Ignition Problems of Volkswagen GTI

On the morning of 27 April 2007, I started my 2001 Volkswagen Gti 1. 8t. The vehicle was idling very rough and did not sound normal. I thought that it was because the vehicle was cold. At this point it backed out of my driveway and drove down the road. Approximately a mile or two down the road I came to a stop sign and after stopping and then proceeding through the intersection my vehicle seemed like it had little or no power to the engine. At this point my check engine light started flashing so I immediately pulled of to the side of the road and shut off my engine. I then opened my hood and smoke poured out of the engine compartment. At this point I checked my oil to see it it smelt burnt which it did not. I then checked my coolant level and it was full and wasn't even warm. I then had my vehicle towed to my mechanic and he diagnosed my vehicle and told me that 1 of the 4 coils in my engine had stopped working and had caught on fire and that's what had caused the smoke and the check engine light. He also said the all four need to be replaced or this could happen again. At this point all four coils were replaced and the old ones were given to me to keep as proof that the parts were defective.

See all problems of the 2001 Volkswagen GTI 🔎.

I have been enjoying my 2007 Gti but there is one feature that I think is dangerous and inconvenient and request you change on future models. If the vehicle stals, I find that I must turn the key completely off before I can restart it. When I stall it on rare occasions, it puts me in a dangerous situation where time is of the essence. Your feature 1. Requires extra time. 2. It is illogical. The first time it happened it took me at least 20 seconds to restart the vehicle since I had to figure our this feature. During this time I was sitting in the middle of traffic! 3. I loose other vehicle functions such as power steering when I have to turn the key off. (the vehicle could still be moving). As a result it increases the drivers danger in these situations. Please change the electronics so that the car can be restarted by simply turning the ignition to the on position.

See all problems of the 2007 Volkswagen GTI 🔎.

Engine misfires on damp mornings creating sudden loss of acceleration and intermittent stall condition. Mil light may flash but doesn't remain lit after episode. Diagnosed as second coil failure in just 2 years totaling over $1,200 in repairs. This is the vr6 engine with a single coil unit - the "good" coil not subject to Volkswagen's secret warranty as offered on coils of other 2001 models and on the 2002 model of the vr6. It would seem the secret warranty may have been arbitrarily limited in scope.

Bumped a curb and side impact air bags deployed. No physical damage to vehicle other than scraped wheels and deployed air bags. Engine no longer starts on first key turn. Taken to insurer recommended shop to have airbags and all related components replaced. Engine still not starting on first key turn.

See all problems of the 2004 Volkswagen GTI 🔎.

Engine running rough, possible coil pack in ignition failure.

See all problems of the 2002 Volkswagen GTI 🔎.

Had a coil pack failure causing car to stall and decrease in power which almost caused an accident while driving through an intersection. Vw should issue a recall with this problem.

I have a 2002 Volkswagen Gti 1. 8t with 4700 miles at the time of this common coil pack failure. I was on my way to work when I was making a left turn at a busy intersection. One of my coil packs went while turning onto main road and causing my car to sputter and lose power. On coming traffic had slam on their brakes to avoid hitting me. Thankfully an accident was averted. This is a safety issue. These coil packs are failing at epidemic levels. Major newspapers are doing articles on this problem. My car had to be towed while I waited in freezing temperatures and I missed work. Vw will only replace bad coil packs as they fail and my dealer admits that it will happen again. They replaced the bad coil pack but I still have 3 that are going to fail at some point. Can you imagine living with this in your mind? please do something about this because it is a dangerous situation.

Coilpacks are prone to failure, causing the car to violently lose power. Also having an issue where the car is trying to start itself again with the clutch depressed.

Engine coil failure. Car lost power and was only running on 3 of 4 cylinders.

Coilpack failures are a safety issue. Is volkswagon waiting for someone to die until they recall this? while your at it, fix my windows that are going to break soon too.

Vw policy on there defective coil packs is to replace the broken coil with a new one and send the driver back on the road with 3 defective coils just waiting to leave them stranded. I am pushing for a recall do to the safety concerns of the near absolute failure of the defective "h" coils and possible collisions with other vechicles.

