Drive or have towed?

You're best bet is to ring the dealer & ask them. The it's their problem.

This is a real concern. Disconnect the injector(s) to the cylinder(s) involved (if you know). This will prevent fuel being injected in the first place (and will also log another fault in the ECU - but you will know what the problem is).

I probably wouldn't. I'm not sure what sort of effect the unbalanced combustion forces would have on the crank shaft and various bearings, although I'm sure someone who really knows will give you advice.

Unless you have something in writing from them saying the car's OK to drive you have no come back if the catalyst or something else gets shagged as a result.

Ta, G.

MIL (Malfunction Indicator Lamp) on continuously means an emissions-related fault, eg a broken Lambda sensor. 99 times out of 100 the car would still be fine to drive to the dealer

MIL _flashing_ means a catalyst-damaging misfire, so if it is actually flashing you definitely shouldn't drive the car. On some cars the catalyst will still be all right even with one coil out (ie 25% of the fuel getting burned in the cat!), as long as you drive slowly enough. In this case the MIL should stop flashing and just illuminate steadily.

So - if you can drive slowly enough for the MIL to just be steady, you should be OK. If it is flashing, you definitely need to turn the engine off or risk ruining the cat.

(Background: as part of the development process the car is run with various levels of misfire, at various loads and speeds, and the catalyst temperature logged with a thermocouple. From this, and data on how hot the cat can get without damage, the percentage misfire threshold for flashing MIL is set. Misfire is detected by monitoring crankshaft speed fluctuations)

Tony

Sounds like good advice

- I'll have it recovered to the Dealer.

I'm also going to insist on an emmisions test after they've fixed the fault.

Thanks, Chris.

Would it not just be a lot less hassle to disconnect the injector for the affected cylinder and not need to worry about fuel getting sloshed down?

Ta, G.

Not necessarily. That cylinder will be pumping fresh air, so if the other cylinders are rich you still get significant burning (and hence heating) in the catalyst. But agreed, if you HAD to drive a car with a knackered coil, that would be a very wise precaution

Tony

Thanks for the input.

However, not being a mechanic, I wouldn't have a clue how to diagnose which coil had gone, or how to disable the injector for that cylinder.

btw - This is the vw press release about the issue

Is it direct injection?

A 2002 VAG 1.8 is definitely not direct injection.

What difference do you think direct injection makes? (Honestly, that's not meant in any kind of sarcastic way!)

Because indirect injection doesn't stop 'fuel' entering cylinders where it isn't 'wanted' Ie, sloshing around. ;-)