Hey mini people...

I have purchased 2 coil kits from ECS Tuning and they continue to fail after about 6 - 8 months of use. The first kit was not covered by a warranty so I ate the cost. The second kit I am going to try and claim the lifetime warranty tomorrow.

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-assembled-by-ecs-parts/high-performance-ignition-service-kit/121222936972kt2/

I am asking what is a durable coil kit that last longer than 6 months? Any suggestions? My mini cooper S is basically stock except an intake hose and an Innercooler.

 

Hello,

I have them on my car and they lasted years. You can see the pictures on the site of my R58 JCW. The oem delphis I had from MINI failed twice. These coil packs get hot from the engine and seem to fail on some cars then others.

Let me know how the second set is. Also make sure you use a little spark plug boot grease and make sure they snap in and down tight on the plug cap. Should be snug and hard to pull back out.

Also we have seen people with valve cover leaks and oil get on them and archs the sides. Same with small coolant leaks. Make sure the hole and the plugs are good and clean so it get a good connection. Are you running newer plugs?

 

I know it's "common knowledge" that you should swap out your coils regularly. But honestly, you're just wasting your time and money and likely creating problems you never would have had with the original coils.

Yes, a coil can fail (I've had one coil fail, driving high mileage cars an average of 30-50,000 miles a year for the last several decades). But then you can replace one coil with a new OEM unit, and be back to 100.000% quick and easy.

For your consideration - here's a video I did on the reasons why you really don't need to swap out perfectly good coils...

 

Thanks for the video. It's great. Unfortunately for my mini, the factory coils failed around 60k miles. In fact I've replaced a lot of parts but I'm not complaining. I've now put on 110k miles and drove from Seattle to Miami. It seems I drive my R56 hard at times. Not racing but I do have a tendency to sport about if a Lamborghini is near. I love the upgrades ECS Tuning and this forum has provided. I'll still be looking into a more reliable coil set.

 

Maybe the spark plugs are the problem for the failing coils?

 

+1 check plugs and make sure they are gapped correctly, sometime they get dropped in shipping and can bend the prong if the little carboard tube in the box gets damaged or missing

 

I ran a set of those coils on my N18 R55 for years with no issue. The fact that you have gone through two sets in short order would make me think something else is going on.

https://www.google.com/search?q=what...hrome&ie=UTF-8

 

I do always recommend checking the gap on new plugs - lots of things can happen, and they really DO need to be gapped properly.

And yeah, if you are going through coils like popcorn, something is going on - off-brand or counterfeit coils, most likely...

 

I have tested each spark plug and they are fine. Gaps are spot on. I cleaned my engine and have zero oil leaks. I did install a new valve cover about a year ago and it still looks amazing. No oil near the coils or the cavity they mount in.

I honestly can't imagine a spark plug causing a coil to fall unless it creates a short but even so the coil is inherently a resistor.

I'm going to use an ohm meter and measure the coils resistance but not sure what the 3 pins on the coil are. I only suspect 2 pins would give me a resistance but the 3rd pin I am still researching.

 

What plugs are you running?

I don't know who makes these coils for bavauto but I'm general leery of random part website branded electronics, especially if they're marketed as "performance" because they're red/blue/other bright colour.
It might say what they actually are, or there might be a sticker over the top label.

Like go here and order 100 with the connector clip in red and it might be exactly the same thing for $8/coil.
https://www.alibaba.com/product-deta...001210675.html

I run bosch because they're cheap and while I haven't had issues, I have heard others with failures.
Eldor is popular with the turbo BMW crowd, so I'll give those a shot if I ever have problems.

 

Given that the coils are not "just coils" but electronic components, I'd be very doubtful of obtaining meaningful info with an ohmmeter - though a large discrepancy in one of them could indicate a failure. I don't recall seeing a schematic of a coil pack - but I suppose that different brands do the same job in a slightly different manner...

 

In the Bentley service manual, the only electrical tests offered to diagnose ignition system components, including the coils, require an oscilloscope.