Car was running rough, smelled bad, and was considered un-drivable by my dealer. Vw towed the car in. In about 30 minutes, my dealer informed me that one coil pack had failed and they would have to order the part. I asked if they could just replace all 6 of the coil packs as there seems to be a history of them failing. Dealer said vw would not approve such a preventative maintenance action. They also told me the part was on a national backorder and they did not know when they would receive it. I was provided $25/day for a rental car. I'm not too upset with the handling of this one incident, but I'm very concerned that there are arguably 5 other 'time bombs' in my car waiting to fail and leave me stranded in a much less convienent manner than this first failure. With such a high number of coil pack failures in vw's line [both the 1. 8turbo and the vr6], I wish vw would issue a recall once the part supply is available. This problem along with a chronic warm-start stalling issues has resulted in me not being able to recommend vw to my pals.

Had two coils go out on my 2002 Gti 1. 8t as I was leaving my house. Car lost all power and was un driveable. Had to be towed to the dealer. Only the two failed coils were replaced leaving me to worry about when and where the others will fail causing my car to become once again un drivable.

I have a 2002. 5 Volkswagen Gti 1. 8t with a 4-cylinder turbocharged engine. All vw engine ignition systems are affected. The coil or coilpack fails due to poor manufacture or design. In some cases multiple cylinders will loose power. I lost cylinder #1 when accelerating away from an intersection. I lost cylinder #2 while attempting to merge with traffic on surface streets. In both cases the significant lose of horsepower could have caused me to remain in an intersection longer than expected and cause an accident. Vw is currently replacing failed coils free of charge and providing rental cars when a replacement cannot be performed immediately. However, vw will not replace all coils, just those that fail. This leaves the others to fail and potentially cause accidents. I must drive with the knowledge that I could lose power from one or more cylinders at any time. This is especially dangerous at highway speeds and heavy traffic or when crossing any intersection where cross-traffic has the right-of-way.

Vw 1. 8t coil pack failures are one of the most common problems with these cars today. If a coil goes out you are not running on all of your cylinders and could cause a problem while driving. Ts.

Coil pack went out on my vw Gti 1. 8t part on national backorder quoted 2+ weeks with rental car.

While traveling the highway the vehicle will shut down with out prior warning. Please provide additional information dealer is aware of the problem. Ts.

Multiple coilpack problems. 3 out of 4 failed in less than one year of ownership. One coilpack fell apart in my hand as I replaced it with an aftermarket part. I purchased aftermarket replacements because dealer was unable to get the part due to overwhelming failures. They had 25 cars on the lot that were undriveable.

2002 Volkswagen Gti 1. 8t VIN #9bwde61j824005932 issue: coil pack replace at 19k miles mild weather, 60 degrees. Started fine in morning. Cel at 3:30pm, engine sounded awful. Vw of America towed to alexandria vw for repair.

Multiple coilpack failures on 2002 vw Gti 1. 8t. Dealer refused waranty service claiming aftermarket spark plugs being the cause of the part failure. Car had 2 incidents of coilpack failures prior to the installation of aftermarket spark plugs. Total of 3 failures within the first 8 months of owning the car. (*** the incident date listed below is inaccurate due to having multiple failures on different dates***).

Part failure on my 2002 vw Gti. Coilpacks fail and cause car to lose major loss of power and reliability. Undriveable. Almost caused a accident when passing a large truck. This has happened twice.

I was driving my company car (golf Gti 1. 8t - mi license vvd 493) along 86th street in indianapolis, in on Saturday 25th may 2002 with mr dario rossi (sales manager of magneti marelli motorsports) sitting in the passenger seat; when crossing ditch rd at about 20 mph I hit a pothole that was not signaled with the right front wheel and the two side airbags on the passenger's side went off (from the passenger seat and from the roof), hitting mr. Rossi. Also the ignition cut off and shut down the engine.

While driving about any mph rpm will go over 1500 and engine will die without a prior warning. Had taken vehicle to shop, and they said it was coil pack that was malfunctioning.

See all problems of the 1999 Volkswagen GTI 🔎.

Electicalcomponents keep going, now sun roof won't close.

See all problems of the 1996 Volkswagen GTI 🔎.

It is impossible to operate the ignition in a panic situation because of all the interlocks. The access to the switch is also blocked by the air bag. This stupid arangement almost caused me an accident when the engine quit in the middle of an intersection.

See all problems of the 1997 Volkswagen GTI 🔎.