It’s no secret that maintaining a hypercar can cost as much or more than it might to do the same for a small aircraft. While big prices for what most of us see as everyday repairs deserve real estate in the headlines, it’s what’s underneath that we really love. Swapping ignition coils and spark plugs on a Bugatti Veyron gives us a unique look at its beastly W16 engine.
Posted over on Reddit by a person that says they’re involved with this procedure, the story, and the photos are appropriately exotic. Evidently, two cylinders that will never ever misfire on your car, 13 and 16, were misfiring at wide open throttle above 140 mph (225 km/h). There’s no word on how many miles this Veyron has but kudos to whomever (the owner we’re guessing) noticed the issue.
According to the poster, Fixitsteven, the replacement coil packs cost $730 each and took over a month to arrive. The packaging even looks like it matches the Veyron in terms of exclusivity and quality. Juxtaposing that are the spark plugs which are reportedly everyday VW units that go for $18 each. Well they would, except that this is a Veyron so from Bugatti they’re $170… a piece. The entire job is said to cost somewhere above $20,000 and taking a look at the process shows why.
More: Bugatti Launches New Certified Pre-Owned Program For Chiron And Veyron
Simply accessing the spark plugs to replace them takes a delicate and careful touch as multiple body panels have to come off. The rear bumper actually stays on the car while almost every other rear body panel comes off. Then, a special rig is used to allow the service tech to lie down as they work atop the wide yet densely packed engine bay.
Even after all of these steps, it’s still not a simple job. Multiple layers of parts need to come off to gain access to the coil packs and plugs. The mechanic tells Carscoops that “The only way to get the coils out is to cut about a hundred zip ties and peal the engine harness away from the brackets, while not dropping anything into the abyss of the engine bay. Even with all that out of the way, the ignition coils of cylinders 6 and 13 hit the charge pipes, so those have to be moved out of the way as well.”
He went on to tell us that a Bugatti mechanic in Miami said that this job is a 40-to-50-hour job that typically requires the engine to come out. He managed it in about 35 hours. We doubt that the owner was wildly concerned about the total bill regardless but it’s interesting to hear how much time a skilled mechanic can cut out of a job.
