Coil Failure and Mini-Rant
09-07-2012, 06:16 PM
#1
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
Coil Failure and Mini-Rant
It seems that todays cars with individual coil packs for firing each cylinder see a (fair amount) of coil failures when compared to the (good?) old days of a single coil and distributor.
No need to go into the reasoning why, but just as a fyi to the 987 community, I recently experienced a coil failure on my 2011 Spyder at ~20K miles.
The failure was intermittent, first occurrence was cruising the highway at about 70 mph, warm car - about 75 minutes into a 1.5 hour trip - when I felt a change in engine tone/balance and quickly had a blinking Check Engine come up on the gauges. I signaled and pulled to the shoulder, but before I even rolled to a stop, the light cleared, engine performance went back to "Normal", and I simply accelerated (safely) back onto the highway.
I parked the car and didn't drive again for about 3 days. Ran to the store (~ 7 miles 1-way..... I love the rural life!) and was about 2 miles from home on my return, doing about, shall we say 60-ish, on the rural back-roads when it happened again. Didn't clear right away as before, so I "limped" the car home. Obviously running on < 6 cylinders - my quick diagnosis was a bad coil. Went out-of-town for 5 days.
Once back called PCNA to arrange for the tow to the Dealer. Moved car out of garage and to top of driveway for the flatbed - car ran fine with no issues. Took 4+ hours for the tow to show (ugh).
Dealer got car on Tuesday the 28th. Promised a call on the 29th with details. Nada. Called myself at end-of-day on the 30th - "Bad coil" they told me. Really?
Problem is that PCNA does not have a coil for a 987 DI engine in stock on the West Coast (Ontario, CA warehouse) and is has to come from Atlanta. WON'T BE IN UNTIL TUESDAY??? Really??? I figured problem was diagnosed on Wed., order part, ship Thursday, install & test and car back to me on Friday - BUT NOoooo! Turns out that FedEx dropped the coil at the Dealership on Wednesday this week (even later than thought). PCNA using FedEx Snail?? Gotta wonder when a (relatively) inexpensive, small part is not stocked in the Western US (where not a small percentage of US Porsches reside) and then it takes almost a week to get said part from the East to the West (is FedEx Air/2nd Day that expensive that it's cutting into Porsche's margins)?? Gotta wonder where the cross-over point is for warranty cost versus customer (dis)satisfaction with having their car laid-up for > 1 week for a (minor) repair.
Anyways, car is back. While they had the car they did the clutch switch (replacement) campaign. Driving home yesterday on Highway 1, top off, warm pre-fall day (even had sun by the coast!).... all is better.
Moral of the story..... be aware that coil failure can happen at any time..... and that the Porsche Parts availability in the US tends to defy understanding and can lead to some longer-than-expected repair times.
No need to go into the reasoning why, but just as a fyi to the 987 community, I recently experienced a coil failure on my 2011 Spyder at ~20K miles.
The failure was intermittent, first occurrence was cruising the highway at about 70 mph, warm car - about 75 minutes into a 1.5 hour trip - when I felt a change in engine tone/balance and quickly had a blinking Check Engine come up on the gauges. I signaled and pulled to the shoulder, but before I even rolled to a stop, the light cleared, engine performance went back to "Normal", and I simply accelerated (safely) back onto the highway.
I parked the car and didn't drive again for about 3 days. Ran to the store (~ 7 miles 1-way..... I love the rural life!) and was about 2 miles from home on my return, doing about, shall we say 60-ish, on the rural back-roads when it happened again. Didn't clear right away as before, so I "limped" the car home. Obviously running on < 6 cylinders - my quick diagnosis was a bad coil. Went out-of-town for 5 days.
Once back called PCNA to arrange for the tow to the Dealer. Moved car out of garage and to top of driveway for the flatbed - car ran fine with no issues. Took 4+ hours for the tow to show (ugh).
