Coil Failures - Letter from Audi

[MSegal at STSSystems.com]

I don't know when the official decision to issue a recall was made, but my
letter was dated January 31.  I agree with your statement about not driving
the car with a failed coil.  I was also wondering about unburnt fuel causing
catalytic and/or O2 sensor damage.

I'm due for a service in about 6 weeks or so (32,000km service), and I'm
going to ask about the recall at that time, and see about them changing all
4 coils on my car.

Mitchell Segal
2001 A4 1.8TQ

-----Original Message-----
From: Ti Kan [mailto:ti at amb.org]
Sent: February 7, 2003 3:03 PM
To: MSegal at STSSystems.com
Cc: quattro at audifans.com
Subject: Re: Coil Failures - Letter from Audi

MSegal at STSSystems.com writes:
> 1) From what I read in the letter, it's not a recall notice.  It's simply
a
> warning that if your coil fails, your car should still continue to
operate,
> enough for you to come in and get it fixed.  But there doesn't seem to be
> any offer to recall the coils (ie: come in and we'll change them for you
> BEFORE they fail) or anything saying that if one does fail, when you come
> in, that they'll change all of them at the same time, to avoid any future
> problems.
> ...

I think that letter was mailed *before* the decision was made to
do the general recall.  So what you read in the letter was the
old policy.  The recall campaign as I understand it, has only
just been announced but is not yet in process, so I would expect
another letter (could be a few months).

Also, the current letter is technically misleading, and likely
to be written by a public relations person with the intent of
minimizing customer anxiety.  If I were you, if a coil is to fail
I would call the Audi Advantage roadside assistance program and
have the car flat bedded to a dealer pronto, and demand to have
all coils replaced.  Operating the car with a failed coil will
cause unburnt fuel to enter the catalytic convertor, and can
lead to convertor failure too.

-Ti