UKC

One of the coil packs on my car has gone and it's causing one of my cylinders to misfire. This results in the car having a judder, engine rock, and louder exhaust noise.
The biggest issue is the loss of power when putting my foot down (in any gear), it's not always showing an emission control system warning lanp.



If I could get hold of a new coil pack i could fit it myself however I'm due to be in the Cairgorms for several days so I can't get the bits until I'm back.

My questions are; Am I doing the car any harm by driving it or is it just going to result in poor fuel consumption and loss of power?
Would a 120mile drive (split over a few days) be too much for it?


A few car details;

VW Golf FSI
Petrol 1.6, 115 bhp
4 cylinder

In reply to Cameron94:
In short no. If fuel is getting into your exhaust system then you will probably damage your cat, along with it generally not doing your engine any favours trying to run off 3 cylinders (and possibly setting your exhaust on fire maybe?). If you really have to drive it then unplugging that one might reduce any damage.

If it's cracked then the classic bodge up is epoxy, have a good luck at it to see if it's damaged or if there's anything obvious it could be shorting to. I'm assuming you've checked the spark plugs as well.

In reply to Cameron94:

You could do some damage mate - how old is the car? 120 miles doesn't sound too much but that's a long way with the engine shaking itself. I would also think that with constant misfires over that distance it will put massive extra forces on that cylinder. Could mean blowing the head gasket?

In reply to Cameron94:

Looks like I'll bus it then.

Cheers for the replies guys. I figured it would probably be best to leave it behind.

Thanks
Cameron

In reply to Cameron94:
Based on what the mechanic said when we had on cylinder not firing, 120 miles will destroy the catalytic convertor.