Dealer got car on Tuesday the 28th. Promised a call on the 29th with details. Nada. Called myself at end-of-day on the 30th - "Bad coil" they told me. Really?
Problem is that PCNA does not have a coil for a 987 DI engine in stock on the West Coast (Ontario, CA warehouse) and is has to come from Atlanta. WON'T BE IN UNTIL TUESDAY??? Really??? I figured problem was diagnosed on Wed., order part, ship Thursday, install & test and car back to me on Friday - BUT NOoooo! Turns out that FedEx dropped the coil at the Dealership on Wednesday this week (even later than thought). PCNA using FedEx Snail?? Gotta wonder when a (relatively) inexpensive, small part is not stocked in the Western US (where not a small percentage of US Porsches reside) and then it takes almost a week to get said part from the East to the West (is FedEx Air/2nd Day that expensive that it's cutting into Porsche's margins)?? Gotta wonder where the cross-over point is for warranty cost versus customer (dis)satisfaction with having their car laid-up for > 1 week for a (minor) repair.
Anyways, car is back. While they had the car they did the clutch switch (replacement) campaign. Driving home yesterday on Highway 1, top off, warm pre-fall day (even had sun by the coast!).... all is better.
Moral of the story..... be aware that coil failure can happen at any time..... and that the Porsche Parts availability in the US tends to defy understanding and can lead to some longer-than-expected repair times.
09-07-2012, 06:37 PM
#2
Addict
Rennlist Member
Rennlist Member
Steve thank you for the heads up on the coil issue.
I also experienced a parts issue when one of my light assemblies needed to be replaced. The dealer had to order the part from Germany and it took nearly 3 weeks! Meanwhile my car wouldn't pass inspection and I couldn't drive it for fear of getting a ticket!
I also experienced a parts issue when one of my light assemblies needed to be replaced. The dealer had to order the part from Germany and it took nearly 3 weeks! Meanwhile my car wouldn't pass inspection and I couldn't drive it for fear of getting a ticket!
09-07-2012, 07:55 PM
#3
Race Director
It seems that todays cars with individual coil packs for firing each cylinder see a (fair amount) of coil failures when compared to the (good?) old days of a single coil and distributor.
No need to go into the reasoning why, but just as a fyi to the 987 community, I recently experienced a coil failure on my 2011 Spyder at ~20K miles.
The failure was intermittent, first occurrence was cruising the highway at about 70 mph, warm car - about 75 minutes into a 1.5 hour trip - when I felt a change in engine tone/balance and quickly had a blinking Check Engine come up on the gauges. I signaled and pulled to the shoulder, but before I even rolled to a stop, the light cleared, engine performance went back to "Normal", and I simply accelerated (safely) back onto the highway.
I parked the car and didn't drive again for about 3 days. Ran to the store (~ 7 miles 1-way..... I love the rural life!) and was about 2 miles from home on my return, doing about, shall we say 60-ish, on the rural back-roads when it happened again. Didn't clear right away as before, so I "limped" the car home. Obviously running on < 6 cylinders - my quick diagnosis was a bad coil. Went out-of-town for 5 days.
Once back called PCNA to arrange for the tow to the Dealer. Moved car out of garage and to top of driveway for the flatbed - car ran fine with no issues. Took 4+ hours for the tow to show (ugh).
Dealer got car on Tuesday the 28th. Promised a call on the 29th with details. Nada. Called myself at end-of-day on the 30th - "Bad coil" they told me. Really?
Problem is that PCNA does not have a coil for a 987 DI engine in stock on the West Coast (Ontario, CA warehouse) and is has to come from Atlanta. WON'T BE IN UNTIL TUESDAY??? Really??? I figured problem was diagnosed on Wed., order part, ship Thursday, install & test and car back to me on Friday - BUT NOoooo! Turns out that FedEx dropped the coil at the Dealership on Wednesday this week (even later than thought). PCNA using FedEx Snail?? Gotta wonder when a (relatively) inexpensive, small part is not stocked in the Western US (where not a small percentage of US Porsches reside) and then it takes almost a week to get said part from the East to the West (is FedEx Air/2nd Day that expensive that it's cutting into Porsche's margins)?? Gotta wonder where the cross-over point is for warranty cost versus customer (dis)satisfaction with having their car laid-up for > 1 week for a (minor) repair.
