bodger00 Posted July 26, 2009 Report Share Posted July 26, 2009 (edited) Hi its been a while. Anyway driving home the other day and felt the car driving a little weird. Gave it a bit more right foot and the problem got worse. So I backed off. It was pooring it down so I took it easy. Within about 30 seconds the yellow starter motor light came on. And then within another 30 seconds the car had cut out and I was rolling for my parking space (the side of the road). I am really surprised about the notice my car gave me about the problem i.e within about two minutes I was stranded. This is the first thing that had gone wrong with the GTI in four years of ownership! Anyway after towing the car to the dealers and after two snapped tow ropes (member of the RAC now). I got the car diagnosed. They said it was one of the coil packs. and have since replaced it. Picture of melted coil pack below: and a close up of the melted bit What would cause this? I did wash the engine bay about a month previous, although it had been running fine. The coil pack has now been replaced (£165) but the car is very different. The engine noise is much louder at high revs and it seems the turbo is not spinning as much. It feels more raw than turbo driven smooth????? Help, is this normal? Highlighting another problem? Only one coil pack was replaced. Cheers Guys+++ Edited July 26, 2009 by bodger00 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burble Posted July 26, 2009 Report Share Posted July 26, 2009 £165 for one coil pack? Feck me! They're only about £25 to buy so it seems that VW bum raped you for diagnostics and labour. Mind you, as soon as they plugged the car into their computer it would have told them that a coil pack was dead. Coil packs do occasionally fail, it isn't uncommon by any means. I know in the R32 it seems to be a case that one goes shortly followed by another and so on so most people recommend buying a spare coil pack and keeping it to hand for when the next one dies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted July 26, 2009 Report Share Posted July 26, 2009 £165 for one coil pack? Feck me! You are not kidding! It would be interesting to see the breakdown of that bill. I used to carry one around in my first S3 when VAG group had all the troubles with coil packs failing, and cars stranded all over the place. At that time they were about £50 each when there were only a few left in the country, but now more likely to be £25. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bodger00 Posted July 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2009 Tell me about it but to be honest I feared the worst when it happened and I was clueless of how to fix it! 115 Diagnostics and 28 for the coil pack ex vat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarmac_Terrorist Posted July 26, 2009 Report Share Posted July 26, 2009 Blimey £115 for plugging the car into the diagnostics! Was it your own dealer (where you usually get it serviced?) Obviously you were in a situation where you had to get it fixed regardless but it seem that they have been a bit too ready to exploit your very unfortunate circumstances. I assume they plugged in the diagnostics after the new coilpack too and no further errors were reported? Maybe just the placebo effect your feeling now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack_is_Back Posted July 30, 2009 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 115 Diagnostics That's disgraceful! It's a half hour job max to diagnose and replace. I know the diagnostics machines cost a few bob but still... I had one go at about 25k miles but fortunately the car didn't give up on me; I managed to drive the 50 miles home on a light throttle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bodger00 Posted July 31, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2009 I am wise to this now. Anyway for anyone who lives around here it was Lookers Northallerton. :punched: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedRobin Posted July 31, 2009 Report Share Posted July 31, 2009 .... My Mk5 GTI is at 71k miles and this is what happened to me last Saturday on my way to castle Combe: About 6:45am I stop at a Shell for V-Power. Come back to the car and she won't start. After a few efforts I decide it's best if my hitch-hiker continues his journey without me and then I phone VW Assistance. My hiker was a bit over talkative as he had told me he had had a stroke recently, I was kinda glad we parted company sooner rather than later. A big burly guy with his family and a caravan in tow help push my car off the pumps. Seriously hard moving those front wheels without power steering! Like wearing rubber wellies wading through treacle - I'm sure you've all done that. A RAC van arrives within 40 minutes and he checks a few things and finds one of the coilpacks is seriously smelly. VW Assistance have a contract with RAC but you can ask for a VW specialist which is always what I do. We get chatting and I learn how much he hates working on French cars. However, he didn't have my particular coilpack version onboard so phone calls were made. We then discovered that the nearest was in Gloucester - 90 miles away! So he phoned a mate of his who's also a VW Assist RAC guy but off duty. It was now 7:50am and his wife answered the phone......A minute or so later he gets up and answers and on being asked if he had part # ETKAZILLION, he immediately knew and answered yes. Furthermore, it was a genuine VW part as well. So at 8:45am I was again on my way. This is the second time VW Assist have helped me out and they've been A1 each time. They cover Europe too. Total cost? - £32.10 incl vat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now