Well, yes no 2 coil pack went last night. Only 2 weeks after the last one.

I managed to get the car home, unfortunately to my total detriment. The AA will NOT I REPEAT NOT give you a courtesy car to replace yours if you manage to get home under the Skoda warranty proceedure. Nor are your local garage obliged to supply you with a courtesy car.

So for god sake if you have a coil pack go (suddenly on 3 cylinders engine light flashing on off) park it immediately at the side of the road and call the AA. Do not try and get home.

This little technicality has totally buggered my day as you can guess, no car no good to me.

Needless to say I got straight on the phone this morning and spoke to Skoda customer service, who I might add were very helpful (08457 745 745). I insisted that all 3 remaining coil packs be replaced under warranty, which as 1 had already gone, they agreed to without question - result.

Next Skoda find a garage that has one. Nearest place 20 miles away had 2. Skoda confirm garage has cpacks and arrange for AA to pick up car from me. AA recover car for coil packs to be fitted. Unfortunately no-one tells garage what problem is (says on work sheet "possible mis-fire"?) and car is still sitting there as we speak. I go totally mental with garage and subsequently Skoda:mad:

So Skoda get a proper earfull too!! At this point I am bloody livid, as this screws up my day tomorrow. Is there any efficiency left in this world?. All I can say is for Christ sake don't let All Electric Garages in ............. (can't say as car still there and they might read this!) near your motor.

So people what lesson learnt?? Either carry a spare coil pack with you or pull them out, bugger them and then insist everyone of them gets replaced immediately.

This little episode has personally cost me time, money in phone calls, extreme hassle and having to do several people's job for them. Seems to me if you want anything doing never rely on a garage to do it for you. I can see me going down there tommorrow telling them where the part is in stores, showing them how to fit it and then fitting it. Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Seriously :mad: Funky J

Bad news - but from what you say, supplies are improving now ?

When I was deciding to swap my car in for a 4x4 (used), the coilpack issue gave me the 'heebie-jeebies' as I was expecting sod's law after normal Subaru reliability.

At the time, the dealers had no stocks (only a couple of months back) so I did some phoning around the aftermarket and managed to replace all 4. It cost me, but what price peace of mind. Might be worth doing that yourself ?

Is this a good time to say that Skoda have agreed to replace all of my 4 coilpacks Free Of Charge ?When I spoke to customer services I gained the impression that if one went then they would replace all the others as well in anycase

I should point out that I used the "lone female at risk in the event of a failure" angle to get them to agree.

Funky - Hope the car's ready for bank holiday meet... :( Sounds like you went / are going through a really :dung: time. Would I be right in saying as I have a TDI I have no coil packs to worry about?

By the way - I think these "learn from my problem" threads are one of the best things about this forum. If I ever have any problems in the future, I'll be sure to start a thread about it!

JaneC Wrote

I used the "lone female at risk in the event of a failure" angle to get them to agree.

Good ploy that , Jane . So if one of mine goes tomorrow and I can't get one I will know who to blame - Jane , because she had the last 4 in the country :D

Sounds to me like you have every good reason to be pi**ed off with the garage and Skoda :rant: . You would think that when dealing with a coil pack problem everyone would know what the job is about. I'm sure if I'd been in your shoes I'd be behind bars by now for gbh. I take it this is not your normal dealership since you say that "Skoda located the garage..." I hope this doesn't indicate a selective attitude to customers who are 'not known'.

You really would have thought that 'mis-fire', possible or otherwise, would be sufficient of a clue. I presume there is a clue from the warning lights and I would hope the computer diagnostics would pick it up straight away. The more I think about this the more I want to come along with you.....no that might be a bad idea....that gbh might just get the free upgrade to murder!

What a catch on the hire car though, that's just the final blow. Shame you didn't hire a car cause I know just where the invoice would fit.

You have my sympathies but this is indicative how hit and miss customer service is these days. Thankfully I do not live near this 'battery powered' garage, maybe they need an upgrade to Duracell...copper end first

Paul

I had a coil pack fail in December - my dealer had no idea what it was and it took 2 or 3 days to work it out. I did, however get a courtesy car while it was in dock. The dealer supplied this, not koda Assistance - I drove the car home - probably wrongly. My engine light didn't flash - I don't have one.

As long as I was kept on the road I didn't mind too much. I am somewhat of the opposite opinion to some of the posters here - things will go wrong on any car, it's unrealistic to expect otherwise. Also unless the small print says you are explicitly entitled to a hire or courtesy car, why assume that is the case? Having said that, the coil pack problem is old enough news now that no dealer should take more than 10 minutes to diagnose it.

