I think the new ones (L) are

The new ones ("L" variant) are indeed

When these things fail what is it like?

I drove to work this morning at 50 mph in the slow lane, the "engine light" blinking as soon as a looked at the accelerator, not a lot off power, and what there was it was very lumpy!

That sounds like coilpack to me, it will slowly get worse till its more or less impossible to drive at even 30mph. Funny thing is if you sit stationary and rev the nuts off it, it all seems ok till you try to drive anywhere.

Podwin, get it sorted asap. You shouldn't drive the car with a faulty coil pack since you could do expensive damage to the catalytic converter.

Thanks, I was thinking about the cat, unburnt fuel right?

That is why the light that looks like an engine keep flashing probably

I had to drive it home, so I have done a total of 26 miles with it like this, do you think the cat will be ok?

I have booked it into the Skoda dealer for Thursday, the earliest they could give me, so I still have to drive it there.

If the cat is damaged, what do you think the warranty situation would be?

Cheers

Originally posted by DGW in this post

Podwin, get it sorted asap. You shouldn't drive the car with a faulty coil pack since you could do expensive damage to the catalytic converter.

not so denis the engine is very clever and will spot the misfire and shut of the fuel to that cylinder

After a few e:mails, last week I eventually got the Irish customer services to give me the go ahead to get 4 coil packs replaced under warranty, so I rang the dealer and he went ahead and got him to order them in. I asked the service guy what part number they would be getting, he asked why and I explained to him that D, G & H were bad and J or L were supposed to be good, he said he didn't know and that I was reading too much.

Great, I got a result,

BUT,

(theres always a but)

On a frosty Friday morning I went to move the car, I hadn't been using it for a few days. I started it up it didn't feel right at all. I took it down the road and it was down on power and every so often the Engine light would come on and start flashing and go off again, add to that the smell out of the catalytic converter. I parked it up and rang the dealer. When he rang me back he told me to start it up and tell him what it was doing, I had the door open at the time and the stink of petrol was really bad. He told me he couldn't send someone out to me and it would have to be brought in. I told him I wan't driving with such a stick of petrol and the smell of the CAT, it couldn't be good for the car. It turned out he had received my 4 new coil packs.

To cut a long story short my car took the senic route to the dealers, on the back of a tow truck. That does great things for Skoda's image.

Anyway after a short time I was back on the road home to enjoy the bank holiday weekend.

The thing is this could have been so much worse if I had gone down the country for the weekend or drove to a pub/nite club and it failed, you need to have some sort of faith in your car.

After being told by the dealer and customer services that there wouldn't be an issue with my coils packs, as they would have went by now on a 2.5 year old car, gives me great satisfaction to say I was right to keep at them about it.

Thanks to everyone on this site for the valuable information that we have received on this issue.

Originally posted by big k in this post

not so denis the engine is very clever and will spot the misfire and shut of the fuel to that cylinder

big k,

Thats what my dealer told my but why was there such a bad smell out of the CAT the first time I had it running (see my previous post) and a smell of unburnt fuel the second time, surely that can't be good for the CAT.

When I lost my 1st one I drove around 65 miles between different dealers trying to source a coilpack before a fellow member here came to the rescue. Cat was still ok, it will throw a check engine light and fault code that says the cat is not working efficently if the cat was broke.

When the 2nd went I got that rotten egg smell, I put that down to the fact the car was cold and because the cat was not working efficently. Once the cat and engine had warmed there was no more smell. only drove it 5 miles that time though.

K, I agree that the ECU should cut fuel to the faulty cylinder but members here and on other forums have reported the smell of unburnt fuel plus a bad smell from the catalytic converter when a coil pack fails. But I stand by my advice that the catalytic converter could be damaged. Indeed, the Owner's Manual contains this warning which is highly relevant:

"If misfiring, a loss of power and rough engine running occur when driving, this may be caused by a fault in the ignition system. In this case, uncombusted fuel can get into the exhaust system and thus pass to the atmosphere. In addition, the catalytic converter may be damaged as a result of overheating. Reduce your speed immediately and have the fault rectified at the nearest Skoda Dealer."

indeed but if coil pack damages cat then skoda pay for new cat!

Originally posted by big k in this post

indeed but if coil pack damages cat then skoda pay for new cat!

How much abuse could the cat take, take my case for example during the short period I had mine running, would the bad smell I got from the cat and the smell of unburnt fuel be enough for the cat to fail or would the damage it sustained mean that it would fail prematurely in the future.

I suppose it depend on how far it is driven in that state. Only for the information I got from this site and the bad smell I would have probably listened to my dealer and drove it the 30 miles. It couldn't be good to drive it like that.

It was hard enough trying to get coil packs, never mind trying to get a new cat.

I didn't notice a bad smell from the catalytic converter when my coilpack went the other day

Originally posted by big k in this post

indeed but if coil pack damages cat then skoda pay for new cat!

Don't Skoda have that wonderful get out clause, as used by other manufacturers, relating to "consequential damage"? eg if you water pump fails, the cambelt jumps and you bend all 20 valves, they only pay for the part that failed, namely the water pump.

Originally posted by TaviaRS in this post

Don't Skoda have that wonderful get out clause, as used by other manufacturers, relating to "consequential damage"? eg if you water pump fails, the cambelt jumps and you bend all 20 valves, they only pay for the part that failed, namely the water pump.

in the case you just stated they will pay for the lot.

I heard, from my dealer, and it could be incorrect....

That with a coil pack fault, it *will* kill the fuel to that cyl, but it will try occasionally to see if it can get it back.

Just what "occasionally" is I do not know - ign reset? I drove mine 14miles and they gave me a courtesy car, coil was replaced following day.

I keep a handful of spares now.

We don't recommend you drive the car for any time on just 3 cylinders.

Originally posted by LadyLoki in this post

We don't recommend you drive the car for any time on just 3 cylinders.

thats right niki but sometimes its unavoidable so if coil pack fails and damages cat then skoda warranty will pay for a new cat.

I am driving my car to the garage tomorrow morning, though I called to ask if I should be driving it all. They just didn't seem to understand my concern, so I am still driving it in, though I'm not looking forward to it because it is such a terrible drive!

Do some of you carry spare coils? I am tempted to do this, I presume I can only get them from a Skoda garage parts department.

I may mark them in some way so I can tell if they have replaced all or just the one.

Thanks for all your input.

You can get spare coil packs from any VAG dealer (Skoda, VW, Seat, Audi), it's the same part number - 06B 905 115x, where x is the version letter - "G" and "H" are the old dodgy ones, "J" seem to be OK, and "L" is the latest.

Current cost (for an "L" variant) is

Read this article, then look at the date.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2727361.stm

What recall ?? :confused:

Originally posted by DaveU in this post

I didn't notice a bad smell from the catalytic converter when my coilpack went the other day

Yap, noticed the same thing myself.

Des

Originally posted by MonkeyHanger in this post

Read this article, then look at the date.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2727361.stm

What recall ?? :confused:

Why aren't we told then?

Do they not bother about Skoda owners because they reckon we get good value and will put up with it. I bet Audi owners were contacted. My car has been off the road for 2 days, which is not what I wanted since my last car went bang on the driveway one morning!

Anyway, I'm back on the road again Coil pack 4 had gone, but they replaced all of them, topped up the oil and fixed the rattling back seat.

Though I miss the Fabia auto courtesy car, my Octavia feels like a tank after that:(

dont think audi customers have been told we just seem to be doing them on services.

but i think most of them if they are going to break have done. we havent had a car recovered with a coil fault for nerly 2 months. at one point it was about 5 a week