Do coil packs go bad?
 

I'm the one with the previous post about the sputter at 4,500-6,000 rpms on my '02 x50 with 22k miles. All the replies to my post were that it was most likely the spark plugs. Well the dealer said that I had 2 coil packs that were bad and he recommended replacing all 6 coil packs and putting new plugs in. Sounds like they may just be trying to milk me now that I'm 3 months out of warranty. What do you think about this? Anybody else have a similar case where they did or were told that the coil packs were bad. Thanks.

Yes coil packs do go bad- We see more and more of this as 996TT's see age and use.
Coil packs arent very expensive and a good idea to replace in sets of 6..

Just do the plugs and coil packs.

Thanks for the reply. I guess the dealer may not be blowing smoke after all. Thanks.

Boludo, just don't let the dealer charge you extra labor for swaping them out. There is no extra work from swapping the plugs out. So have them swap out your plugs and boots if you haven't order that already.

-Eli

I changed mine out - they do go bad... but mine lasted 80K miles...
u can inspect the bad ones... when u pop off the long part.. inspect for cracks on the black plastic part on the coil pack.. thats how u know if they are bad.
at 22K miles these things should not go bad. Im skeptical.

hmmm... thanks again for the responses. I will ask to see the coil packs. Now you mention about swapping out the boots too. May be dumb for asking but what are the "boots"?

Thanks.

ask them to show u the "cracked" coil packs... if they are not then nothing is wrong and they are just guessing and charging you an extra $600 .

Boots are basically the rubber boot that goes around the most outer part (plug & pack) area. Just a couple of buck per each last time I checked.

=Eli

Thanks for everyones help on this, it really helps out. The Dealer is going to save the coils for me to look at. They agreed to reduce the price by 50% so now it is much more reasonable for me now.