27 hours old and broken down...

[derdle]

Bought a car from a dealership this weekend and after 27 hours, and less than 200 miles, it dumped me uncermoniously on the roadside.  The fault codes showed misfire on cylinder 1 and MAF U/S.  It appears that the coil pack on cylinder 1 had previoulsly been replaced (the car has completed 20k miles).

Wondering if this is a common fault?  This is our first experience of a GTi and could be very short-lived. Can anyone try to persuade me otherwise?

Many thanks.  Paul.

[Phil mcavity]

not common at all, only a couple of peeps have has mechanical or electrical issues with the mk 5 GTi, hang in there!!, im sure its a one off. Only thing i would say, is it an import GTi?, To my memory only one person had coil pack problem on here and that resulted in a roadside BBQ shall we say(very rare and was given a brand new Edition 30 for compensation). The car is mechically sound and you wont buy much better for quality build and practicality.

[derdle]

Thanks for prompt reply. Car is standard UK supplied just wondering on which Friday it was made! RAC recovery bod said it was unusual but it would appear to be the second time it has happened to this car and I am wondering what resultant damage there might be to the pre-cat and cat?  And maybe turbo too?
Paul

[Phil mcavity]

Well and the end of the day, youve bought it through a VW dealer and they would of given you 1 years full return warranty if you were to have any other faults.I have to say, if you buy ANY kind of second hand motor from ANY dealer whether its VW or not, you WILL always have niggly things happening, even new GTi owners have been back to dealerships to sort out dashboard squeeks and rattles and is pretty comon place with most Car makes Now days. Have to say if had several cars from different manufactures over the years and VW are by far the way the Best in resolving issues and show interest in after sales rather then the attitude of "got his money now do one"as in others like Seat, peugoet,citroen as ive in the past. If the car does have lots of problems, you are within your rights to return it for full money back , but i still would consider another GTi because it is such a great Car and a dealer could sort a replacement from any of the dealers from the uk or their Vw national stock list.

Some pics would be good if u can upload derdle

[Hurdy]

I hate to say it Derdle but someone may have sold you a mongrel when you thought you'd got a thoroughbred

If you bought it from a dealership then it should have a VW used car warranty and if you do not want to keep it they should give you your money back.

I haven't dealt with a second hand car from a dealer. Does anyone one this forum know if VW still give a 30 day moneyback guarantee with used cars. I know they used to at one point?

I'd be thinking what you are probably thinking.....What else is wrong with the car....has the dealer deliberately held back some of the car's history to offload it....even if they offer to repair it for free and give me compensation, I will still have concerns about the car's reliability.

When buying a car, whatever the price the one thing you want is reliability and if you cannot reconcile yourself with this then I would reject the car.

GTI's are normally very reliable and I'm sure that you would enjoy it if you kept it, but I can understand if you didn't.

[derdle]

There is a 30 day swap out guarantee with the car and 27 hours would seem to be within this! I am in two minds because it is a lovely car and has not done a high mileage.  Not having had any car trouble like this for the last six years I am feeling quite gutted and am of the mind that I should reject this car, get my money back and start again. Thanks for your feedback. Paul

[p3eps]

Not having had any car trouble like this for the last six years I am feeling quite gutted and am of the mind that I should reject this car, get my money back and start again. Thanks for your feedback. Paul

I know how you feel.  My last car was a Honda Integra Type R - and within a few days I realised that it wasnt what I thought it was.  After and independent inspection it turned out it had been in a nasty accident and poorly covered up!  I live in Aberdeen and had bought it in Wales... but thankfully the dealer was ok and had someone collect it and gave me a full refund.  I found out later on the ITR forums that another 2 people have bought it and returned it since me 

[aahgolf]

My GTI broke down on its first day (and twice in the next month) from brand new. In the end despite the computer saying it was coil packs, and various sensors (e.g. anti-knock), and then having the ECU replaced, the fault was the brake pedal microswitch which was flickering on/off and causing the ECU to make the engine reduce power.

I so nearly handed it back. But in the end I kept it and 39K miles later it's not had the problem again and I am glad I persevered. I have to say though that the dealer attitude at the time was appalling. I did all the legwork.

[derdle]

My nagging thought is that this seems to be the second time the same fault has occurred - obviously the underlying fault was not diagnosed and this has then caused the 2nd coil pack to fail. Methinks it may be faulty wiring somewhere causing the coilpack to draw too much current, overheat and then fail. Not sure why that caused the MAF to fail too - if it has actually failed.

Guess I'll insist that the car is properly diagnosed and fixed, maybe insist the cat is repalced too (possible unburnt fuel). Paul

[Cass]

There was a problem a couple of years ago with VAG coil packs - affected both Audi's and VW's. Many cars were off the road for days/weeks due to lack of supply. All should have been done under warranty though. I would press for all 4 coil packs to be replaced now or else reject the car.

Consumer article link here - many more on web:

http://www.gti-vr6.net/library/engine/coil_pack_recall/0recall2580.html

http://www.gti-vr6.net/library/engine/coil_pack_recall/

Cass