1.6 MPI - Spark Plugs, Leads, Coil Pack (& Air Intake Seals) DIY

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Complete ignition replacement on 1.6 MPI (BSE) engines found in Audi A3, Seat Altea, Cordoba, Ibiza, Leon and Toledo; Volkswagen Caddy, Golf, Jetta, Passat, Polo and Touran and Skoda Octavia 2.
NOTE: For spark plugs and coil pack it is not strictly necessary to remove the air intake.
My problems were:
- Sometimes at full throttle the check engine light would come on with the ASR light off, the check engine light would go out after a few seconds.
- The error codes in the ECU were all misfire codes (P0300, P0301, P0302) and once I got P1212 (cylinder shutdown bank 1).
- After restarting the engine, the ASR OFF also disappears.
- The colder it was outside, the worse the problem and vice versa.
Since I did't feel like investigating much, I decided to just replace the whole ignition, as going one by one (spark plugs, leads, ignition module) is pretty painful with the intake in the way.
Turns out the spark plugs were shot and there was corrosion on both the leads and the ignition module terminals on the cylinders that were misfiring. So the problems were compounded. After replacing the ignition, the engine ran better than it had in years. Not only did the big problems go away, the engine just feels much more responsive at lower revs and is quieter too.
Tools required:
- Just basic hand tools with 16mm spark plug socket
- Only speciality was XZN M8 socket ("triple square", commonly confused with TORX), see www.amazon.de/s?k=xzn+m8
Parts used:
- Ignition module HITACHI 138425 (Made in Germany)
- Ignition cables BorgWarner (BERU) ZEF1224 (Made in France)
- Spark plugs: DENSO IK20TT (Made in Japan) - you don't need to get expensive Iridium one, though
- Elring and Gates seals for the air intake
Total just under 160 EUR
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:06 Disconnect battery
0:11 Disconnect secondary air pump
1:08 Remove air intake
2:39 Replacing the ignition module
3:33 Carbon cleaning
3:42 Removing old wires
3:54 Replacing spark plugs
4:24 Replacing the air intake seals
4:58 Fitting new leads
5:39 Reassembling the air intake
6:20 Reassembling the air pump
6:46 Final touches and test run
7:39 My problems and has this solved them?
7:45 Costs (time and money)
7:50 Air intake seals old & new
8:08 Ignition module old & new (and corrosion on old)
8:31 Spark plugs old & new (and wear on the old)
8:53 Pipes old and new (and corrosion on the old)
9:29 Dirt on the air intake (first time off)
1.6 MPI - Replacement of spark plugs, coil pack, ignition leads and air intake seals
1.6 MPI - Udskiftning af tændrør, spolepakke, tændkabler og luftindtagstætninger
1.6 MPI - Vervanging van bougies, bobine, bougiekabels en luchtinlaatdichtingen.
1.6 MPI - süüteküünalde, mähisepaketi, süütejuhtmete ja õhu sisselaskeava tihendite vahetus
1.6 MPI - Sytytystulppien, kelapaketin, sytytysjohtojen ja ilmanottoaukon tiivisteiden vaihto
1.6 MPI - Remplacement des bougies, de la bobine, des câbles d'allumage et des joints d'admission d'air.
1.6 MPI - Austausch von Zündkerzen, Zündspulenpaket, Zündkabeln und Lufteinlassdichtungen
1.6 MPI - Αντικατάσταση των μπουζί, του πακέτου πηνίων, των καλωδίων ανάφλεξης και των παρεμβυσμάτων εισαγωγής αέρα
1.6 MPI - Gyújtógyertyák, tekercscsomag, gyújtásvezetékek és légbeömlő tömítések cseréje
1.6 MPI - Sostituzione di candele, pacco bobine, cavi di accensione e guarnizioni della presa d'aria
1.6 MPI - Aizdedzes sveču, spoles komplekta, aizdedzes vadu un gaisa ieplūdes blīvējumu nomaiņa
1.6 MPI - uždegimo žvakių, ritės paketo, uždegimo laidų ir oro įsiurbimo riebokšlių keitimas
1.6 MPI - Utskifting av tennplugger, spolepakke, tenningskabler og luftinntakspakninger
1.6 MPI - Wymiana świec zapłonowych, pakietu cewek, przewodów zapłonowych i uszczelek wlotu powietrza
1.6 MPI - Substituição de velas de ignição, pacote de bobinas, cabos de ignição e vedantes de entrada de ar
1.6 MPI - Înlocuirea bujiilor, a pachetului de bobine, a cablurilor de aprindere și a garniturilor de admisie a aerului
1.6 MPI - Замена свечей зажигания, блока катушек, проводов зажигания и уплотнений воздухозаборника
1.6 MPI - Výměna zapalovacích svíček, cívek, zapalovacích kabelů a těsnění sání vzduchu
1.6 MPI - Výmena zapaľovacích sviečok, cievky, zapaľovacích káblov a tesnení nasávania vzduchu
1.6 MPI - zamenjava vžigalnih svečk, paketa tuljav, vžigalnih kablov in tesnil za dovod zraka
1.6 MPI - Byte av tändstift, spolpaket, tändkablar och tätningar för luftintag
1.6 MPI - Заміна свічок запалювання, блоку котушок, проводів запалювання та ущільнювачів повітрозабірника

