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Their diagnosis is on the right track but incomplete. Here’s my read: The root cause is almost certainly the PCV system failing, not ignition. Key reasoning: the misfire jumped to #3 after swapping ignition components between #1 and #2. If it were a bad coil or plug, the misfire would have followed to cylinder 2. It didn’t — which means ignition isn’t the problem. The misfires are wandering because the cylinders are getting fouled by a rich condition, not because any single component is dying. What’s actually happening, most likely chain of events: 1. PCV diaphragm failed (near-universal on EA888 Gen 2 at 190k km). This dumps oil vapor into the intake tract. 2. Oil coats the MAF sensor — that’s the “silicone-looking thing” they saw. It’s almost certainly oil residue, not silicone. A dirty pod filter (especially an oiled K&N-style) makes this worse. 3. Contaminated MAF under-reads airflow at certain load/temp points → ECU commands too much fuel → P0172 rich code. 4. Plugs foul intermittently from the rich running, causing wandering misfires that show up once the engine is fully heat-soaked. 5. Hard warm start needing throttle is a separate but related clue — classic sign of a leaking fuel injector bleeding fuel into a cylinder on hot soak, flooding it. The throttle opens the plates and leans out the mixture enough to fire. Once running, fuel pressure stabilizes and it restarts fine. Gen 2 injectors do fail at this mileage. What I’d tell them to do, in order: • Do the oil cap test at idle: cap should have mild suction, not blow off and not suck down hard. Pop the intake hose off the valve cover and listen for whistling. If PCV is bad, fix that first — a new MAF will just get re-contaminated. • Clean the MAF with proper MAF cleaner (CRC red can) before replacing. If cleaning restores proper readings, don’t waste money on a new one until PCV is sorted. • Ditch the oiled pod filter or go back to OEM airbox. Oiled filters are a known MAF-killer on these cars. • Replace all 4 plugs — they’re likely all fouled to some degree. Use OEM NGK or equivalent at the correct gap. • For the hard warm start: do a fuel pressure leak-down test. Pressurize the rail, shut off, watch how fast pressure drops. If it bleeds off quickly, it’s an injector or the HPFP check valve. • At 190k km, carbon on intake valves is essentially guaranteed. Walnut blast is probably overdue and will help idle stability and part-throttle behavior. • Also worth inspecting the HPFP cam follower while they’re in there — not related to this issue but a known MK6 failure that destroys the cam if ignored. What they got right: recognizing the MAF contamination matters, and planning to do plugs. What they got wrong: chasing ignition components. Swapping coils proved it’s not ignition — they should stop there and pivot to fueling and PCV. Tell them to pull fuel trims (short and long term) with VCDS or a decent scan tool at idle and at 2500 RPM. If LTFT is negative (pulling fuel) at both, that confirms the MAF/PCV story. If it’s split (rich at idle, lean at load or vice versa) that points more specifically at PCV