Coil Pack Wiring harness

[GregR]

Ladies and Gents,

After having owned my Mk V GTi for no more than 3 days, I've encountered a major problem with it. Starting the engine, I instantly smelt burning. Fine white smoke was coming from underneath the bonnet so I quickly turned off the ignition and opened it up. I removed the engine facade cover and it was clear that the smoke was emerging from Cylinder number 1. It was the connector that goes into the Coil Pack. It must have shorted and melted the plastic so it became so hot that it started to burn.

This smoke stoped after a minute thankfully and after a day of trying to get my vehicle recovered to a garage (luckily it was on my girlfriends drive) the garage have come back with the following. (I might add that the original purchase garage provided a 6 month AA 5 star guarentee for such problems so it has been taken to my local AA Approved garage called "Nationwide Autocentre" in Bletchley).

They've informed me that all the clip lugs that secure the connector on the wiring loom that goes to the coil packs have been snapped. After phoning the garage that I purchased the vehicle from, he said that this is common becuase they get so hot and the plastic gets brittle. Fair enough.

The third party garage (Nationwide) are now saying that they think its going to cost £1200 to fix. They say that they think the wiring loom or Coil pack wiring harness is connected to the rest of the engine loom and think that you can’t get the part on its own. I’ve only a few quick questions:
1)   If they’re going to replace one coil pack under warrenty, is it worth trying to get them to replace all four?
2)   What is the price i should be paying for a Coil Pack Wiring loom (I know that the 1.8T engine had a seperate wiring loom) with fitting?
Sorry for the long post but i’m sure you can understand my fustration!

Thanks

Greg

[GregR]

any ideas guys? I'm meant to be getting some definitive prices tomorrow?

Thanks

Greg

[jools]

Hi there sorry to hear of your problems.

Most likely it was the coil pack that burnt out and also damaged the connector, but you should not need to replace the whole loom.   The wiring harness can be repaired- the connectors should be available individually and the correct wiring terminals should also be available at a VW garage.

Just make sure that whoever is repairing the car are competent to make repairs on the wiring loom!  Also would definately recommend getting all four coils replaced as they have  been modified.

Hope this helps

[Hurdy]

I've heard of coilpacks going before and where people have only replaced the faulty one, they have had others fail shortly after. I would replace all four if it was me.

[GregR]

Thanks guys, this is what I was thinking about the Coil Packs. Not sure if they'll do the whole lot under warrenty though. In reference to the coil pack wiring harness, what do you think to that? Is it going to be the same situation as the 1.8T engine where the harness is a seperate piece and not part of the ENTIRE engine loom?!

Thanks

Greg

[RedRobin]

I've heard of coilpacks going before and where people have only replaced the faulty one, they have had others fail shortly after. I would replace all four if it was me.

....When I recently had a coilpack fail, VW Assistance replaced it on the roadside and I had a long chat with the guy about coilpacks and he said you don't have to change them all on the 2.0T FSI.

[Teutonic_Tamer]

I've heard of coilpacks going before and where people have only replaced the faulty one, they have had others fail shortly after. I would replace all four if it was me.

....When I recently had a coilpack fail, VW Assistance replaced it on the roadside and I had a long chat with the guy about coilpacks and he said you don't have to change them all on the 2.0T FSI.

Yup, I agree with that.  There is no evidence on the coil packs supplied from the early 2000s suffer from any endemic failure.  So unless there is some actual physical damage to the remainder of the coils, just the one faulty item needs to be replaced.

[RedRobin]

Yup, I agree with that.  There is no evidence on the coil packs supplied from the early 2000s suffer from any endemic failure.  So unless there is some actual physical damage to the remainder of the coils, just the one faulty item needs to be replaced.

....Cheers for that info, Sean . I'm off to The Ring again soon and was wondering about my other coilpacks.