7 Symptoms Of A Bad Ignition Coil (and Replacement Cost In 2022)

VW Golf station wagon 2004.

About a year ago I was driving my car and the engine light came on, garage stated it was just a faulty heat sensor so replaced it. Not long after I noticed the cigarette lighter wasn’t working, replaced fuse but it still didn’t work. Usually use it for a phone/radio transmitter so wasn’t really a priority to repair. 6 months later had my car put through its yearly road worthy check and a week later noticed rear windscreen wiper not working.

About a month ago it began shaking/misfiring? and had a flashing engine light when driving so I pulled over and turned the engine off to call the garage, when turned back on the engine light had gone off and car was driving fine. Could only get an appointment for nine days later, during this time the light would flash intermittently and shake when doing so, there was no set distance for this, could be after one minute in the car, could be after one hour, it would then reset itself when turned on/off again. Taken to garage and no fault showing, no engine light/shaking. Told to drive it until the light comes on and bring it back.

Happened again – took it in and fault shown as cylinder 4 misfire, multiple cylinder misfire; told to drive again so fault can be isolated if it reoccurs.

Happened again – this time the solid engine light came on immediately after turning the engine on and off and stayed. Took it back and fault showed misfire on cylinder 3 & 4 – suggestion was to replace leads and reset codes, sparks were checked and seemed to be fine – cost $576.

Three days later… SAME THING :/ shaking felt worse than previous times so didn’t bother with any short drives, took it back to garage and parked it up for a week until they could look at it again. The suggestion was that there was no change in the car and to replace coil(s)?! for around another $500 and hope for the best as it’s a process of elimination now.

I’m just wondering if all of these electrical faults could be related somehow and if it’s best to put it in with an auto-electrician next instead of a mechanic? I can’t resell at present as it has a solid engine light as soon as it’s switched on and I can’t afford another parts switch/labour for it not to be resolved again. I appreciate my car is getting old now but just wondering if there is a cheaper option for process of elimination/getting it going.