
Also which engines does it affect in the Polo/Fabia/Ibiza range?
I would welcome any information on this matter.
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Stork, don't know anything about them other than if you read HJ's car-by-car breakdown you will see it getting a mention in the Polo and Beetle reviews.
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It is a known Passat problem as well I think that affected thousands of them.
Well managed by VW in keeping it quiet I've read!
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There is nothing you can do to prevent it happening. Get the 4th one replaced soon as (under warranty) so it doesn't cause you anmy grief when it finally goes. At the very least buy a spare and ensure you know how to replace it. (think it is pretty straight forward if you can figure out which one has gone off)
I presume the VW keeping it quiet was said firmly tongue in cheek. This issue was everywhere in late 2002 and early to mid 2003 until they had a new part to fit to peoples cars.
I originally thought it was only affecting 1.8 Turbo engined cars but have since found out that it also affected 1.6 L cars. No idea what other engines are affected, I guess probably every petrol one in the VAG stable.
The coil pack isue was the reason the TT finished bottom of some reliability survey, just about every TT manufactured in 2002 broke down, it was just a matter of when.
As an aside I would be very wary of buying a VAG car of this era. Cars that have had their coil go may have been driven subsequently for a few miles. (driven to a garage/ home/work) This will have lead to unburnt fuel getting into the CAT and potentially damaging it. A very expensive problem which may only come to light whe it is out of warranty.
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Thankfully, I only have 3 ignition coils, not 4 (the 1.2 is a 3-cylinder engine). And also, the coils went on startup, and the car was fixed at the roadside before being driven. Anyway, if this did cause a defect which then became apparent later, I'd claim for breach of contract regardless of the warranty having expired (at least within the normal 6-year limitation period).
But do you know if the issue has been resolved successfully (i.e. can I expect the replacement coils to go too?).
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The new coils should be ok (no reports of them failing.
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I've got an April 2003 polo. Do people think I should contact VW to ask for a preventative swap-out of the coils, or was the problem fixed prior to that date?
Thanks,
Canon Fodder.
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Was your Polo built in 4/2003 or was that when it was registered (i.e. was it sitting in a field for 12 months)
If it was built in 4/2003 there should\'nt be a problem. If it is a 2002 model a preventative swap might be agood idea, although Audi would only swap when they failed (unless you made a real big stink. Seem to remember the new coil packs were going on TT\'s from about Feb 2003.
Not sure about other models though.
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Thanks for the reply Blurred,
Mine was built in 4/2003, as it was a factory order due my unusual combination of extras, so it sounds like I may be OK?
A relative of mine who has an 03/2002 polo has just had had two coils fail in 2 months.
I thought it was a bit shoddy of the dealer not top replace all 3 when the first one failed - they seem to be waiting for them to fail one by one.
Was there ever a recall on this matter does anyonr know?
Thanks,
CF
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VAG did not replace all the coils at once for a very good reason. They didnt have any spares. They didnt have enough to repair the single coil on the failed cars they had.
Why? its all down to JIT (just in time) manufacturing. Works like this.
VW say they will build 1000 cars a week. They dont want to hold on to 52000 coils for a years production. So they say to coil manufacturer "we want 1010 coils delivered every monday morning." (the 10 is for predicted failure rate and spares)
So Coil company does not want to make a batch of 520000 coils and leave loads lying around for 51 weeks, so they tool up to produce 1010 per week.
Now when the failure rate suddenly shoots up to 25% - where is the slack? So what do you do? you tell manufacturer "we needs more coils quickly". They say "sorry you only wanted 1010 per week, and you screwed us so hard on price we cant make more than that".
Only other choice, stop building cars, and use your 1010 per week to fix cars already built. No way Jose, the company would go bust.
So they did the only thing they could. Manufacturer changes coil design, manages to produce 1100 per week, and the extra 100 used to replace those cars that have failed. Problem is you have 25 weeks worth of cars with 25% failure rates. Lot of cars to fix with not many spares.
(yes i know its 4 coils per car - story is simplified.)
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Thanks for that RF, I knew I should have paid more attention in Economics at school..... all makes perfect sense now.
By-the-by, I spoke to VW this morning and they said there is categorocally no problem with the coils on Polo, my relative's experience must have just been a 'coincidence'.
CF
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Plus dont forget that your spare 10 per week produced to time failure is identified are all duff ones too! Situation goes from bad to worse!
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Coils went today on start-up! Nasty noise, flashing orange lights, air turns blue...
Fixed at roadside by VW assistance mechanic [they're very good - I've had plenty of chance to judge.]
He replaced all 3 coils, although he said head office gave him a hard time about it - they prefer to let them go one by one!
CF.
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Also affects some Seat Leon's - colleague has a 2001 1.6 Leon which was affected last year. The coil was replaced under warranty but apparently not under a general recall.
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