Ignition coil MSD or OEM Volkswagen

as the op stated, the car sounded completrely different. there was no hesitation, idle changes, vac changes. the car also accelerated a lot smoother as well. it was easier to start from a stop and the engine felt stronger. i didnt believe this at first myself so i threw them on my buddies heavily modded a4 that had an ignition problem between 4-5k rpm and the sound went away with these coils. his car also performed much better as well.

my tach was acting up when i first got the car, I cleaned all the connections going to the coil when i replaced the coil and that fixed it.

Changed the plugs, and while changing them noticed that there was a little charring in two of the coil paks seating surface where the spark plug tip sits...after changing the plugs the car still felt like ****. Ran to Advanced....and they showed 2 cylinders not firing good, needless to say they only stocked one coil pak. I replaced it and the car ran like a champ.

I had a intermittant misfire that wouldn't go away.. changed out coilpacks, plugs, wires, nothing made a bit of difference. Installed the MSD coilpacks, and the MSD wires and viola, misfire was gone. Regardless, the cost of a stock coilpack + wires far exceedes the cost of the MSD setup.

I found the MSD setup to be a very nice upgrade. Might have just been a mental thing, but I felt that it gave the motor a little more pep and it revved a bit faster.

I went with MSD. I can say that the car definitely runs a bit smoother, but I did it for a different reason. I figured in the long run it will be cheaper. If one of the coilpacks goes bad I 'll only be spending $42 instead of having to buy an entire coilpack. Even if all three went bad all at once it would still be less expensive than the cost of a new "oem" coilpack.

Since reinstalling the stock cam and ECU chip in my motor all has been running very well. Even with the raised 10.7:1 compression, the car has zero issues. For the longest time, I've had my plugs gapped to .032". I'm running an MSD Blaster SS coil and Magnacor 8.5mm wires. I was "told" to run a colder gap because the coil is too much for the stock (.024") plug gap. So on Sunday, I put the gap back to 24thou to see how it ran on my Monday commute. It honestly felt bad. Getting on it in a higher gear at lower rpms, I could feel what felt like the ignition being cut back by the knock sensor. It felt like it was missing briefly till the knock sensor retarded the ignition. There was slight power loss as well. It just felt like it ran poor, overall. So last night I put the gap back to 32thou. The ride today felt like it did before I messed with it. None of that iffy feel, just power with no complaints. So, with an aftermarket coil anyway, I would suggest a wider gap on your plugs. Motor runs way better IMHO.

Every wet rain or slushy day, my 97 2.0 would quit or not start at all. Sprayed everything individually and figured it was the ignition coil cause it had hairline fractures. I replaced my ignition coil, but it still gave me troubles.

My wife's 2000 Cabrio started having this same set of symptoms. Replaced coil, plugs, plug wires, cap and rotor not that long ago. Coil was indeed cracked, but the symptoms persist.

I ended up with this MSD when I bought Tim's motor and the MSD finally crapped out after about a year of me driving with it. In running a coilpack, I notice no tangible difference between the two. Yes, the MSD looks really, really cool...but if you ain't worried about looking pretty, spend your money elsewhere.