Anyways, car is back. While they had the car they did the clutch switch (replacement) campaign. Driving home yesterday on Highway 1, top off, warm pre-fall day (even had sun by the coast!).... all is better.
Moral of the story..... be aware that coil failure can happen at any time..... and that the Porsche Parts availability in the US tends to defy understanding and can lead to some longer-than-expected repair times.
No need to go into the reasoning why, but just as a fyi to the 987 community, I recently experienced a coil failure on my 2011 Spyder at ~20K miles.
The failure was intermittent, first occurrence was cruising the highway at about 70 mph, warm car - about 75 minutes into a 1.5 hour trip - when I felt a change in engine tone/balance and quickly had a blinking Check Engine come up on the gauges. I signaled and pulled to the shoulder, but before I even rolled to a stop, the light cleared, engine performance went back to "Normal", and I simply accelerated (safely) back onto the highway.
I parked the car and didn't drive again for about 3 days. Ran to the store (~ 7 miles 1-way..... I love the rural life!) and was about 2 miles from home on my return, doing about, shall we say 60-ish, on the rural back-roads when it happened again. Didn't clear right away as before, so I "limped" the car home. Obviously running on < 6 cylinders - my quick diagnosis was a bad coil. Went out-of-town for 5 days.
Once back called PCNA to arrange for the tow to the Dealer. Moved car out of garage and to top of driveway for the flatbed - car ran fine with no issues. Took 4+ hours for the tow to show (ugh).
Dealer got car on Tuesday the 28th. Promised a call on the 29th with details. Nada. Called myself at end-of-day on the 30th - "Bad coil" they told me. Really?
Problem is that PCNA does not have a coil for a 987 DI engine in stock on the West Coast (Ontario, CA warehouse) and is has to come from Atlanta. WON'T BE IN UNTIL TUESDAY??? Really??? I figured problem was diagnosed on Wed., order part, ship Thursday, install & test and car back to me on Friday - BUT NOoooo! Turns out that FedEx dropped the coil at the Dealership on Wednesday this week (even later than thought). PCNA using FedEx Snail?? Gotta wonder when a (relatively) inexpensive, small part is not stocked in the Western US (where not a small percentage of US Porsches reside) and then it takes almost a week to get said part from the East to the West (is FedEx Air/2nd Day that expensive that it's cutting into Porsche's margins)?? Gotta wonder where the cross-over point is for warranty cost versus customer (dis)satisfaction with having their car laid-up for > 1 week for a (minor) repair.
Anyways, car is back. While they had the car they did the clutch switch (replacement) campaign. Driving home yesterday on Highway 1, top off, warm pre-fall day (even had sun by the coast!).... all is better.
Moral of the story..... be aware that coil failure can happen at any time..... and that the Porsche Parts availability in the US tends to defy understanding and can lead to some longer-than-expected repair times.
Even so I dealt with more than a few corroded distributors and their heads. Plus the plug wires. Remember those?
Individual coil problems are not unknown. Seems the Germans (at least a couple of companies) have some poor luck in that regard.
Case in point: Coil failure was an issue with VW's back in '02 when I was shopping for a new VW. That is one reason why I ended up getting a turbo diesel VW. No coils. (Oh and power windows were a problem, too, so I found a TDi with the old crank up windows.) 'course, the glow plugs gave up at around 100K miles along with the control module/power module. Ouch!
Dealers do not want to stock parts. The reasons are several. It ties up capital and my info is PCNA does not accept parts returns for even credit. So when a Porsche dealer buys a part unless the part proves defective it is stuck with that part forever.