Just my 2p worth...

I carry 2 spare coil packs just in case - and no longer worry like I used to about having a coil pack fail. They cost

I agree the car is a wonder when it works, a bitch when it doesn't and as you point out it doesn't come with any guarentees to be 100% reliable. I think the issue is how you 'expect' to be treated when things do go wrong. I'm sure that's the area where most issues develop.

Two days after I picked up my 'Octy' a secondhand buy from a Fiat dealership, it went wrong big style. I ended up with a loan car for about 16 days, but I was kept mobile, so really no big deal. (apart from dented pride)

I think the issue at stake with funkyj is the poor level of service around diagnosis and and keeping the customer informed. This is always the area our expectations take a big hit.

I've been driving for 30 years, ironically the Octy is the first car I've ever owned that will have to be dealer serviced, I will always be 'on edge' about the service I receive. However, my first encounter with the Skoda dealer, Horner's Manchester, was OK. I had to deal with them for a recent brake recall issue. (Even then Skoda UK were behind the game, the way I found out about the recall was through this website - a post from DGW - if I had not seen that my car would still be without the replacement parts - thanks Skoda UK!)

Paul

Its a bit weird that owners are being forced to carry around a spare parts garage in their boots, just in case things fail. Doesn't make Skoda look that good, does it? Or am I just mis-interpreting what's being said in this thread? I personally carry nothing more than a map, and a bottle of sun-cream (don't ask).

I carry a spare coilpack to, the only problem being I got mine before the price cut so had to pay nearly

Hi Funky

Is that "All Electric" in Barns Hill ?

I don't mind naming and shaming, the To$$ers. 2 Weeks ago I put my RS in there for 4 days whilst I was away in Scotland. I had a problem with the ECU going into limp home mode from cold (Intermitant). I picked the car up on the Friday to find that in order to drive straight the steering wheel needed to turn towards the left about 1/4 of a turn. The strange thing is the car didn't pull to either the left or the right.

So I am straight on the phone to them asking if they took the steering wheel off for any reason. They said they hadn't but could they have the car back to look into further. It turns out that the rear axle was bent ? It also needed a new stub axle and bearing. A total cost of ...

Dev,

good job you didn't say a "pot of vaseline and box of tissues". :rofl:

Cheers.

Adrian.

FunkyJ

Perhaps you would like to vote Here and make your opinion count

Off topic slighlty, but watch it with the AA....

My first oil pack went a while back, (in fact I tend to think it was going for a while). A quick call to Tavia4x4 for diagnostic then called the AA. Asked for a lift (4x4) to a dealer for a coil change; 55minutes later AA chap arrives, great me thinks, till I see his frontera. Come to do your oil sir! Nooooooo.

Eventually a wagon arrives and en route call dealer, drop off, went for a coffee in Manc CC and drove home.

Good dealer service, but I was very lucky to experince this after the problems and delays had being experinced by others. I still feel the coil issue is current and very valid. If this had happened say in France mid holiday, then I'd be scuppered, for the sake of what is now 50 quid's worth of parts!

Should just go and get them all swaped for news and drop the olds in with the spare. Changing Coil4 is a bit of a mare though I think. Also can't recall if you need to clear error codes (but the APR chip I have can do that for you if you really have to )

Service must be improved, knowledge of sales people needs tightening up. You go to you kind of expect the sales staff to know nothing for a 40 quid kettle. But for 15k of mechanical bits I'd like them to know alot more, or give me a discount, whats the point in haveing salesmen..ooh idea : terminals, enter price enter p/x gives you a price, no messing, back to the future...

back on topic,

Thanks for sharing. The home / hire car aspect of the AA cover is invaluable IMHO, since most of the time the coil appears to go in the morning after a dampish night, instinct is to return home for a brew and await the AA bods.

Adrian. The most embarrassing thing is, one of my mates bought everyone he knew a tube of KY jelly for last Christmas. Mine still resides in my bedside table, but not in the car Not sure what use KY would have for car maintenance - engine lube?

I thought the coil pack issues had been resolved ? I used to carry a spare coil everywhere - in a 1975 mini !

Originally posted by devonutopia in this post

Its a bit weird that owners are being forced to carry around a spare parts garage in their boots, just in case things fail. Doesn't make Skoda look that good, does it? Or am I just mis-interpreting what's being said in this thread? I personally carry nothing more than a map, and a bottle of sun-cream (don't ask).

Personally it's screen wash, water, and a kite. Well, you never know, do you?

Stef