So last night my CEL came on, car was studdering and sounding like it wanted to stall, no power etc etc. So I decide to drive it home which is about 15 minutes from where I'm at at this point. I get it home, I pull out all the coil packs one by one while its running to see which one, and the only one that didn't run worse was the third one. So I go to VW today and buy 2 coil packs with intentions on getting 3 more come next pay day. I figureed I'd be fine till then. So I just replaced the one, let my car warm up, I go back outside and I hear the exhaust sputtering already. WTF?! So I go check the packs again, this time I find that 2 more are done! Now whats also weird, maybe, is the first one has oil on it, while the others don't, is that normal?

So to sum up...I have these questions:

1. Did the other coil packs die when I replaced the other one?
2. Is it bad that one of them has oil on it?
3. If I replace the 2, am I ok to drive 30 minutes to the VW dealership on Monday?

 

Same thing happened to me. I replaced one that was bad,then they all started going. The Bremi coil packs are crap. I would suggest getting the Hitachi "E" coil pack kit from ECS Tuning. These are actually secured to the head with the included hardware, and they don't crap out on you like the OE Bremi coils.

Otherwise definitely keep a spare in your glove box!

Good luck...at least this is an easy fix!

boy412

 

1. Yes
2. Bad but not terible. You probably just have a leak from the inner valvecover gasket that seals the coil holes beteen the valvecover and the head.
3. Dont drive the car 30 min with the check engine light flashing. You will destroy the cat. If you absolutly had to drive it make sure you disconnect the fuel injector for the cylinders that are misfiring.

 

Possibly your ICM. Were you missfiring on #2?

 

I had one go bad a year ago and only replaced the bad one. A year later another one goes bad, then within a week yet a third one goes bad - at that point I replaced the remaining 2. So coil stack failure seems unpredictable. I'd replace all of them when the first one goes bad, it's not worth the headache because when one goes bad and the car really starts to shake, rattle, and roll.

 

2. Is that a tough job or can I do it?

3. Well I don't know how to do that so Im gonna have to figure something out to get to VW before work tommorow.

Also will I have to replace the plugs?