Re: The VW Jetta GLX Mailing List Digest V4 #120

[Nick & Theresa Mascari <mascari@corecomm.net>]

You may have the dreaded coil pack problem that most A3 VR6s seem to eventually
get.
Does it idle rough when it does this to you?  Does it happen after the car has
been rained on for a while or on really damp mornings?  Our cars have a piece of
shit coil pack, that gets cracks in it near where the plug wires plug in.
Moisture gets in there and causes arcing.  When this happens to mine, you can
acutally see the sparks jumping from the coil pack to the wire boot, which means
it isnt getting to the cylinder and you're running on less than 6 cylinders.

Thats the bad news.
The worse news is VW wont cover this part under the powertrain warranty and they
dont usually go bad until the car is past its 24K bumper to bumper warranty.  The
worst news is they want $600 for this part.

The only good news is that a $1 car of wire dryer sprayed on there instantly
fixes the problem and keeps it dry for a while.  I always carry a can in my
trunk, and about once every month or two I have to use it.

Nick M
96 Jetta VR6

>   I have noticed my first problem with my Jetta in over 40k miles.  I am
> just wondering if any of you have experienced something like it.
>   I let my glx Jetta sit overnight as usual.  After starting it in the
> morning I let it warm up for 30 seconds or so, this is routine. If I
> then drive my jetta without flooring it until it is warmed up I don't
> have any problems.  Where the problem happens is if I floor it before
> it's warm. (half way to normal temperature), my car bogs down after
> about 3-5 seconds of full throttle.  Once the engine warms up the
> problem is gone.  Sometimes if it bogs enough, my check engine light
> comes on, but eventually by the end of the day it's back off.  My jetta
> does this regardless of weather temperature.  I usually avoid the
> problem, but it is annoying anyway.