Coil Pack 'Hold Downs'

[Longyear]

Hi,

What is the view on these :-

http://www.ebay.co.u...73#ht_574wt_905

Are they likely to be of benefit, especially in a remapped car like mine? ...... Do Coil Packs really work their way off?

I like the idea of my coil packs being firmly secured, if there is any benefit, but I don't have cash to waste!

Also, what do we think about these :-

http://www.ebay.co.u...#ht_1749wt_1163

Coil Packs guaranteed for life?!?! ............ do people believe these 'modified' jobbies are really going to last forever?

Cheers.

Edited 6 May, 2012 by Longyear

[za_killer]

i've only heard of 1 case where a coilpack popped out, and that on a single cylinder, so i'm guessing that's your answer. i've seen several cars with them fitted, mostly for stylish reasons

as for the second link: rubbish... vag did a recall on it's coils because several revisions were rubbish. the 2 revisions remaining on the market are supposed to leave this problems behind... no-name coils are known to go bust rapidly (as far as my knowledge goes)

[Volvomeg]

My cars not standard by any means and i've never had a coil pack pop out altho i have had one fail before recall came out

Genuine coilpacks are cheap enough if you do have one fail, i now keep my non gen one as a spare in boot just in case

[Guest BigJase88]

I have them fitted

Had to move vacuum box from coil 4 though

[Liverpool-Lad]

Waste of time, never had an issue in 5 and a half years.

And LOL for over 50 quid for that set.

Edited 6 May, 2012 by Liverpool-Lad

[karlbar2k]

not every one will suffer from coil packs lifting, BUT it can happen!! the higher the boost you run, the greater the chance that your plugs may work loose, causing your coil packs to pop. They will not pop if your plugs remain tourqued down properly. I used to get it occasionally on mine prior to fitting Hitachi Bolt down coil packs. Now I just get a missfire if a plug gap has increased to 0.030+ so I am in the habit of checking my plugs every couple of months and regapping as needed.

I am going to be trying the 2.0T coilpacks soon and will be using some form of bolt down to make sure they do not move.

[Guest BigJase88]

Waste of time, never had an issue in 5 and a half years.

And LOL for over 50 quid for that set.

Your my hero.

If you look at a mk 4 golf gti 1.8t for example there oem coil packs are a different design and already utilise bolts to hold them down. With all the coilpack issues on the 1.8t i think its a good idea to try keep them held down as much as possible

[STSKODA]

its a non issue for most people, unless you have a coil lifting all the time don't waste your money.

You would instantly know if you had a misfire.

A better alternative is to use the oem plugs and latest coils minimising any hassle

[STSKODA]

oh and don't believe the schpeil on that ebay website - absolute b0llox

those guys would NEVER be able to redesign a coil, what they will do is send you another revision L as a replacement when it breaks

(bear in mind VAG group has offered free replacement on all coils that are not revision R or D and you can see why coughin up money for the holy grail of coils is looney tunes!)

Edited 7 May, 2012 by STSKODA

[wayned]

I very much doubt any coilpack will last a lifetime tbh.

[Bowders1]

Hi,

What is the view on these :-

http://www.ebay.co.u...73#ht_574wt_905

Are they likely to be of benefit, especially in a remapped car like mine? ...... Do Coil Packs really work their way off?

I like the idea of my coil packs being firmly secured, if there is any benefit, but I don't have cash to waste!

Also, what do we think about these :-

http://www.ebay.co.u...#ht_1749wt_1163

Coil Packs guaranteed for life?!?! ............ do people believe these 'modified' jobbies are really going to last forever?

Cheers.

I used to use the Hitachi bolt down coil pack then went back to std push down coil packs, Since I had a free replacements from Skoda on the new versions. The previous "L" versions did suffer from popping upwards on my mapped car so i got these.

http://www.ecstuning.com/Volkswagen-Golf_IV--1.8T/Engine/Ignition/ES1303016/

can get them in different colours

[Liverpool-Lad]

Your my hero.

If you look at a mk 4 golf gti 1.8t for example there oem coil packs are a different design and already utilise bolts to hold them down. With all the coilpack issues on the 1.8t i think its a good idea to try keep them held down as much as possible

I have seen those style of coilpacks and I somehow had one on mine when I originally bought it. Some may have issues, but if you havent its not worth shelling out if its a non issue.

[chicken_eyebrow]

Never had an issue on my old one in the three years of owning it and that was still on the original packs from 2002. It was standard though. My mate had a coilpack keep popping up on his after it was remapped but just replaced the plugs with some brand new ones gapped correctly and tightened to the right torque and not had a problem since.

Nuriyan did a guide a couple of years ago on how to make your own coilpack hold-downs for a tenner with a bit of Halfords universal bracket and an old timing belt:

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/154321-diy-coil-pack-hold-downs/page__fromsearch__1

[Longyear]

Hey all,

Just brought this thread back from the dead, because of the following; this is just my experience, your mileage may vary, but with regards to whether these ECS Coil Hold-Downs are just snake oil or genuinely useful, here's my story of the last couple of days.

I have the ECS Coil Pack Hold Downs on my VRS but only on Coils 1-3 because as we know the Vaccum Box sits astride Coil Pack 4, blocking access to that coil. At the time, I couldn't be bothered to relocate my Vacuum Box, so I just fitted 3 of the coil pack hold-downs.

