Changed burnt battery fuse box, now undrivable

[Sissipaska]

So going to work a couple of days ago my 2003 vrs started jerking and the dash warning lights lit up like a Christmas tree. Everything electrical died at the same moment and the alternator charge light lit up. I turned the car off and found my alternator B+ cable burnt atop the battery fuse box.

Today I changed the cable to a new AWG 3 cable and bought a new fuse box from the stealers and changed it. Car started fine and idled nicely but after driving for 1 km the car threw a ABS/ASR light, a check engine light and started juddering and went into limp mode.

The alternator cable is fine and cold to the touch.

I have recently sawed off my backbox in preparation for a turbo-back exhaust.

Last Monday I treated my car to a bottle of Liqui Moly Pro Line complete fuel system cleaner.

I have checked my vacuum pipes, cleaned my TB, changed my spark plugs.

Car is standard engine wise apart from a Pipercross panel filter.

Someone with an idea what the problem could be? Could it be the alternator even though the charge light doesn't come on? Has the fuel cleaner f'ed my injectors?

Going to have it diagnosed on Monday.

Thanks in advance.

Edited 13 August, 2016 by Hasselhoax

[Tech1e]

Have you recalibrated your throttle body?

[Sissipaska]

Well, thought about that but I haven't. Or, I did when I cleaned the TB last year but not since this weeks breakdown.

[Saints92]

A firm believer in there being no coincidences in car repairs. I'd always look back at the very last job you done, which was the fuse box, are they all okay? Is everything tight?

[Sissipaska]

Yeah absolutely but I have checked and rechecked everything and all is as it should.

I'm thinking alternator or injectors at this point. The fuel cleaner shouldn't mess with the injectors. I'm going to check the MAF sensor tomorrow.

[Breezy_Pete]

Do what Tech1e suggests, if you have VCDS.

[Sissipaska]

Do what Tech1e suggests, if you have VCDS.

 

Thanks guys. So I checked the TB again and cleaned the sensor from some buildup. The TB is nice and closed at 0 throttle. I put on my spending pants and ordered a hex+can USB cable + VCDS.

 

I also found that the MAF sensor had a lot of water on it for some reason. Cleaned that off but from what I can see there's some corrosion on the sensor so I've ordered a new one as well. There were no splits in the pipes so I will have to check it again in a couple of days. After cleaning and reassembling the check engine light went away and I could drive the car for 5 km. After stopping to refuel the light came back but the car doesn't seem to judder anymore.

 

According to my cars plan to have every bit changed I found the oil dipstick tube to be cracked so that one needs to be replaced to. Could that be the culprit in this case?

 

Not much to do but to wait for the VCDS software to arrive and check what's going on.

[Sissipaska]

I cleaned my old MAF sensor and housing with isopropanol to see if it would work better but the car runs fine even with the MAF unplugged.

 

Edit: cleaning the MAF sensor didn't work. I'm pretty sure changing it will solve the running issue.

Edited 16 August, 2016 by Sissipaska

[Sissipaska]

I guess my car has gotten some extra ventilation lately (crankcase breather pipe)

 

 

Sorry for the crappy photo, the company I work for is doing so well that they can't replace my broken phone :clap:

Edited 18 August, 2016 by Sissipaska

[Sissipaska]

Got my VCDS software and cable yesterday. Today I scanned the car.

 

- Multiple intermittent/low voltage B+ issues due to bad B+ cable. That one is already sorted so those were old fault codes.

- Air flow mass meter faulty. New one arrived yesterday and will be fitted soon.

- SAI circuit open fault. Will do the SAI, N249/N211 delete soon. It really comes in handy to have a father who works with PCB cad design and assembly so I get "good" (read free) prices on all electrical components.

 

i can't test drive the car because I have a few VAC/breather pipes wich need to be sorted.

 

Other than that nothing except for an electric circuit failure for the headlight range control motors (now I know why I can only see about 10 m ahead of the car) and internal code module memory errors for ABS and headlights.

[karlbar2k]

Vac leaks all over when I first had mine. One thing to do when changing the small vac lines is to add in extra one way check valves. I used metal fuel line one way valves and they worked a treat and got me the last 2psi to get peak back up to 20

[karlbar2k]

Forgot to mention that the vac lines also leak boost hence the check valves

[Sissipaska]

So this week I have changed the MAF, removed SAI, fitted a new turbo back exhaust with a 200 cell cat and changed a few split vacuum and breather pipes. Knock on wood, it seems to have cured my problems. VCDS reported a faulty MAF so that was probably the main problem but also the crankcase breather pipe going to the t-connector under the intake manifold was completely split open. New silicone hoses from Creations Motorsport fixed that.

So far so good...

Edited 26 August, 2016 by Sissipaska