[T3] Bad day at the (FI) office

[Keith Park]

Your lambda sensor is in the wrong spot.
plugs look fine, use antiseize on the threads, not oil.
Oil burns right off, the antiseize will remain and then you'll never
have problems with the threads so long as you remove and install plugs when
its cold.

Keith


Topnotch Restorations
topnotch at nycap.rr.com
http://www.a383ina68.addr.com/radiorest/main.htm
71 Squareback  "Hothe"
65 Notchback  "El Baja Rojo"
93 RX7  "Redstur"
87 Golf  "Winterat"
 
-----Original Message-----
From: type3-vwtype3.org [mailto:type3-vwtype3.org-bounces at lists.vwtype3.org]
On Behalf Of Daniel Nohejl
Sent: Sunday, April 03, 2016 6:47 PM
To: type3 at vwtype3.org
Subject: Re: [T3] Bad day at the (FI) office

So on Friday after work, I had a minor issue in that the motor was
bucking/skipping under hard acceleration and seemed kind of inhibited in
general until it was warmed up. It was an unusually warm day for this time
of year...75* if that makes any difference. 

Naturally, I looked at the stupid AFR gauge but #'s were so rich that they
seemed impossible: between 7 and 9 whereas by most accounts I could find
online the car should have been undrivable, belching black smoke out the
exhaust. This got me thinking that perhaps the AFR gauge is having an issue.
We pulled the plugs yesterday and they were pretty clean but for #'s 1 and
4, both of which were half fouled and half white for some reason. If the
motor had been so rich, the plugs would no doubt have been fouled. We have
plenty experience of that from when we first got the car and before we
realized it had the wrong brain in it...the plugs would be jet black within
minutes of idling. Anyway, here are the plugs after we pulled them
yesterday:

http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1486226.jpg

In the end, we kept 2 and 3 and replaced 1 and 4. Of course something iffy
happened when re-installing the plugs...After installing #2, I couldn't
remove the socket because it kept fouling on the eyeglass tin so we had to
back out the plug again and it came out with a bit of metal on the end!! Not
tons, but enough to know that something wasn't right. However, we must
prayed to the right gods because we were ultimately able to get the plug
back in and snugged down using another socket. This was on a stone cold
motor and with a good amount of oil on the threaded part of the plug. I
guess anything can happen with old heads! I fear that the next time we
remove that plug, a bunch more threads will come out and we'll have to use
an insert. Perhaps we should just take a nice spring weekend day to pull the
head and do an insert before the hole goes bad at an inconvenient time!

So, regarding the alleged richness, I tried removing the TVS and full load
switch plugs as well as the wire from FI harness to the starter but that had
no effect on the AFR. I also went through all the tuneup stuff but the
valves and everything was fine.

We're now driving with the MPS more or less back to its original position
and no resistor on the CHTS. This has had only the slightest effect on AFR
but now the gauge is clearly under suspicion. Weird thing was that in
changing the MPS back, the idle AFR would lean out as expected and then
after a few minutes of driving would go back to very rich. I'm giving very
strong consideration to removing the AFR gauge and using other indicators to
evaluate how the motor is doing. 

Then, we finally got around to taking some videos of the rear end
bounce..one from each side. The left side squeaks noticeably when pushed on.
I got under the car while Jessica pushed on it and the squeak seems to be
coming from the shock. I'll have to remove the shock and see if the squeak
goes away or not. Otherwise, the trailing arm bushings look fine and nothing
else looked out of order though it wasn't too comfortable or roomy under the
car with someone pushing on it so maybe I'll have to look again. 


Right:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrW_Bkr3iHs

Left:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8i_9a_iZhI





_______________________________________________
VWType3.Org mailing list - type3 at vwtype3.org
To unsubscribe or change subscription options, visit:
http://lists.vwtype3.org/listinfo.cgi/type3-vwtype3.org
If you need more help, contact: gregm at vwtype3.org