[@carsandtools]

At 6:22 when you reinstalling the secondary air pump, there is a small slot that holds the dip stick tube in place. Make sure to put it back in its place, otherwise it will be kinda loose. :D

[@georgikirov9910]

The new cables you fit them wrong and after you fix it . Are you sure about the firing order 2 3 and 1 4 on the right side od the coil ?

[@carsandtools]

@@georgikirov9910 Where is it wrong? At 8:18 you can see the markings A-B-C-D (top right-bottom left-top left-bottom right). A=1st cylinder, B=2nd cyl and so on. At 2:39 and 5:34 you can see they are wired the same.

[@ing.jannachtigal3158]

best video on this topic, thank you

[@TheWisnia567]

I have the same engine and this video helped me so much to do some maintenance with the detailed information about the parts and tools needed. I would love to see more work on this engine so maybe i could do it too on mine :D

[@schetd]

On 180000km I already did this whole procedure twice. Also I got a middle oil consumption - 1 liter per 4000km. Also replaced all silentblocks twice- thanks to our roads. Such kind of adventures moving my mind to sell the car ;)

[@carsandtools]

I understand. A liter per 4000 km is A LOT. Luckily I have started changing the oil often and quite early, so my 1.6 MPI is one of the very few that doesn't burn oil like crazy. But I have definitely heard about worse ones, where depending on the driving style the engine would burn as much as 1 liter per 1000 km. That engine is basically getting a continuous oil change...

[@Peter_PL]

@@carsandtools I used alfa romeo with 2.0 TwinSpark engine. It used 1 liter per 1200 km. I still drove 60 thousand kilometers with that. In the end it was 1 liter per 180 km. Then I had it scrapped : - )

[@simonbaker3085]

great video! looking to do this job on my A3 (same engine). this helped alot.

[@nabs2714]

Excellent video.. well explained.thank you.

[@slobodanignjatovic7685]

Well done! Thank you!!

[@AxisDSTC]

Great video! Thank you!

[@Peter_Kojnok]

MEGA videjko bráško!!!

[@imasterrr]

Thank you for a very good workflow. What difference do you think is between Denso IK20TT and K20TT (power, stamina)? and why did you not ordered the original ignition module? It is commonly available..

[@carsandtools]

I think the "I" ones are Iridium and many people have reported they lasted them significantly longer than regular plugs, but I have not had such luck as seen at 8:32... I've got them again, though, because without taking the air intake off its such a painful job and I don't want to do spark plugs again for as long as possible. Whether that was smart or not... well, I guess it doesn't really matter now. :D As far as the OEM ignition module, nice catch - I did not really notice it was also still available. :D But the Hitachi is also a good one. I tried to buy all the parts from renowned aftermarket brands. If I went for the cheapest everything, it would be a lot cheaper, too. But I intend to drive the car to the dust, so... :D

[@MCNDR-zq7wx]

hey, what other inlet manifold can be fitted , im disgusted about the plastic one , maybe an ABA aluminium one instead? any chances?

[@SL-tk5jb]

Fabrika, preporucuje podizanje obrtaja motora u praznom hodu na 850-900 o u min.Podrhtavanje se osetno smanjuje.Pozdrav

[@carsandtools]

Like after replacing the spark plugs/coil pack? To be honest, I didn't read the shop manual this time.

[@user-ey9ky9qu4x]

Спасибо за видео, помогло в работе!

[@carsandtools]

No problem. That's why I made it. 5 years ago when I first did the spark plugs, everyone just said "just remove the air intake, it's so much easier", but I just couldn't find out any guide how to actually do that. :D

[@TheVimacoal]

Excelente trabalho

[@multiomer1997]

Im confused shall i replace mine too, its 21 years old, i got the same engine. But i feel somewhere a heavy performance loss, especially in first gear. I replaced the spark plugs before with ik20tt.

