I was speaking to Robv6 last night who has had another coil go (5 in total) recently and also in the past has had a cat replaced possibly as a result of on eof the failures. Miguel also reported the recently having cats replaced again possibly due to a coil failure with only 1 mile of driving post failure.
Now the options are to park the car up immediately and get it recovered - if you have or can pay for that option. Alternatively you can carry spares and fit them yourslef or by someone else at the point of breakdown or after a short journey. You may also decide or need to take the risk and drive the car to a destination such as home or a garage.
Cat failure as a result of running the car with a failed coil could occur quickly but then again perhaps not - but a wise move is to drive the car as little as possible to reduce the risk. The reason is to prevent unburnt fuel contaminating the cat.
Now my idea is simply, easier said than done perhaps as I don't know how easy this is on a Mk1 for example, consider the option of removing the fuel injector connector on the failed coil cylinder to prevent fuel being injected into the cyclinder with no ignition. This would stop the cat being damaged from exposure to unburnt fuel. The ECU would probably go into limp mode but would imagine teh car would drice simply with the engine light on and no worse than with the coil gone anyway. Food for thought perhaps as another option ...
May be worth a try or at least some consideration or research - which I will also do ...
Martin
Now the options are to park the car up immediately and get it recovered - if you have or can pay for that option. Alternatively you can carry spares and fit them yourslef or by someone else at the point of breakdown or after a short journey. You may also decide or need to take the risk and drive the car to a destination such as home or a garage.
Cat failure as a result of running the car with a failed coil could occur quickly but then again perhaps not - but a wise move is to drive the car as little as possible to reduce the risk. The reason is to prevent unburnt fuel contaminating the cat.
Now my idea is simply, easier said than done perhaps as I don't know how easy this is on a Mk1 for example, consider the option of removing the fuel injector connector on the failed coil cylinder to prevent fuel being injected into the cyclinder with no ignition. This would stop the cat being damaged from exposure to unburnt fuel. The ECU would probably go into limp mode but would imagine teh car would drice simply with the engine light on and no worse than with the coil gone anyway. Food for thought perhaps as another option ...
May be worth a try or at least some consideration or research - which I will also do ...
Martin