(This in the past has given some people an opportunity to go around and buy up dealer NOS (new old stock) -- at a discount -- and end up with a huge parts supply for older Porsches which can generate no little amount of money but help keep these older cars on the road. I fear such will not be the case for our cars.)
Also, PCNA uses several shipping companies and appears to care nothing about the cost, that is it hasn't so far (unless things have changed in the months since I came into this info) worked out a deal with one shipper to get a lower cost. The dealers have told me it is not uncommon to get several parts deliveries in one day and each delivery is by a different shipper.
Anyhow, the dealers have to pay the shipping cost and it can be horrific.
Sometimes the dealer will eat the shipping cost which I've been told at best there is no money (profit) in parts and in the worst case the parts are sold at a loss.
Another reason why dealers are reluctant to stock up on parts.
Sincerely,
Macster.
09-10-2012, 07:41 PM
#4
PCNA using FedEx Snail?? Gotta wonder when a (relatively) inexpensive, small part is not stocked in the Western US (where not a small percentage of US Porsches reside) and then it takes almost a week to get said part from the East to the West (is FedEx Air/2nd Day that expensive that it's cutting into Porsche's margins)?? Gotta wonder where the cross-over point is for warranty cost versus customer (dis)satisfaction with having their car laid-up for > 1 week for a (minor) repair.
Perhaps you should contact PCNA and file a complaint. It would be interesting to know their exact replacement part shipping policy for a warrantied item on their cars just to make sure it was not something your local dealer screwed up with but now it's blaming it on PCNA!
I know that MB has next day air shipments on parts stocked in the US and just a bit longer if they need to come from Germany! I have had nothing but quick turn arounds from both 'MB of Monterey' and 'MB of Westminster' (Co) where I routinely take my '07 CL600 for service & repairs! I can't believe that Porsche's shipping policies would be that different from Mercedes since they all march to the beat of the same J.D. Power 'customer satisfaction' drum!
Saludos,
Eduardo
09-10-2012, 09:45 PM
#5
Just wanted to mention (though it may or may not apply to OP's situation):
I've had a chance to tour the Porsche parts facility in Easton, PA. They seem to have an amazing system there and are proud of the 98% (or greater) accuracy - largely due to German oversight. They also mentioned the overnight-shipping the parts to dealers via FedEx air (they didn't have too many nice things to say about UPS).
So unless the part had to be flown over from Germany, I don't really understand how it could take so many days for OP's part to arrive from Atlanta.
I've had a chance to tour the Porsche parts facility in Easton, PA. They seem to have an amazing system there and are proud of the 98% (or greater) accuracy - largely due to German oversight. They also mentioned the overnight-shipping the parts to dealers via FedEx air (they didn't have too many nice things to say about UPS).
So unless the part had to be flown over from Germany, I don't really understand how it could take so many days for OP's part to arrive from Atlanta.
Last edited by the_vetman; 09-12-2012 at 12:00 PM.
09-12-2012, 11:47 AM
#6
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
Eduardo -
Thanks for the suggestion - perhaps it is time that PCNA & I "talked".
As for the coil sourcing, the dealership originally tried to source it from the CA warehouse located in Ontario (Southern CA). It was not in stock in Ontario, and so ultimately the part came from Atlanta. FedEx was the shipping company.
Thanks for the suggestion - perhaps it is time that PCNA & I "talked".
As for the coil sourcing, the dealership originally tried to source it from the CA warehouse located in Ontario (Southern CA). It was not in stock in Ontario, and so ultimately the part came from Atlanta. FedEx was the shipping company.
09-12-2012, 12:13 PM
#7
Steve,
On my previous post I'd forgotten that the shipping was wrapped around Labor Day weekend. That may or may not have presented delays. However, I still agree with you that it shouldn't have taken so many days.
On my previous post I'd forgotten that the shipping was wrapped around Labor Day weekend. That may or may not have presented delays. However, I still agree with you that it shouldn't have taken so many days.
