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I have toaster strudel coilpacks!

2K views 13 replies 10 participants last post by  Morpheous 
#1 ·
I have a 2002 1.8t tiptronic Passat and I've had one coilpack pop up every so often. I've had them replaced twice per the recall so I figured that it might've been time to change my spark plugs since I heard that if the o-rings are going stuff will leak out and push the packs up. I put NGK plugs in the car and played musical coilpacks,put number 3 in the first hole and rotated everything back.

Trekked back up to Slo and had 3 pop up. I called the dealer and he said I really have to smack them down until i hear a "pop". He says its air trapped in there and when it heats up or something they pop up. I've been popping my hood and pushing the darn things down everytime i drive a long distance and I'm getting sick of it.

After reading a thread on vortex, Another thing bothered me. People with passats are getting really good gas mileage. I've seen numbers going from 320-420 miles on one tank of gas. My car's gas light usually goes on at a lil below 300, if it's above 300 it's a good day. A friend suggested replacing my fuel filter and maybe a fuel system cleaner?

any ideas?
 
#4 ·
why aren't you newer guys' coilpacks screwed down like ours are? so they can pop? jeez..

that sounds wrong, the lowest I ever got (quite frequent when I drive with a heavy foot and lots of stop & go) is 320. anyway, something's not right. its strange that a lot of people are getting crappy gas mileage.
 
#6 ·
Assuming there's nothing "broke" that's giving you bad gas mileage:

How many miles on the car? If you're close to 100K, a front O2 sensor replacement would most assuredly give you better gas mileage.

Also - what brand of gasoline do you use? Any of the major brands should be fine, but minor and off-brands have always given me worse mileage and performance, regardless of octane.
 
#8 ·
^^You got better mileage on the 89 because you said "uh-oh it's 89, I'd better drive carefully."

The guys pushing 350-400 miles per tank are doing mostly highway driving and are practically running on fumes between fill-ups. Especially for the 1.8T's, moderate stop-and-go driving will produce worse mileage than aggressive highway driving where speed never drops below 40 -- getting the car from 0 to 40 really sucks down fuel.
 
#9 ·
I have two thoughts for you: (none have to do with coil packs though, sorry ;0)

(1) I have been getting about 360 miles (refill light on at320 - 340) in warm weather. When I fill up the tank, I note that I have only put about 13.00 gallons in... EVER. 420 miles is possible, given nothing broke, proper tire pressure and highway speeds (55 - 65). HOWEVER, the tank in my "stock" 2004.5 1.8T GLS wagon is reported as 16.9 gallons. Therefore, I could possibly add up to 120 miles (avg 24mpg in city / 29 mpg in highway). total could be as much as 460 miles. The good news is this... if you can read the gauges, you will never run out of gas in your Passat!

(2) don't even try this! I won't be coming to pick anyone up at the side of the road if they run their tank dry trying to find out how many miles they can REALLY get out of the whole tank!
 
#10 ·
well I drive about 80% freeway and 20% city. I never wait till my car is bone dry, that scares me and 300 miles is about when my light goes on. And I'm telling the truth! i don't drive hard, i swear :)

does anyone know a way to keep the stupid coilpacks down? I was thinking about a bracket but then the heat from the block will transfer to the bracket and probably melt the top of the coilpack which I think wouldn't be too good :p any suggestions?
 
#12 ·
baisee00,

a couple things. One, are you actually dividing the fill-up gallons by the miles driven, or are you trusting the computer read out? Have you changed to a tire size that is quite a bit taller than your factory tire diameter? Do you have any codes? Does the car smoke black smoke whilke idling and warmed up?

I see you're in sacremento. Do they have seasonal reformulated gasoline standards, and if so, has it changed? I have see some RFG formulas drop gas milage was off. That could also be a possibility.

On the coil pack. Strange that they keep popping up. I might try putting a dab of dielectric on the top of the plug and seeing if the pack with stay down on it with vacume force. A bracket would work, and you may (not sure about conmpatability) be able to swap out the valve cover from a car with screw holes in it.

Please let us know what you find.

BTW,, I get 400+ miles per tank on long highway tips, and about 380 in mixed driving.

Chris...
 
#13 ·
Rusty said:
Assuming there's nothing "broke" that's giving you bad gas mileage:

How many miles on the car? If you're close to 100K, a front O2 sensor replacement would most assuredly give you better gas mileage.

Also - what brand of gasoline do you use? Any of the major brands should be fine, but minor and off-brands have always given me worse mileage and performance, regardless of octane.
hmmm so if its not bad but i have over 100000 i should replace this on an aeb?
 
#14 ·
The coil packs pop up if the plugs arnt torqued in, I bet the plugs will tweek down a little more.
I see this every day here in the UK with the Audi coil issue.
We are on L type for black coils and F for red. J still fail but not as much as <= H
New FSi engines run different coils but can still short.
 
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