Two days ago, I started noticing an ignition-based stutter/cough when pulling away when the car was cold. At first I assumed it was probably SAI related, although the car has never done it before, not even in cold weather.

I plugged the diagnostics reader in and I had a "Cyl 4 Intermittant Misfire"...... now, my coil packs are brand new VAG less than a month old, so I was certainly hoping it wasn't another failed coil!

I took the engine cover off, and removed the three Coil Hold-Downs; when leaning down to look across the coils it was very, very clear to see that Coil No. 4 was sitting 6-7mm above the other three

I switched coils 3 & 4 (just to eliminate a coil failure as the cause) then re-secured all of the coils up, re-fitted the original three Coil Pack Hold-Downs, but also spent the afternoon relocating my Vacuum Box and then putting the 4th Coil Pack Hold-Down on.

Everything back in place, and took the car for a good long drive. No issues, running lovely. Plugged diagnostics back in; no more code for Cyl 4 (or any other cyl).

The next day (yesterday) I started the car from fully cold and drove straight off; no cough or stutter at all. Checked diagnostics twice yesterday and once this morning, no more codes at all.

So for me, these Coil Pack Hold-Downs absolutely 100% work and prevent coil packs from 'popping off' as was definitely happening on Cyl 4 in my (Stage 1 remapped) car.

Edited 3 July, 2012 by Longyear

[Guest BigJase88]

I had missfires now and again. Nothing terrible but on a stock car

Now remapped with these and no misfires!

The golf gti 1.8t have bolt down coil packs so why shouldnt the vrs have some sort of clamp, seems logical to me

[rk696]

IMO, the brackets only mask a problem, rather than solve it. The only reason I can see a plug coming loose is if it isn't torqued properly, or has hairline cracks in it. If it's properly in, no pressure should be able to escape. DON'T FLAME ME!!!!

If you're having problems with coils popping up, cut a slit out of the rubber seal on the coilpack so the pressure can escape.

Also, I don't like the idea of having the packs being held down with the tiny bolt on the ECS brackets. That's a very small surface area, and as the pressure builds up behind the pack, it will get pressed harder and harder into it, and possibly damaging the top of it.

[rk696]

Not all MK4 golfs had the bolt down packs. It was only the early 1.8t's and old Audis. Most have the pushdown ones like ours.

[Guest BigJase88]

IMO, the brackets only mask a problem, rather than solve it. The only reason I can see a plug coming loose is if it isn't torqued properly, or has hairline cracks in it. If it's properly in, no pressure should be able to escape. DON'T FLAME ME!!!!

If you're having problems with coils popping up, cut a slit out of the rubber seal on the coilpack so the pressure can escape.

Also, I don't like the idea of having the packs being held down with the tiny bolt on the ECS brackets. That's a very small surface area, and as the pressure builds up behind the pack, it will get pressed harder and harder into it, and possibly damaging the top of it.

The screws are plastic

[rk696]

Ahhh, I thought they were metal. Not a good idea when they're grounded to the block, and they touch a live part in the coilpack.

1st and 2nd point still stand though. :-)

[Longyear]

It's widely stated across a number of forums that the coil packs on remapped cars can lift, and there's nothing there to link it to other faults. My car was on VAG-COM yesterday and literally had nothing logged at all.

.....and I do appreciate your view rk969 but there's no way I'm cutting the rubber on 1 month old VAG coil packs!

...... As I see it, I had 1 coil pack lift off (Cyl 4; the only one that didn't have a hold-down on) once, and no other problems. I now have all 4 held down, so if there are no further issue, then I'll recommend these to anyone and everyone with a remapped AUQ.

As Jase said, the retainer screws are plastic, and obviously need to be set with care, to prevent damage to the top casing of the coils. The rest of the ECS Hold-Downs are very well engineered IMO, and the main hex screws secure firmly into the existing holes on the head. Happy days

Edited 4 July, 2012 by Longyear

[Bowders1]

IMO, the brackets only mask a problem, rather than solve it. The only reason I can see a plug coming loose is if it isn't torqued properly, or has hairline cracks in it. If it's properly in, no pressure should be able to escape. DON'T FLAME ME!!!!

If you're having problems with coils popping up, cut a slit out of the rubber seal on the coilpack so the pressure can escape.

Also, I don't like the idea of having the packs being held down with the tiny bolt on the ECS brackets. That's a very small surface area, and as the pressure builds up behind the pack, it will get pressed harder and harder into it, and possibly damaging the top of it.

Not a good idea spliting rubber buddy...

Not all MK4 golfs had the bolt down packs. It was only the early 1.8t's and old Audis. Most have the pushdown ones like ours.

true as most vehicle have the push down ones only (due to cost)

The screws are plastic

+1

Ahhh, I thought they were metal. Not a good idea when they're grounded to the block, and they touch a live part in the coilpack.

1st and 2nd point still stand though. :-)

Don't think point 1 and 2 completely stand there buddy, in theory agree with you but in practise a large number of cars have the stated problem, and proven to be fixed with said cheap hold downs.(well cheap if you buy in states like i did) i had said problem even with properly torqued down plugs. End of day no issue fitting and confidence of a fitted coil pack hold down stops the agro.and looks cool..

[theo_k]

does anyone know the size of the bolts?

[Guest BigJase88]

The metal cap screws? At a complete guess m5x20 will work

[Bowders1]

Think I have m5x20 in mine

[Guest BigJase88]

What a guess someone give me a medal