Ignition Coil Troubleshooting VW 2.0L Golf Cabrio

How to diagnose a failed ignition coil on an ABA 2.0L Volkswagen VW Golf Cabrio. These cars are infamous for failing ignition coils. This is how you troubleshoot this one. There are other ways such as measuring resistance of the primary and secondary coils, but the problem on this one is usually a cracked body.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• VW
• Volkswagen
• Golf
• Cabrio
• ABA
• 2.0L
• Engine
• Ignition
• Coil
• Spark
• Plug
• troubleshooting
• testing
• bearing01

[NokturnalCelt]

p.s., We get a lot of damp here in Scotland (Well you'd probably guess that) would you suggest that I cover the area with a blanket at night? I already do this with the battery.

[bearing01]

@NokturnalCelt You should not need to if the insulation on the electronics are not compromised. I used to live in a very wet place also and we never covered anything inside the engine. /John

[NokturnalCelt]

Thanks so much for uploading. I've had the same problem with mine (Golf MKIII SE) but I was seeing sparks even without the water. Ordered new Ignition Coil on the strenght of your video - A true gent and very helpful.

[bearing01]

@NokturnalCelt You're welcome. Thanks for commenting. /John

[bmanscire]

Thank you so much for uploading this! Very grateful

[bearing01]

@bmanscire You're welcome. /John

[NokturnalCelt]

@bearing01 OK John Thanks for the advice.

[bearing01]

@GrantSchenker Another common problem is a dirty throttle plate. Remove your intake air breather hose and open the throttle plate. Use that alcohol and a tooth brush and remove all the black dirt/gunk from the throttle plate and throttle bore walls. When you start the car the idle rpm will be very high for a while. That's okay. The computer needs to re-learn (throttle adaptation) the throttle plate settings now that it can breath more air at idle. After a day things should be normal /John

[bearing01]

@GrantSchenker To clean the mass air-flow sensor, it is the black tube with wire plug that's connected downstream of your air filter box. Remove it. Fill a big ziploc bag with 90% alcohol (get at drugstore) and put the MAF sensor into the bag. Swish the alcohol around through the sensor for a little while. Remove it and let it sit and air-dry overnight. Reinstall it and give-er a try.

[bearing01]

@GrantSchenker Thanks. Good luck. You can troubleshoot ignition wires the same way as the coil (spray bottle). If you have bad wires then going up a steep hill with heavy load on the engine (put engine in 4th or 5th gear and put gas pedal to the floor) and under heavy engine load the engine will studder and misfire. Also make sure your distributor cap & rotor are good (see my VW timing belt video) and try cleaning the mass airflow sensor. /John