[s-cars] 1.8t coil conversion saga

[jpb3]

I have been running a 1.8T coil kit from Apikol for the last 15K miles with
no coil failures.  I have MRC stage 2 chip and am using a 1.9 bar spring
with peak boost around 24 psi. ( I know, nothing but hot air)

I have heard of other people having occasional failures in high HP
applications but to have 2 coils go out on you in 3K miles is suspect.  You
either have a bad batch of coils or your TAP chip doesn't like them, just as
you have surmised.  I would get an OEM coil if I were you, it would be about
the same price as replacing the remaining 3 034 1.8 coils, maybe a little
more but then you know it works.

Or get another chipset.


My .02

john

On 12/20/06, Varon H. Fugman <vfugman at globaldialog.com> wrote:
>
> With an OEM coil on the way out (failing gradually over a period of
> months),
> I finally took the plunge a couple months ago and ordered the 1.8t coil
> conversion harness and a set of 5 coils from 034 Motorsport for
> $355.  They
> shipped the kit the same day, and the workmanship on the wiring harness is
> beautiful-no way I could do this good of work myself (not the mention the
> time to source parts and put it all together.  But I digress.)
>
>
>
> Installation was a piece of cake.  Took much longer to rewire connector #2
> from the ECU back to the factory configuration-I had had it wired to use
> the
> spare POS channel.
>
>
>
> Car seemed to run smoothly with the new coils in place, with the possible
> exception of an oh-so-very-slight loss of power at full boost.  But with
> some of you 400+hp guys running the 1.8t coils I figured there couldn't be
> a
> problem running the 1.8t coils on my 280hp TAP Stage I setup.
>
>
>
> 3 weeks later, drove 400 miles to St. Louis for Thanksgiving.  Car runs
> great.  Start the car on Thanksgiving Day, car runs rough.  Coil in
> cylinder
> #4 had died.  Swapped coil with #3 to make sure.  All VW dealer parts
> departments closed for 4 day weekend, so I had to spend a couple days
> longer
> in St. Louis than planned.*  Guess I should have gotten that spare coil to
> have in the trunk!  Picked up a new coil at VW dealer for $30 Monday
> morning, nibbled the ridge off with a pair of wire cutters I had in the
> trunk, and hit the road.
>
>
>
> Another 3 weeks later, coil in #2 cylinder died.  Just picked up another
> VW
> coil tonight ($42 at local dealer, what's with that?) which I'll drop in
> tomorrow.
>
>
>
> When my first failure occurred at Thanksgiving, I checked the 034 website
> only to find that they are no longer supplying coils due to quality
> problems.  With my first coil failure in 3 weeks I'll second that!
>
>
>
> However, even more recently they have added a statement saying that the
> 1.8t
> coil conversion may not be compatible with certain chipsets that have a
> longer dwell duration than the factory tuning.  Evidently, the longer
> dwell
> overheats the coils and causes premature failure.
>
>
>
> So, I'm trying to figure out in my case whether the problem in my case is
> the excessive dwell or just a bad batch of coils.  Previous owner of my
> car
> fitted it with a TAP Stage I chip claiming 280hp.  The TAP chip has been
> much maligned, and I'll grant you the boost is very digital in nature, but
> when it is on the boost is strong-can't imagine getting more out of a
> stage
> 1 upgrade.  The chip has been in the car for almost 10 years and 150k
> miles.
>
>
>
>
> Of course, I have no idea what kind of dwell the TAP chip is running.  It
> could be that the OEM coils handled the extra dwell with no problem (1
> failure in 11 years sounds pretty typical), but these wimpy little 1.8t
> coils can't take it.
>
>
>
> At any rate, I've got to figure out what to do now:
>
>
>
> a.      Just keep replacing coils one-by-one as they fail
> b.      Replace the remaining 034-sourced coils with VW-dealer-sourced
> coils
> and see what happens.  If dealer coils fail, the problem is probably
> excessive dwell.  If dealer coils are reliable, then problem is bad coils
> from 034.
> c.      Revert to stock setup (replacing failed OEM coil.)
>
>
>
> If the problem is excessive dwell, then it seems like my options are
> either
> go back to OEM coils or go to remote-mount high-power coils.  Frankly, I
> liked the stock setup except for the failure-prone POS modules.  OK, I
> don't
> like that the hardwired coils that can't easily be swapped from one
> cylinder
> to another.  But I did like having my "20V turbo" cover in place!
>
>
>
> Varon
>
> '95 urS6
>
> *In my case, staying in St. Louis a couple extra days wasn't a problem.
> got
> to spend more time with friends & family, and it's good to miss a day of
> work & school now and then!  I did locate a Passat 1.8t coil at a FLAPS on
> Friday.  It had the same 4-pin connector, but had a huge square flange on
> top-no way it would have fit as-is.  If it had been urgent to get home, I
> could have modified the Passat coil to work at least temporarily-either
> saw
> off the square flange or use a length of spark plug wire to make the
> connection to the plug.
>
>
>
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