Coil Failures - Letter from Audi

[Stephen Kormilo]

At 12:00 PM 07/02/03 -0500, you wrote:

>From: MSegal at STSSystems.com
>To: quattro at audifans.com
>Subject: Coil Failures - Letter from Audi
>Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 10:21:11 -0500
>
>Hello fellow Audians,
>Yesterday, I received my letter from Audi Canada,

I was wondering if Audi Canada would be sending them.  I have seen several
reports of USA letters, but none from Canada.  Obviously, haven't got mine yet.

>regarding the ignition
>coil failures that have been in the news for VW and Audi cars. In case you
>haven't gotten your letters yet, see below for the text I received.  I've
>read this letter several times now, and I still don't understand a few
>things.
>1) From what I read in the letter, it's not a recall notice.

Correct, however, since that letter was mailed, there _has_  been an
official recall.

>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.

I believe the intent was to counter some of the safety issues that were
raised by recent newspaper articles in the USA.

>  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.
>2) They say that if a coil fails, that the car will still continue to run,
>although with reduced power.  But from what I read in the posts, it seems
>that for some people, when the coil failed, the engine just suddenly stopped
>dead, would not run at all with the coil failure.

I don't think that was the case.  I don't recall a single 'sudden engine
stop' condition recorded in a recent Audiworld Coil Failure data gathering
exercise.

>3) This is a minor point, but in the second paragraph, it starts off with
>saying the coils provide electricity to the spark plugs when you start the
>engine.  As I understand it, they continue to provide electricity as long as
>the engine is running, otherwise, the spark plugs wouldn't spark.

Correct.

>If they
>only worked at starting, then if a coil failed when driving, it wouldn't
>affect you at all, until the next time you tried to start the car.  From the
>way they wrote the letter, they're trying to minimize the impact, trying to
>imply that a coil failure only affects startup, or perhaps might reduce
>power output while driving.  Sounds to me like they're talking out of both
>sides of their mouth.

Probably just trying to oversimplify for the non-technically minded
consumer ;-)

>I wanted to get your feedback on what this letter is trying to say here.  Is
>this a recall?

No, but.... see above.

>Can I take this to the dealer and ask to have all the coils
>changed?

Probably not.

>If a coil fails, does the engine die, or just run on 3 cylinders?

Should run on 3 cylinders.

>I'm attaching the letter to the bottom of my post.
>Mitchell Segal

Audi Canada letter snipped.....



Stephen Kormilo                            Silver 2002 Audi A4 3.0QM
		       Now departed:   Silver '98.5 Audi A4 2.8QM
				      Black '85 Mazda Rx7 GSL-SE

Instructor, Electronics Technology
Red River College
Winnipeg, MB
CANADA

email: skormilo at rrc.mb.ca
OR:    stephen at kormilo.ca