dzywicki

I have been chasing periodic random misfires and finally chased it down to what seems like the connectors at the coil. The little plastic clips that ensure a secure connection seem to have long ago been broken by someone getting the connectors off the coils. I was getting a bunch of misfires on one of the cylinders. I checked everything and then finally wiggled the connector and really pushed it in tight. the misfires went away and then after I hit a bump it started again. Repeated the wiggling, pushing in tight and all was good agin.
Does anyone have any clever ideas on how to secure the coils to the connector? Both sides have the two phillips head screws to hold the connector harness, but that doesn't seem to be enough. I was thinking zip ties, but that would be a pain every time I need to remove the coils. I have seen the coil connector repair kits, but $27 each seems utterly ridiculous.

dzywicki

I had several more incidents of weird codes over the last few weeks. I was typically seeing misfires on #1 and #8 when it started misbehaving. Last week, I got a slew of weird codes, idlee too high, bank2 too lean. Every time, I would open the hood, wiggle the coil connectors and push them tight and the problem would go away. I finally had some time to try something today so I thought I's pass it on in case it was useful for anyone. I thought of a couple things, but wanted something that was easy to remove for maintenance. I went to homedepot and bought some industrial velcro with adhesive. I cut two pieces to fit on top of the #1 and #8 coils. I cleaned the coil tops with rubbing alcohol and then stuck on the velcro piece. I also bought some velcro tie wraps and looped it around the wiring harness plastic conduit. I pulled it tight and hooked it to the coil. The whole harness is really tight now. Hoping this takes care of the problem and the heat doesn't make the velcro loosen from the coil. Next step will probably be buying replacement clips so I don't need a solution like this. It doe snot seem to take much for the connections to loosen enough to cause problems. I cut the velcro strap shorter after I snapped the pics.

dzywicki

Partially worked. My problem moved from #1 and #8 to to #3. Ran great all day until I stopped at the grocery store. Went to start it up and had the really rough running again and then the check engine light came on. Plugged int he VAGCOM and read the codes. Misfire and implausible signal, no communication (Something like that) on #3. Jiggled the harness and all is good again. I'm done with this and looking for replacement connectors now. Just posting for future finders as the plastic gets brittle and people break those connectors.

dzywicki

Testing before the plastic conduit goes back on

Drivers side. I could not get the conduit all the way back together on cylinder 5.

Passengers side after it is all back together. Hard to tell what was done.
I ordered new connectors from Amazon( ) and installed them today. Not the easiest job in the job in the world. Took me a about 4 hours with 2 stops to home depot for electrical tape, a new soldering gun and some solder. The new connectors came with butt crimp connectors, but I soldered and used heat shrink tubing. The plastic conduit is probably impossible to get off without cracking it somewhere. Being plastic and sitting on top of the engine definitely makes it brittle. Once I got the conduit off, then it was cutting the wires and soldering the connections. I did a test run to make sure all my wiring was correct and then fit the conduit back together. The drivers side was much harder with the coolant expansion tank in the way. In the end, it would have been much easier if I disconnected the expansion tank more and got it further out of the way.
Even with the new connectors, you really have to press those onto the coil and make sure they are snug. Went for a test drive after I was all done and it felt great.