More Coil Pack Problems

269 miles after coil pack #4 went bad, #2 went out.  Or at least that's what I'm hoping. I had the other three replaced, since labor to diagnose the bank is more than the parts. If the problem continues, it might be more serious, but when the coil packs are replaced, it does fix the problem.

So this 60,000 mile service has so far cost me $855.

60,000 Miles

The 60,000 mile service is much like the 40K, but without brakes and tires. I went with parts from ECS Tuning again. That included oil and oil filter (and drain plug), spark plugs, engine air filter, cabin air filter, windshield wipers (not shown) and the fuel filter. The fuel filter is one of those every 20K mile things that's not listed, but recommended by enthusiasts. It's not cheap either as it costs $50 in labor of the $200 I spent.

Parts came out to around $160 plus shipping (another $40). With the $200 in labor, it came out to a $400 service.

Everything went fine. At first. Three days and 80 miles later I was getting on the freeway when the car starting sputtering with reduced power. The EPC light and Check Engine lights went on and the engine seemed to be missing on a cylinder. I took it back to the same shop, thinking something might not be attached properly.

The problem turned out to be a bad ignition coil (or coil pack, as I've heard it called). These $50 parts would seem like a service item, based on the number of people that have them go bad. It's also not uncommon, according to the forums, to have them go bad right after a service. So add another $155 to the service, I guess. It's still way cheaper than the dealer.

Intake Manifold Follow Up

After a couple hundred miles on the new manifold, I'm happy to report performance has improved. The improvement comes from smoother power, smoother shifts, likely from cleaning the fuel injectors, although it's possible the bad intake manifold may have also had an effect on performance. The care drives like it's new, which it should after only 45,000 miles. It's a subtle change.

I'm curious to find out tech tip 24-09-02, if anyone has access to the database.

Intake Manifold Kaput

On the way to work the other day, my catalytic converter light went on. That's what it says in the owner's manual, but my service tech informed me it could mean 80 different potential problems. They just put catalytic converter there to make people feel better, since it's covered under the 80,000 mile federal emissions warranty.

I scheduled an appointment for the following week and was told not to worry about it. It would probably go off. Perhaps bad gas. It did go off later that day, but I was still able to capture the codes it was throwing using the VCDS software. A search on the web brought up many people with intake manifold problems, usually at around the 35,000-45,000 mile mark. I was now a member of this club. I emailed my service manager four days in advance, in case they needed parts. He didn't look at it until I was standing there this morning (we're now waiting on the parts).

What I got:

2 Faults Found:
008213 - Intake Manifold Flap Position Sensor (Bank 1)
               P2015 - 000 - Implausible Signal - Intermittent

005386 - Engine Off Timer Performance
               P150A - 000 -  - Intermittent

As these are intermittent problems, it wasn't surprising the light turned off, but the error was recorded and needed to be addressed. I think these errors are also related to my rough idle problem I've had for about a year. The RPMs would stay still, and there would be periodic shudders from the engine, even with the AC off.

Thankfully, the GTI has a 50,000 mile drivetrain warranty, so after several hours of diagnosis, I was set up in a loaner car, a 2014 Jetta Dash Rattle Edition with only 2,000 miles. The new intake manifold was arriving from another dealership in the late afternoon, so the car wouldn't be ready until the next day.

The repair would have cost $800-1,000, according to my service rep. The question, I suppose, is whether this is likely to happen again at the 90,000 mile mark. My guess is I won't be the one to find out.

Mileage: 44,852

Quick Update

Some observations about the car after a few days:

• Cold Starts. For the last year or so, the engine was a bit hesitant until it warmed up. Getting smooth shifts was difficult in the morning, so I just lived with it until it was warmed up (usually on the freeway). That's gone now, likely due to replacing the spark plugs, which is fairly common with this engine, if you go looking for it. So note to self: change the plugs again at 80,000 miles (which is when they're normally due).
• Brakes. The ceramic pads had me a bit worried, since an old timer told me horror stories about getting old school ceramic pads heated up properly, back in the day. I have none of that with these modern, ceramic pads. They work great when cold. In the morning, when I go down my drive way, I no longer have grabbing and clunking, which can be a bit scary, or noise as the brakes warm up. They should also be cleaner for those new wheels, which are likely harder to maintain.
• Tires/Brakes: As I mentioned before, the brakes with the new Super Sport tires provide a stopping power that is more linear and predictable. It's hard to tell which to give credit for this, so we'll say they're both doing a great job at stopping the car. Getting the front brakes done at the same time was part of my attempt to like the car better, as in addressing the braking issue 100%.
• Tires: I expected some tire break in, which so far hasn't been an issue with both stopping or acceleration. I get lots of grip with the Super Sports with only a few dozen miles on them and there's more cornering confidence. The mud and snow P-Zeroes were predictable, but the performance just wasn't there. If I were buying this car new again, I think I would start day one with new tires and sell the stock wheels as a set. Better tires just makes this car so much ... better.
• Wheels: My 8-year old likes the V710's less, which makes sense, since they're far less flashy. I do like them more than the Detroits. They're far less garish. 

40,000 Mile Service

On Monday I won an auction for a vintage Land Cruiser BJ61, a Japanese, right hand drive, diesel model in mint condition. I got really close to selling the GTI, as well as half convincing my wife to take the Land Cruiser and trade in her Rabbit. Eventually I negotiated my way out of that purchase and went on my way, right around the time my Service Now! warning went off, kind of like an alarm clock.

