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Leeky

Coilpacks - life expectancy? Upgrading?

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Howdy peeps,

Does anyone know the life expectancy of the stock coil packs?

Mine are all currently fine (2014 car - 27k miles) but I’m wondering if its worth getting some spares to carry in the boot. Would be sods law I’d be miles away somewhere like the Nurburgring when one dies.

Do people generally only buy the OEM Subaru/Toyota coilpacks or are there better uprated aftermarket packs?

Had a quick google and a look on ebay; there are a lot of coilpacks from a brand called “Surefire” and “Benchmark” but imho they both just look like cheap chinese knock offs.

MSD are a brand I can trust and they do some coilpacks for the FA20, but for all I know the OEM coilpacks may be the best ones (heard that MSD stuff is nowhere as good as it used to be 10-20 years ago)

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If it was a daily driver then i’d probably agree with you. But as its purely used as a track car those 27k miles have been hard lol

I’m thinking for the sake of £50-100, probably worth getting a single spare to carry around just in case. They don't last forever and in previous cars i’ve always been miles away from home when they give up.

My Altezza RS200 dumped a coil pack when I was at a wedding in Cornwall. 250 miles drive home on 3cyl. The cat was totally shot by the time I got home lol

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It tends to be the heat that kills them, just buy some heat resistant foil and cover them.

For reference when one of mine had issues it was actually on the 1st proper track day (dry day) after I had the spark plugs changed. I've sinced replaced the possibly dodgy one with a used one and protected them all with foil and I've not had any issues since. 

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imho if coilpack starts to throw issues on older twins, right path to take would be not to replace for same and heat insulation, but rather bite the bullet and install redesigned coil packs and wiring harness from later years. For me even after few years/several trackdays no issues with original ones yet, but that's the path i'm decided to take if it will happen.

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I'd be wary of mis-diagnosis as well. I had the coilpack error DTC but it was occurring (and recurring following a DTC clear) on an old set of plugs. Following a new set of plugs this has never returned. Car was 7 years old and 35k miles at the time; I'd never dream of changing plugs that early on any other car but I had it done at the time of the valve spring recall. The 'old' plugs mean you're driving the coilpack too hard. You might end up failing a £100 coilpack for the sake of a £10 spark plug. Yes, I know they are an arse to get to!!!

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12 minutes ago, McDude said:

I'd be wary of mis-diagnosis as well. I had the coilpack error DTC but it was occurring (and recurring following a DTC clear) on an old set of plugs. Following a new set of plugs this has never returned. Car was 7 years old and 35k miles at the time; I'd never dream of changing plugs that early on any other car but I had it done at the time of the valve spring recall. The 'old' plugs mean you're driving the coilpack too hard. You might end up failing a £100 coilpack for the sake of a £10 spark plug. Yes, I know they are an arse to get to!!!

Very interesting. is your car stock or tuned? Sometimes a poor tune can cause spark plugs to foul early. A possibility.

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40 minutes ago, BRZ-123 said:

Very interesting. is your car stock or tuned? Sometimes a poor tune can cause spark plugs to foul early. A possibility.

No, just a stock car running stock Cal. I was surprised the sparks didn't last, but in fairness the service manual does state 30k miles (appreciate there is some ambiguity in this and different interpretations).

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