I picked up a used 2019 Vantage with only 5700 miles a few weeks ago. A couple of days ago, the car had a check engine light so I hooked up a code reader and got a misfire code.

Took the car to dealer and they tell me the coils need to be replaced due to water ingress. I have the timeless warranty on the car so I thought it was covered. Apparently, it is not. Does anyone have a contact at Aston Martin that I can talk to or email? I know that being a second owner doesn't help be but at only 5700 mies I think new coils is not a maintenance item as the dealer has described the situation.

I have read all the posts about a new design on the newer coil packs so for me this should be covered by warranty. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

Hi @cb804,

On the same AMG engine, coils are known to be notorious failures; so much so, that MB AMG extended warranty on them. Maybe this info would help you some with a company contact.

Best,
Bwings

 

Regarding your warranty, I think it's worth checking with Aston Martin directly to see if they can help. They may have some options available that the dealer hasn't offered. You could try contacting their customer service department and explaining the situation.

It's also good to know that newer designs of the coil packs are available, so it might be worth asking the dealer if they can install those instead of just replacing the old ones. This could potentially help prevent the same issue from happening again in the future.

 

Ignition coils are covered under the federal emissions warranty. So I believe ESC should cover coils, but not spark plugs. The dealer just doesn't want to submit a claim.

 

This is a known issue for Benz and with the early Vantages. The coil insulator boots have since been redesigned to address this very issue. I would push back hard on the dealer and/or AM corporate. I would also pony up and replace the plugs as they may be rusty/corroded. God forbid they seize in there over time.

 

Do you know if 2020 vantages suffer the same issue or got the redesign?

 

The selling dealer (an AM dealer) changed all fluids and replaced the spark plugs before I took delivery. I can only assume since there were no codes or check engine light at the time, they though everything else was OK. I hindsight maybe I should have gone back to the selling dealer but I didn't want to travel 50 minutes with a check engine light on. I have an AM dealer very close to home that I took the car to. The servicing dealer confirmed that the plugs look new and that the new coils will be the redesigned ones.

I will try getting a hold of someone at AM corporate as the repair bill is steep.

 

As far as I know only some 2019 cars are affected but maybe someone with more experience will chime in.

 

Roger that. Hope it works out for you!

 

I feel like someone on another forum chimed in with a 2020 case. I don't know when the new coils entered the production line. Perhaps a mid year change?

 

are you in the United States? If so I am sure those are covered if the care is Timeless car. How many miles on the car at this point?

 

This one hits close to home. I had the same issue on my 2019 car with theTimeless Warranty.

I wrote extensively about in on a couple forums.

Aston refused to cover it under the warranty claiming it was "water ingress" and was excluded. The Aston people in the US were total A$$hats. The UK people never responded. There was also a lot of hiding behind a "third party administrator" that made the final decisions but I was never able to contact. In the end, the dealer made good on it but without much help from Aston corporate. I was preparing to sue Aston over this and was willing to drag my local dealer into this, to their dismay.

In the end, it got fixed but I would never buy another Aston product. I don't think they are an honorable company.

I would list all the people and numbers I contacted, every one of them useless, but, in general, forums, frown upon this. If you PM me I will try to dig up my notes. It was like a revolving door at Aston ion terms of people and positions. It really highlighted to me how poorly run Aston is. Hopefully after they got more money from PIF things have changed.

 

Thanks for the reply and offer to help. I pressed my dealer to submit a claim as I spoke with an AM warranty representative this morning who told me this issue should be covered. If it is not covered I will send you a PM.

 

That action to repalce the coil pack was the correct thing for AM to do. I have found this is how the CPO thing works. An AM dealer must certify the car in that they bring the cars service history to date. Replace any items that must meet CPO spec like brake pads and tires, but they know how to avoid additional costs. Example, I bought a Timeless 2015 from a dealer two years ago. The dealer pulls it out for me and it has water in the tailights. I asked, "is this not covered by warranty? " he tells me" no."

I get the car, drive home, 1000 miles away. I start reading online that tailights should be covered. I contact AM corporate and they tell me the tailights are definitely covered. I call the dealer 1000 miles away and tell the salesman they are covered and they had to be dry when they certified the car. He tells me they were dry. Yes, they likely were after one guy brings the car in and clears them out in a conditioned shop then sends another tech out certify the car. Sadly, this is the car business, not just AM. Most dealers look to spend not one dollar more than they must in order to sell their product. I have bought at least 40 cars from dealers in my life. They play by the rules to meet their manufactures guidelines, but most dealers know a transaction is a transaction and on to the next one. This really is no different than any other business, it is just cars cost more and can affect our pocketbook more. To a car dealer, a sale is a transaction and nothing more.

When your car had the spark plugs replaced, a competent tech would see the coil pack condition but that would be as far as he would take it as he may have not had a light go off. He would change your plugs, punch his ticket and collect his piece work compensation. Even if he mentioned the coil packs as looking suspect, his recommendation would go on deaf ears to someone also incentivized to bring the cars certification in as cheaply as possible. When I bought my 2015, I saw on work order brake flush recommended then noted on ticket denired by sales. I have known a Land Rover dealer to send some cars out to local repair shops to bring their cars up to cpo standards as their dealer shop shop rates are too high. The sales group and service group are two separate profit centers under one roof. All is fair in love and war and car sales! So glad you got your coil packs registerd.

OH, btw I recently bought a cpo 2019 vantage. Same games, I am just a bit more knowledgeable up front, every day you learn something.

 

Thanks everyone for the replies and information. After a couple of phone calls and emails, the dealer and Aston Martin are covering the cost of the new coils. Dealer confirmed that the replacement coils will be the new design so there should not be any more issues with the coils.