Ignition Coil Pack
Last January I had a bad ignition coil on my ‘02 GTI VR6. I am under the impression it was replaced under a “silent recall.” Apparently there were not enough parts available to issue a full recall. My dealership replaced the bad coil, & gave me a loaner free of charge. I’m still a little pissed that it was a known issue & I wasn’t notified in advance(costing me an hour of waiting for a tow in the cold). Luckily I had a loaner & my car was fixed promptly with $0 out-of-pocket expense.
Friday night, I’m pretty sure it was an ignition coil that failed again. Just like before, I sat in the cold for over an hour waiting for a tow.
Enough whining. Here is my question:
Where does the responsibility for having warranty work completed lie? I’m pretty sure I recently saw a post somewhere stating that all coils would be replaced on the affected engines. My dealer only replaced 1 (this was before the recall). Should I have gotten a letter from VWoA telling me to go to my dealer & have the ignition coils replaced? Should my service manager have mentioned it when I was in for my regularly scheduled maintenance? Am I at fault because I didn’t go & insist on having them all replaced?
What is the normal procedure for VW recall proceedings?
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297 Said,
November 29, 2004 @ 12:11 pm
Ignition Coil Pack – Dealerships have a lot of pull when it comes to servicing recalls.
Some are good, many are bad.
My dealership, known for good service, replaced all the coilpacks even though none were bad.
Conversely, others had experiences similar to yours.
My advice is to go to a friendlier dealership that will replace all of them for you, even if they haven’t failed (yet).
This is a good site with dealership reviews, find a good one near you: http://1.8t.org/dealers/
Chombi Said,
December 1, 2004 @ 1:38 am
Ignition Coil Pack – Your problem now is, the Service Manager has made a descision about your warranty state. VWoA 99% of the time follows that descision from the dealer service manager. It will be a hard uphill battle for you to change their verdict. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear the VW customer service department tell you that the descision is final and VWoA will not re-open the case. This is a good example of the VW bad customer service operations that most, if not all in this site suffered through while owning VWs. Seems like VW has not changed at all!
YupOldBull Said,
December 1, 2004 @ 4:26 am
Ignition Coil Pack – Fraud.
rick Said,
December 1, 2004 @ 8:20 am
Ignition Coil Pack –
Maude
V-dubber Said,
December 1, 2004 @ 10:41 am
Ignition Coil Pack – So, my dealer called to say my car would be fixed today. Apparently they only replaced the ignition coil that failed (the second one). They said that if they replace one that is not failed theyll get charged for it. I say its a load of crap. Im going to have to go down there & deal with them in person.
I spoke with a VW Consumer Advocate yesterday who tried valiantly to deflect my questions about the ignition coils. She basically wouldnt tell me the official VW policy is on the issue. Basically, it is at the discretion of my service manager. Nothing happens unless they say so. It appears that Ill be looking for a new place to service my car. Im reluctant to change because my current dealer (DAR Cars College Park, MD)is so convenient, they are great about scheduling work & getting emergency repairs (yea, I’ve had a few) done promptly.
Heres a quote from taken from a press release last Feb. I found it at http://www.audiusa.com (NOT at the VW web site).
The right thing to do is to fix every single car with these coils by replacing them whether they are broken yet or not. That is exactly what we will do as soon as we have the parts. Gerd Klauss, President and CEO VWoA, Inc.
Consumer reports has a similar report that states if the car has suffered a second failure, all the coils will be replaced.
What a faulking hastle. Why should this even be an issue? I guess well see what happens when I go to pick up my car. As disgruntled as I am, I really miss driving my GTI. The bare-bones 2.0 Jetta Ive been driving since Friday (loaner ) is not nearly as enjoyable to drive. I really miss my 6-speed.
V-dubber Said,
December 2, 2004 @ 7:50 am
Ignition Coil Pack – Well, it’s either blatent fraud or complete incompetance.
Because this problem was supposed to have affected over 500K cars, I find it a little hard to believe that the Service Manager couldn’t recite the official Customer Service Action on que. He seemed to be under the impression that it was only the 4 cyl. engines they were swapping ALL of them out. I don’t think anyone even checked to see what should be done. They just swapped out the bad part & put in another.
I had a pleasant conversation with him voicing my concerns & I gave him copies of the official VW press release (found at the Audi web site) & an article from Consumer Reports. I highlighted the important sentences & told him to take a look so he can see why I think all of them should be replaced. He said he’d check with someone at VW & get back to me.
I am now convinced that I’ll have my 3rd ignition coil failure on Christmas Eve just east of nowhere.
V-dubber Said,
December 3, 2004 @ 10:54 am
Ignition Coil Pack – Well, I am now faced with the decision to continue driving my GTI until another ignition coil fails or just dump it.
I spoke with a “”Consumer Advocate”" & her (much more polite) supervisor at VWoA & heard the same story. They won’t replace a part until it fails. Period.
Since my dealership says that the part numbers don’t match the parts under the replacement recall they can’t replace the currently “”functioning”" coils.
On the positive side, the coils are covered under warranty until 74,000 miles. I asked the supervisor at VWoA to supply me with a letter stating that in writing. I’ll be sure to keep it handy in preparation for the next time I get screwed (if she ever actually sends it).
I really wonder if VW executives are plugged-in to what is going on. Could they really have their heads buried in the sand? I guess they feel their marketing department can easily replace all the lifetime VW owners who have been shunned by poor quality & terrible service.
Chombi Said,
December 4, 2004 @ 2:03 am
Ignition Coil Pack – Volkswagen just wants to remain the cheap company that it is. I guess they haven’t shaken that cheap, air cooled, bug maker, for the masses philosophy that they were born with, despite Mr. Paul Takeda’s confirmation that they are pouring so much technology (the use of some of which is questionable, IMO) into their cars with all the sensors and electronics, and despite the fact they have the audacity to sell a chairman of the board price level car known as the “Pheaton”.
My brother who had the same bad coil problem with his Audi, was treated much better by Audi, even though he had to wait till they finally stocked up on new improved coils, they went ahead and changed all of them in one visit on his car without charge when they finally came in at the dealerships. Audi has a much classier approach with their customers They might be the richer half of the sister companies, but at least they seem to have better business brains to back it up! And they seem to make much better efforts to retain their customer’s loyalty. Despite my horrible experience with my VW, I WILL definitely consider moving over to Audi for my next vehicle, After seeing how well my brother’s car has been holding up and how well he had been treated by the Audi Dealership and service system. I would like to see them make those big executives who paid so much for their Pheatons and high spec Touregs, beg for replacement parts for their cars like the rest of us when the parts turn out to be duds.
297 Said,
December 6, 2004 @ 10:51 am
Ignition Coil Pack – Of course, if quater’s article in another thread is an indication, Audi’s improvements will soon be VW’s improvements.
We shall see.