Common sense got the best of me and with service due, I decided to clear the shelves and do the whole thing. There was really no half-way, since selling the used Detroit wheels would essentially pay for the labor to have it all done. Plus the parts had been clogging up my office/warehouse for months.
 
So here's what I did:

• VMR Audi VW Mercedes V710 18 inch Wheels
  [Wheel Finish:Gunmetal]
  [Centerbore:57.1mm]
  [Size:18x8.5]
  [ET:45mm]
  [Size:18x8.5]
• McGard 68018BK Chrome/Black M14 x 1.5 Thread Size Radius Seat Lug Bolt Wheel Installation Kit for 5 Lug Vehicle
• Pirelli Pilot Super Sport 225/40R18 tires (43199 92Y)
• Posiquiet Ceramic Pads, Front
• Posiquiet Ceramic Pads, Back
• Centric HC Premium Rotors, Front (Plain Vented 125 series)
• Centric HC Premium Rotors, Back (Plain Vented 125 series)
• Oil Change: 5W40 Pentosin Pento High Performance Oil and Mann Filter (ECS Tuning Kit)
• Bosch spark plugs (FR6KPP332S)
• Air Filter
• Cabin/Interior Air Filter
• Fuel Filter

When I say I, I'm referring to my local Big O Tire who did all this work in about four hours with no hiccups for a total labor charge of $558.86. As I've mentioned, what needed to be done for service was the oil and oil filter, engine air filter, rear brakes and tires. The other stuff is not recommended until later and accounted for $249 of the labor.

The VW center caps fit the VMR wheels without any drama and there's no "poke" on the front wheels. It fits pretty much exactly. I bought the McGard lug nuts primarily because they're black and look better with the gunmetal wheels than the stock chrome bolts, but one added bonus is the locking nut system that should prevent theft, at least from the average thief in the hood.

The first thing I noticed was the improvement in braking. The existing GTI brakes are fine, but not great. You hit the brakes, the pads engage, and speed bleeds off, not quite as fast you might like. The new set up seems more progressive. You hit the brakes and you immediately get bite and reduction in a more linear fashion. It feels more performance oriented like I've had in BMWs.

Other than that, the car feels new. It just feels a little more peppier without some of the cold engine hesitation I've been seeing. I can't ascribe that to the spark plugs or fuel filter replacement, but it's possible.

Finally, the last step was resetting the service interval warning using the VAG-COM cable and VCDS software from Ross-Tech. This was my first time doing this and it's what keeps people going back to the dealer, since the average shop doesn't have that capability (although a VW specialist certainly would).

Edit: You can do this in the instrument cluster too.

Mileage: 40,169

Poke

Wheels have been a big focus this month. As I wrote before, I went with a set of Axis XMX wheels. However, I wasn't happy with one small detail, something I took for granted. The VW center caps don't fit after market wheels unless they specifically say so.

I went to my local VW dealer, Dorito Brothers in Walnut Creek, and the parts department was very generous with their time as they tried to fit VW center caps of various sizes on the XMX wheels. The enormous Toureg center caps were close, and I even tried a rubber mallet to get them to fit, but no dice. I ordered stickers for the center caps on Ebay before I realized this really wasn't going to do it for me. I returned the wheels to Tire Rack without any trouble.

Volkswagen OEM wheels are about $450 each, compared to the $175-200 you'll find with after market wheels, but once they're used, the price falls dramatically. With that in mind, and not too concerned with minor curb rash and blemishes (like I have on my Detroits), I found a set of used Mallory wheels that looked like they would fit.

I arranged the purchase and had them shipped. In the mean time, I did even more research, perhaps research I should have done initially, and found confusion. Some said they fit, some didn't. I expressed my concern with the seller, mostly to let him know I would likely re-sell them if they didn't fit, but he assured me they would. Various third party parts sellers sold these and other wheels claiming they fit the GTI, so I wasn't sure why there was confusion. The keyword, it turns out is "poke."

Poke refers to the wheels poking out from the fender. The offset on the back wheels is different than on the front, so although the Mallory wheels fit great on the back, there is a slight amount of poke on the front. This is a style issue for most people, as there's not a lot of down side to some poke, although I've read complains about wheels that poke dirtying up the sides of the car. As a detailing fanatic, that wasn't going to fly with me. So no poke.  I'm re-selling the Mallory's on VWVortex, where I found them, but I'll likely move to Ebay soon, since the original post sat for quite some time.

So what's the solution? When the center cap issue first started, I posted on VWVortex asking for suggestions. Besides the stickers, I was told about a company that tackles the aftermarket versus OEM issue head on. Velocity Motoring (VMR) designs wheels specifically to fit particular cars, including use of the stock center cap. Looking over all the options, I went with the very popular V710's, a wheel so common on GTI's that it lacks exclusivity. I've got no problem with that, I just want something nice, less garish, that fits properly. I do appreciate the clean, stock look for the most part.

I've got VMR V710's in gunmetal on order through PYSpeed. They were helpful as I went through this, including canceling one order and helping me get the proper sizing on the second. Unfortunately, during my vacillation, the wheels went out of stock, so I've got a three week delay. They cut me a deal for waiting, which is fine, since I still have about 3,500 miles left on the original tires. Plus I still need to pay for all that other gear I bought for my 40,000 mile service.

One question that remains is whether the gunmetal wheels will look alright with the stock lug bolts. Lug bolts are about $85 for a full set, so it's not an insignificant expense.