[@rkan2]

What have your plugs looked like when you took them out? I think I have an oil ring problem on cyl4 since the plug is getting black and after sometime causes a misfire.

[@carsandtools]

8:33

[@user-ru2fw1ke3u]

hola el codigo del motor es mpi o bse ?

[@nickoobrian]

Hello are you losing some oil on that engine? when its cold and when travelling highspeed? thanks

[@carsandtools]

No, but I am also doing oil change every 7-10k km. When running on the Long Life interval, these engines known to start burning lots of oil after 60k or so km when running a long life oil interval.

[@nickoobrian]

@@carsandtools 147k and it burns a lot of oil during winter and long drive. I also experience misfire couple times. First one i change coil pack cables and spark plugs. After a year it happen again, change coil pack and spark plugs, but still misfire. The culprit is the cable. And it happen again for the third time, same problem the shortest cable. Luckily i keep my old cables.

[@cezarpo]

Alguien sabe español? tengo un a3 1.6 bse 102hp manual 5 cambios año 2008 exactamente el mismo motor.. pero gaste casi 1 millon de pesos argentinos en reparaciones el motor me sigue fallando😂 siento como si la Explosion el quemado los hiciera mal y a destiempo.. 😢 nose como explicar.. como si hagia pochoclo mientras ando va haciendo borbotones.. y si he cambiado bobina cables y bujias 3 veces.. aros lleve a reparar leva, canbie todas las juntas, bomba nafta filtros todos.. medi cilindros medi presion nafta 4 bares.. ya nose que hacer

[@cezarpo]

The piston rings, are ok?

[@carsandtools]

It doesn't burn much oil in between oil changes so I'd think so.

[@gheorghinacov6008]

Is it mandatory that both the ignition coil and ignition module should be changed? Isn’t the coil itself enough?

[@carsandtools]

Of course it's not mandatory, just change what's bad (if you can tell in advance what the culprit is). In my case I didn't know exactly what was bad and decided to change everything since the air intake had to come off (and I really didn't want to do that more than once). Turned out I had corrosion on both the leads (9:57) and the coil pack (8:27), so it worked out for me. :D

[@gheorghinacov6008]

@@carsandtools Great then! I changed the spark plugs, cables and ignition coil but not the module sitting on the ignition coil. I really cannot tell if the idle improved since, that’s why I was asking. I have the exact same engine. I would assume you have no gas smell on the back, right?

[@carsandtools]

@@gheorghinacov6008 Oh ok, I didn't even know they could be separated, I always saw them as a whole thing. What do you mean by "gas smell on the back"? My main problem was misfiring under full throttle and insane slow crawling (the colder it was, the worse it got, too). I would put it in first gear, slowly release the clutch, give it a little gas and nothing would happen. Then, after 1-3 seconds, the something suddenly woke up and gave as much throttle as if I had put the pedal to the metal. This was going on for second or third winter and always stopped in the spring. Only this winter it came back with misfires and check engine lights, so I finally had to do something about it. :D As I found out, 1) there was corrosion on 2 of the leads as well as on the connectors on the coil pack, 2) the spark plug electrodes were completely burnt out so the gap was way bigger than it was supposed to be (8:46). Rough or uneven idle could also be caused by cracks and subsequent air leaks anywhere on the air pipes, air intake or seals, but most commonly (at least from what I saw online - for instance at www.seatcupra.net/forums/threads/1-6-bse-engine-rough-idle-solved.456352/ ) was caused by damaged seals. Have you checked for that?

[@gheorghinacov6008]

@@carsandtools By that I meant there is a sharp gasoline smell coming from the exhaust. I did pass the annual technical inspection but you just cannot run the engine inside of a closed garage. The smoke isn’t visible though. Now if you mention air leaks I do hear something whistling around the throttle body but I cannot tell if that’s how air whistles while goes through a tight opening of the valve.

[@gheorghinacov6008]

@@carsandtools Anyway how is the engine idle when hot? I mean can you see it shaking even a little bit?

[@exo-pain7662]

At 7:10 what did you do?

[@carsandtools]

When you open the driver's door, the fuel pump primes the fuel lines (builds up pressure). Then I purged the air by pressing the valve.

[@jeminijames6102]

Dude mine is worst😔😔😔

[@hawbir95]

I have same engine without secondary air pump on skoda octavia with automatic transmission poor engine ❌❌

[@azur3125]

What a horrible and tedious job to do 😦 what always strikes me, is why Audi engines have to be so complex compares to VW ones. They come from the same factory basically. There is no reason for the intake manifold to be that complex.