So as I'm sure many have, doing my plugs & valve cover gasket yesterday and today, I had to face what I already knew was a problem - torched coil wires.

After trying to pretend that everything works fine still so maybe it'd be OK to ignore a bit longer I sucked it up and bit off the enchilada and tore down the coil packs.

It's now evident to me that FPO was wrestling with some misfire problem (more on that some other time). On #5, there is a new coil, new POS (aka 4 & 5), new spark plug connector, and evidence of multiple crappy re-wiring attempts at a fix. Basically the stock wires are so torched and cracked, and the attempted repair jobs so shizzy, it's amazing the thing ran as well as it did.

OK here's the fun pix. I can't make this clear enough - these pictures do NOT do justice to how fugly the mess of massively electrical-taped crap was:




I re-did all 5 coils with premium high-temp 200c teflon wiring (unfortunately my go-to local source only had 1 color for 200c wire, but careful triple-checking ensured no wiring f-ups). Lots of high quality double-wall adhesive shrink tubing, not only for the splices but again over each of the 4 bundles for added insulation and mechanical reinforcement,

Also highly recommended for anybody considering this, I injected high-temp silicone into the ends at the coil to seal where the 2 wires go into the unit. this seems an especially common place for the wiring to crack and get exposed and potentially short out and/or corrode. You can see the silicone a bit overzealously applied on the #3 and #5 below (I'll probably trim those down once it cures). It should also help mechanically stablize the wires as well though, since I shot it inside the open end of the heat-shrink and then ensured it bonded right up to the coil body.





Only dismal parts were:
One, that I couldn't get the fiberglass sheathing that I wanted to wrap the bundles tidily and offer additional heat insulation, and

Two, with the teflon wire only available in bright red, and the larger heat shrink for each bundle only in purple, so, yes it's absolutely and completely hideous to look at. Some ricer type would probably pay for this look, but at least the functionality is high-grade - this teflon VW-1 rated wire won't burn or melt at extreme temps.

JC
Andover MA / Shanghai PRC

Quattro Season



---- current ----
1995.5 S6 Avant
-- past lives --
2006 A4 2.0TQA
1998 A6Q 2.8 PES G2
1989 200TQA SJM
1990 CQ
1997 A4 1.8TQ Wett
1987 4kCSQ