Do coils slowly die, or quickly die?

[JeffHicks]

^ Several years ago I grabbed half-dozen Volvo OEM coils from the U-Pull-It Salvage Yard. If I remember right, they were $5 each (or something similar). No warranty of course, but still one of the best "investments" I ever made! But now I need to go get some more.

[precopster]

Total coil replacements on non turbo car 2000 V70 in 50K miles: 2

Total coil replacements on turbo car 2002 XC70 in 12K miles: 2

Both cars had sudden failure though one of the four coils started as slight hiccups when cold.

Good advice from cn90

I've always had used spares to replace them with.

Good to hear that the Delphi option works well. That's a good saving over Bosch.

[JeffHicks]

^ On my '02 XC70, I had two coils fail - within a couple thousand mile period. Both of them just died - went from perfectly fine to dead. No in between.

[mecheng]

Isn't new technology great. Number of ignition coils (standalone with distributor) I've replaced on any car I've owned for the last 20 odd years = ZERO

Coil packs, too many to remember.

[cn90]

Every system has its own problems.
- Traditional single ignition coil (mounted away from engine ---> rarely goes bad) & Cap + Rotor. With this system: the spark has to jump the cap and rotor and as it gets old, the spark becomes less powerful. Most people owning 850 and 1998 S70 replace cap + rotor every 50K or so.

- Direct ignition coil: no cap + rotor to worry about but the coils sit on top of the engine. With time, heat damages it. The inexpensive solution: used coils from jy or ebay.

[mecheng]

Every system has its own problems.
- Traditional single ignition coil (mounted away from engine ---> rarely goes bad) & Cap + Rotor. With this system: the spark has to jump the cap and rotor and as it gets old, the spark becomes less powerful. Most people owning 850 and 1998 S70 replace cap + rotor every 50K or so.

- Direct ignition coil: no cap + rotor to worry about but the coils sit on top of the engine. With time, heat damages it. The inexpensive solution: used coils from jy or ebay.

When I bought my car, it had the original Bosch cap + rotor and the car had 220,000km. When I replaced it there was no increase in performance or fuel economy and the engine ran just as silky smooth. Theoretically the wear should affect these things but it really didn't That is one good thing Bosch makes.

They need to make the coils more robust, add better heat sinks. VW/Audi are nortorious for burning coils.

[sparky65]

One of my coils died last summer. I replaced it and the next day I had 2 more fail. I wasn't in the mood to screw around, so I changed the rest of them. As I was replacing the wire loom on the coil harness this winter, I found and repaired 6 wires where the insulation had cracked down to bare conductors. In my opinion, heat is what kills these coils and hardens the wire insulation. I'm thinking of just leaving the plastic cover off of my head to help keep the coils and wiring cooler. I hate leaving any covers off, it looks like crap, but I'd like to get more time out of my coils.

[mecheng]

One of my coils died last summer. I replaced it and the next day I had 2 more fail. I wasn't in the mood to screw around, so I changed the rest of them. As I was replacing the wire loom on the coil harness this winter, I found and repaired 6 wires where the insulation had cracked down to bare conductors. In my opinion, heat is what kills these coils and hardens the wire insulation. I'm thinking of just leaving the plastic cover off of my head to help keep the coils and wiring cooler. I hate leaving any covers off, it looks like crap, but I'd like to get more time out of my coils.

That's a good idea