Do coil packs loose efficiency as they age?

[Redright9]

Do you think coil packs on cars age? I have had people say they get "lazy" after a while and to maintain peak efficiency be replaced when a car goes over 100k. I have also been told that they are electrical and either work or don't, since they have no moving parts, nothing to wear out, only replace when they fail. What is your take on this?

Thanks.

 

[partspro]

i would say that they can lose their umph. does it matter with good plugs not really. bad plugs can cause coils to fail. forget ohming out coils it tells you nothing.

 

[jhellwig]

The insulation could break down causing energy to go other places than the plug.

 

[The Critic]

Do you think coil packs on cars age? I have had people say they get "lazy" after a while and to maintain peak efficiency be replaced when a car goes over 100k. I have also been told that they are electrical and either work or don't, since they have no moving parts, nothing to wear out, only replace when they fail. What is your take on this?

Thanks.

210K miles, original coil packs on the Prius.

But IME, coils either work or they do not. There isn't much of an in-between.

 

[zzyzzx]

Still have the original coil on my 1995 Escort at 262K, but it's not a coil pack.

 

[NewtonPulsifer]

Under-specced coilpacks and heat are a killer of coilpacks on my RX-8. I upgraded to aftermarket LS1 based V8 coilpacks from Black Halo Racing, all happy now.

So yes if they are insufficient from the get go. A forum search for your car type should show if there are a lot of coil problems.

EDIT: otherwise keep em till they go out on you

 

[Snagglefoot]

205,000 miles on my 2008 Chevy LS engine with original coils. My 2003 Ford with the 5.4 started to fail before 100,000 miles. Chevy 1 Ford 0

 

[brages]

Still have the original coil on my 1995 Escort at 262K, but it's not a coil pack.

Most of what people call "coil packs" aren't coil packs either...

 

[nthach]

A co-worker was getting CELs on his 07 Fit and it was attributed to coils. He had 170ishK on it, a new set of Hitachi coils, NGK OE iridium plugs and a valve adjustment fixed the misfires.

Many COP ignitions also include the driver circuits, and I think the transistor responsible for switching on the primary windings can fail.

 

[Amkeer]

I have 222,000 on my Tacoma with the original coil packs. No reason to change them. The truck runs as good as it did when it was new.

 

[4WD]

205,000 miles on my 2008 Chevy LS engine with original coils. My 2003 Ford with the 5.4 started to fail before 100,000 miles. Chevy 1 Ford 0

I think those are stout and well located …
The four bangers stab the directly over the spark plugs … seems some real heat right there and pretty cheap … so did those with the plugs at 100k (Cruze and Fusion) …

 

[KGMtech]

What ages coil packs most is the increased electrode gap of old spark-plugs. Keep the spark-plugs from being too eroded, and the coils should last their longest.

 

[Kokopelli34179]

The coils on my 02 Jetta started going out around 80k. The CEL only showed 1 coil with weak voltage, but then the other 3 also showed up at some point.

 

[Silver]

Ugh. This reminded me of my 5.4 Triton that takes 8 COP's. $320...

 

[Rat407]

Depends on the vehicle. At least on our daughters 2012 Cruze 1.4. It went through 2 coils in 30k miles until I purchased an MSD coil for it. The mpg increased and it has a smoother idle and throttle response. Best $90 I ever spent on it. Considering another factory coil was the same price it was a no brainer to try the MSD. A friend of mine works at a chevy dealership as the parts manager and he said he keeps the Cruze coils in stock.

 

[350Rocket]

Original Coil (only one) dated 1984 on my 84 Cutlass with 240k miles. I have a spare dated 1986.

Original coils on my 200k mile 05 Silverado. They always seemed to be a problem on ford trucks when I worked at the dealership. A body shop employee had all 8 fail in a year on his 2003?