I have some coils problems (I think... another thread). Are the aftermarket coils from Ebay or Autozone any good? Or is OEM the only way to go?

Thanks,

 

You shouldn't have a problem with Autozone coils, but honestly, pulling OEM coils from a junked 95-98 (not 99) would be your best (and cheapest) bet.

 

QFT. It's not even hard to pull the coils.

 

Are the earlier coils better?

My concern with used coils is that I might get another bad one and be right back in the same place.

 

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?ur...n+coil&x=0&y=0

 

95-98 are the same; 99 had issues. If you're really concerned you'll get a bad egg, you can pull two of them and still pay less than you would have for a new one.

 

How do the connectors release? I tried pulling the little green tab up and then separating the connector from the coil, and I tried pushing it down. The connector still seemed to be stuck on tight. I know they might be a little "age stuck", but it seems like something else is holding it.

 

You mean the wire clip? You just press the tab down (it should click) and pull/wiggle it off. If needed, take a flathead and try to "push" the connector off after getting the tab to click down. Then undo the 8mm bolts and the coilpack pulls up and out.

 

I don't know if you've seen this already, but there may be something useful in there...

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/443899/2

The procedure is also described in the FSM in the ENGINE CONTROL SYSTEM section; the Manual can be found on the .org (some have a link to it in their signature, or just google it...).

 

Also, remember if you cannot press the tab down, push it back in all the way again and then press the tab down before pulling it. I learned it the hard way.

 

Maybe that's the issue I had. I'll give it another shot by pushing in first.

 

I bought an aftermarket coil on Ebay once and that thing blew out after a few minutes. I then ended up buying an oem one from the dealer for twice the price
but it worked perfectly.

 

I recently purchased three coils for the rear bank (closest to the firewall) from DaveB; in both my 99s, those seem to be the ones that have given me problems.
Dave assured me that the problems originally seen with the 99 coils were corrected long ago, and he does not hear about problems with the 99 coils now available (still made by Hanshin). It may seem like alot (~80/coil), but given how much they impact performance, I believe it's worth going OEM over chea-bay knock-offs. You don't want a catastrophic coil failure at 5k rpm.

 

Are there any recalls on the ignition coils? I have a '03 VW Passat with the same gimpy coil problems, and VW just got around to sending out the recall.

 

Recalls only happen when it is a safety issue.

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-iM5_C9Vh0 CHECKOUT THIS VIDEO..It help me out a lot..