Coil Pack Failure

[Rhet]

After having intermittant spark failure (Error Code P0301) on my '99 996 after heavy rain storms, I decided to replace the offending coil pack and check the plug. The problem only came up if the car was sitting outside and was cold during the rain storm. The spark problem went away once the engine bay had dried out.

After pulling the old coil pack I noticed a few hairline cracks in the case. It is my opinion that during the heavy storm events the water caused the coil to misfire either by moisture entering the unit itself or causing the discharge of energy to travel along the wet cracks instead of down to the spark plug.

Just an FYI incase anyone else is experiencing this.

[carDorque]

This was a common occurrence on some Volkwagen engines of '99 on, particularly of the 12v VR6 engine that went into Jettas and GTIs. It was a common solution to use JB Weld to seal it back up, and this apparently worked very well for many people.

You can find info on this at www.vwvortex.com in the VR6 12v section if you search for coil pack.

I can't say that I know of anybody doing this on our coilpacks, but I am new here. And if it were me, I would definitely try this before buying a new coilpack.

If you haven't used JBWeld before, don't be intimidated. It's fun and easy.

[carDorque]

Here's one writeup I found:

http://www.gti-vr6.net/library/engine/fixi...oiled_pack.html