[T3] cool weather idle hunt

Keith Park topnotch at nycap.rr.com
Tue Jan 17 18:17:31 PST 2017 

The ECU's are getting old. Capacitors in them may be starting to be an
issue.
I still drive mine 3 seasons about 6000 miles a year, and drive down to the
teen's before
They salt the roads, only had one issue with a control unit and that was a
broken leg on the fuel
Pump transistor.

If they salt where you drive, keep in mind that that dust gets EVERYWHERE...
And after 45+ years things may be
Getting pretty corroded in there, this stuff wasn't sealed anywhere near
what today's stuff is and way back when I drove the 73
Year round I had issues with corroded contacts in the FI every winter, and
back then they used much less salt
Than they do now and they didn't Brine back then either.  I wouldn't trust
the seal on the control unit anymore, its probably OK but....  The rubber is
getting pretty old now.

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" RIP
01 Sentra SE "Boremobile"
 

-----Original Message-----
From: type3-vwtype3.org [mailto:type3-vwtype3.org-bounces at lists.vwtype3.org]
On Behalf Of Daniel Nohejl
Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2017 8:56 PM
To: type3 at vwtype3.org
Subject: Re: [T3] cool weather idle hunt

***********************************
When replying, please consider trimming your message. Thanks! :)
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I found that Bob responded to me b/c I was using a work computer and had to
go to the archive to see if I had a response. Then, I logged into gmail and
found Bob's message in my spam folder with this notification 

http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1597117.jpg
<http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1597117.jpg>

Then, I added Bob to my contacts and his message showed up in my inbox. It
was roundabout, but it worked. Hopefully, his messages will go straight to
my inbox in the future. 

Anyway...as to the ECU..If plugging in a new one started the the engine up
and got me home and plugging, unplugging, and re-plugging the old one only
produced (or re-produced) a no-start situation, how could it not be an ECU
issue? I know the ECU is supposed to be "bullet proof", but I sent Jim a
bunch (5 IIRC) of ECU's with issues ranging from "won't start the motor" to
"doesn't ground the fuel pump" and only one was fixable. The ECU I removed
today was one I bought from Jim and installed in July and now it seems to
have "died" which leaves us with one backup ECU and that's one that Jim
repaired so that it would ground the fuel pump relay. 

I know people drive their FI cars every now and again and even in bursts of
many thousands of miles every two years for the Invasion and etc., but I
wonder if us driving our car in 4 seasons (with temps ranging from below 0
to over 100) has exposed a limitation in the electrical parts. We've put
over 21k miles on our car in the last year in 4 season driving if that
matters. 


Daniel





> On Jan 17, 2017, at 7:53 PM, Bobsnotch at aol.com wrote:
> 
> ***********************************
> When replying, please consider trimming your message. Thanks! :)
> ***********************************
> 
> In a message dated 1/17/2017 7:12:25 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, 
> d.nohejl at gmail.com writes:
> 
> ***********************************
> When replying, please  consider trimming your message. Thanks!  :)
> ***********************************
> 
> O, boy, what a  mess!
> 
> Car started fine this morning but idled very roughly when cold. I  
> made a note to myself to adjust idle and timing after work in case 
> changing  the AAR adjustment threw off the idle speed. I figured that 
> was possible  depending on where the AAR was set when I last did the idle.
> 
> After  getting off the highway on the way to work, the motor stalled 
> every time I  took my foot off the gas but for one time when the idle 
> stayed steady. After  work, it took five tries to start the car. Very 
> unusual as it always starts on  the first or second try. I pulled out 
> of the parking lot and stalled. I then  proceeded to stall every 
> single time I let my foot off the gas but it drove  perfectly well on 
> the highway. I got close to home and stalled at a light.  This time it 
> wouldn't start. It caught on one or two occasions but wouldn't  fully 
> fire up. Then, it'd crank and crank but nothing else. Of course it
started pouring rain after a few minutes...
> 
> Anyway, I checked the  following partly by myself and partly once 
> Jessica showed up (the benefit of  breaking down only 2 miles from
home).the list isn'
> t in sequence:
> 
> -fuel  pump relay clicked and pump primed when key was turned -FI 
> power relay  clicked when key was turned -MPS sensor plug wasn't loose 
> -all injector  plugs were secure -trigger points connector was secure 
> -injector grounds  and ECU ground at case center line all secure 
> -wires to generator were  secure -12V to black/white wires from FI 
> ground to T2 connector and 12V  from T2 connector to ECU -resistance 
> of both temp sensors was  fine -dwell was ok and everything in the 
> distributor looked fine -12V to  coil -took out the ECU and verified 
> that the plug wasn't loose
> 
> It  was pouring out and I was staring at the ECU laying there in the 
> cargo area  and decided to take the plunge b/c Jessica showed up with 
> one of our spare  ECU's. I plugged it in and the motor fired right up. 
> Just to confirm I wasn't  hallucinating, I tried the ECU I had just 
> removed. No start. Tried pressing on  the harness in case it was loose on
the card edge. No start.
> Put in the spare  ECU and it fired right up again and I drove home 
> without any problems!!
> 
> So all along my "intermittent warm idle lope" was the ECU  taking a 
> dump until it finally died?!?! Is that even a  thing??
> Well, I don't know if it's a sign of a dieing ECU, but it certainly  
> sounds like it's possible. At least having a spare ECU to put in and 
> get the  home helped. I guess you'd have to try the replacement ECU 
> for a couple of days to know for sure.
> 
> Bob 65 Notch  S with Sunroof
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