Pkuhns

My 96 Cab (2.8L V6) was acting weird: sluggish from a stop light, herky-jerky, loss o' power.

A buddy said it was probably the O2 sensors giving out, which has happened before.

I took her in and the OBC said cylinders 1 & 6 were misfiring. Lo and behold spark plugs for 1 & 6 are connected to the same coil. The plugs looked bad so we replaced those with Bosch triple-head plugs (the same that were on there), and new wiring.

But we didn't replace the coil because the fix-it place told me "Buy this coil online. Don't buy it from us." Their quote was $521! I see online that you can buy a coil for a LOT less on Ebay:

http://tinyurl.com/89ay37z

Okay finally the question (sorry about the drawn out climax): is there a type / brand you'd buy vs any that you feel are crap? I just wonder if some of these coils are crap while others are high quality? I see a few names here: Beck/Arnley, IMC, Standard Motor Products (SMP).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Loudgoldwing

This listing is for the entire set of three. My philosophy re all things automotive electrical is: If there are two pieces on the car that do the exact same thing, and one dies... the other one is set to fail shortly as well.

For $75 new, I'd say it's worth it.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/UF376-Igniti...item3cbaa6aab3

1993audi90

NGK BKUR6ET-10 plugs are what the car calls for. Not Bosch Platinum. Bosch Platinum are the first thing I chuck in the trash bin when working on a 12V 2.8
That said, you appear to be on the right track to correcting the immediate problem.

egp320i

BERU is the OEM coil and it would be the only one I would trust, all the others could be/will be junk or simply inferior but the choice is yours.
You could also source a low mile OEM from a junkyard, this is not a high failure item.

A new Beru online, best price is $206
078905101A
gowestyautoparts.com/OEM/oemSearch.aspx?search=078905101A

NGK BKUR6ET-10 are recommended but so are the triple prong Bosch copper.
Platinum plugs are not recommended.

I have used Bosch triple for the past 10 years without issue, they were discontinued for a duel prong which I have installed now in two 2.8L engines without any issue.

Spark Plug; Yttrium; Dual Electrode
OE Plug; Enhanced yttrium version. Updated version for original OE plugs F7LDCR, F7LTCR, and FR7LDC. Pregapped for normal usage.

Pkuhns

Thank you egp320i, 1993audi90, and LoudGoldWing for advice. Much appreciated.

I ordered a Beru coil and a Beru 'ignition control unit' from AutoHausAZ, which an Audi buddy recommended:


http://tinyurl.com/7c6ja4u

http://tinyurl.com/73epwzl

My buddy recommended I purchase an ignition control unit (an 'ignitor' as he termed it) too. He said they burn out. I will post again to report whether this fix worked. I surely hope so!

1993audi90

I seem to recall reading when the ignitor went, it affected all the cylinders, not just two. Can anyone else chime in on that?
The Bosch Copper/Silver et al. should be just dandy in the car--I won't disagree with egp320i--just Steer clear of the Bosch platinum triple prong. My BMWs do very well on the Bosch Silvers. I simply use the NGKs in my Audis as they work very well on 87 octane.

Lago Blue

It may be that the coil failed due to the route the factory chose (the Valley of Pan) for the original low-tension wiring to take from the POS (ICU/ICM) to the coils. You can check the others and prevent this from re-occurring during coil replacement following the below idea.

See Moribund's original post here:

https://www.audiworld.com/forums/sho...n+coil+failure

See his coil low-tension wires photo here:

https://www.audiworld.com/forums/alb...0&ref=gnr-prev

The POS or ICU/ICM (photo below) is a known failure item which I carry an extra of on board as a spare. I haven't needed it yet, but have read that it can effect all cylinders at once when it fails, however I've also heard of individual channels failing too on the turbo 5-cylinder cars, good question. Would that mean that only some cylinders are effected?

http://www.autohausaz.com/secure/Par.../4A0905351.jpg

I use the same NGK Iridium plug on both the Coupe 20v & 90CSq 12v with good results . See at link:

https://www.audiworld.com/forums/sho...72&postcount=8

egp320i

The wiring for the coil is tricky the way it goes under the IM. Removing is not the issue but if you replace the coil if you wanted to go the same route you might have to snake some wire to pull the loom through under the IM.

I can't really see where else you could route it, you certainly don't want it close to the block or touching any serious heat source.


As for plugs off the topic when I had my BMW I used Bosch silver tipped plugs, I was not aware they still made them as platinum ceded that #.

Silver is one of the best conductors of electricity only bested by gold which of course is way too soft for use in an electrode.

Good choice with the Beru, when in doubt and peace of mind go with the original OEM, save yourself the headache especially with electrical items.

1993audi90

I've been very lucky I suppose, a coil/ignitor failure has eluded me in over 200,000 miles on several B4s. Now that I've said that, however, one or the other will fail. Soon. The Audi gods don't like arrogance.
That coil is a fairly common item, I've pulled spares from various 2.8 motors--even an A6, wagon, 100, I assume they all use the same one. Once you pull yours off, you can do ohm testing to isolate if one of the coils is faulty? You may even check wiring, grounds in the harness to see if anything odd is obvious. Again, it would have to be something specific to the plugs you have that aren't firing. Something at the firewall would affect the works. That would be my guess.

As to plugs, nope, I don't think Bosch makes the silvers or coppers for my e-21 or e-30s. I have a stash. lol. I still haunt E-bay--every now and again you see a couple here or there...oh what we have to go through with these old cars.

egp320i

I miss my E21, it was a blast to drive and learn on. The M10 engine although not very powerful is bulletproof and can rev sky high.
I must be lucky because the coil in my 90 and A6 are just fine and dandy, both have around 135K on them.
Talking to a 35+ year audi master mechanic he noted the coils are extremely hardly and he has not had to replace many over the years.

Course if the wiring coating gets fried off and it's touching metal then you will have issues but it's not the coil per say but the route of the loom.