jacissmiling

Im running an FMIC with hardpipes now (and have been for quite a long time), but when I got the car it had the standard SMIC and pipes. So at least if the I/C hadn't been changed since when that happened to the old old turbo, the old IC is off the car now anyway. Although as above got that in the plan for this coming weekend to have good look at the core and double check there is nothing in any of the pipes. Dont see how it could be from my old turbo though, as the inlet side looked spot on - was just the exhaust side that disintegrated lol - even if it had been an errant bit of something that somehow sneaked through the air filter and turbo, it is lots of small bits spread across the cylinders rather than just one errant 'bit' that has made a mess of one cylinder. Cheers for the link to the engine though...but regrettably Ive no chance of being back on the road this side of Christmas :( No more overtime = very little money for the car :( Will keep an eye out though and if the engine is still there come the new year its only 60 miles away from me

Cheers Sepulchrave - knew it would be a simple reason lol...just a bit gutted lol :( Will get pricing everything up over the next few days - may even stick a few photos up this coming weekend when I get the pistons out the bores (weather permitting) - then set about turning the old engine into paper weights and furniture lol - as well as keeping good bits for spares lol. Cheers for all the help!

http://www.tool-net.co.uk/p-368221/sealey-vs162.html?gclid=CPiSz-iDlckCFSgFwwodqTsG7Q Something like this be roughly what is required? Or the above plus a quick run over with a finer ball hone?

Daft question...but why does the block need to be out to be able to hone it? Would it be possible to do it with the engine in the car? By just blocking off all coolant / oil passages and then having a glamorous assistant pour a steady stream of oil down the bore to keep things cool?

:'( Was hoping to avoid a new engine as it means Il need to rent an engine crane :( Do have a nice new shiny GT1756 hybrid that I put on the engine right enough, only had about 30 odd minutes run time so far...glad nothing came out the engine to kill it!!! Remember reading a piece a while back saying the SAE (society of automotive engineers) have found no benefit to honing a used bore when putting in new rings...which makes me wonder if i could get away without honing the bores...but I suspect with my luck id have engine that drank oil lol :s Seen ball hones that can be used for breaking the glaze too, don't suppose you've got any experience of them? Seen that they can be used just by running up and down the block attached to a hand drill...but never seen or used one myself :( ...If only id have bought an Alpha...i would have been expecting crazy **** like this lol :s

Interesting...(if that's the word) development this weekend...checked the big ends and they look as near as dammit new, so was pleasantly surprised on that front... ...lifted the head this afternoon and...well...its not good lol. Appears that shrapnel has embedded its self in each of the pistons and in the head :S Not from my turbo (which had its exhaust side only fail) - so presumably from the cars previous previous turbo... :S Minor alarm bells started ringing when I was replacing the turbo and found a few different sizes of nuts on the exhaust studs...so im guessing when the previous turbo was replaced on the cheap / quick - no one lifted the head to check the state of things... I'm now presuming that when I was driving a bit of shrapnel decided to leave the engine, damaged a valve and most definitely destroyed my old turbo :( Absolutely amazing to think that even with a home made map the car made 175 horses on a dyno and drove in that state of tune for approx. 15k miles... Question is...what do you think gents? Ive not taken the pistons out yet (next weekend as I was running out of daylight lifting the head :( ), so will have a look at the bores when I do - but if they look ok, then new head (or skim old one), new pistons and rings then jobs a good un? Will also check all the intercooler pipework and intercooler its self...find it hard to believe the engine could have ran in that state for so long...but seeing as its lots of small bits all spread across each cylinder im presuming whatever it was, was broken before it got into the engine - hence my thinking it may have been a previously burst inlet side of a turbo....

Had a few things on this weekend so didn't have any time to get going on the car :( The EGR is mapped out and blanked off - but that's a fair point - yet another reason to get rid of the EGR in my opinion lol. That's a good shout about a broken piston ring - if that left the engine could certainly have killed the exhaust side of the turbo...will post back my findings at the back side of next weekend once Ive dropped the sump and lifted the head - weather and time permitting lol. Cheers for the help guys, much appreciated!

Bit of an update... ...ended up not having time to drop the sump today (damn sunset just after 4 lol :s) - but instead did a compression test. On cylinders 1, 3 and 4 had 23 bar - but on cylinder 2 only had 12 :s Checked the cam timing on VCDS and it was floating around 0 at idle and 0 when held at a few different rpm's. Got the feeling Il have to take the head off...and drop the sump and see what state things are in. Will also have to start saving for many many stretch bolts :s Has anyone ever heard of a turbo going - at the same time as something in the head (valve / head gasket) and a big end? Had a 9 year old 2 stroke Italian motorbike in years past (Cagiva Planet) and amazingly it was actually more reliable than the damn Fabia :s - May have the most temperamental Fabia that ever rolled out the factory lol...

Turbo only had the exhaust side wheel 'explode' lol. The inlet side wheel seemed more or less fine, doesn't appear that the oil seals in the turbo let go. Would that still cause a drop in oil pressure with the turbo no longer spinning? But cheers for the above, will try have a look at the big ends on Friday afternoon! Couple photos of the old turbo... ...another KKK turbo bites the dust lol.

Hi Guys, Looking for a bit of help! A couple weeks back the cars turbo blew. I was lucky (if that's the word) in that the turbine wheel exploded, but the compressor wheel on the inlet was in near perfect condition. After the turbo had blown the engine was still running, but had a bit of a strange knocking noise coming from it that wasn't there before. Couldn't really pin down what the noise was...but rightly or wrongly decided to myself that it was the combination of worn cam and followers and blown turbo making the noise more obvious. Anyway - car now has a new turbo on, new cam, new followers and new timing belt too. Got its first start last night and it still has a bad knocking noise. https://youtu.be/1S2VCrPaFio Any one here have any ideas? Starting to wonder if its the big end...any opinions anyone? Also, does anyone here know if it is possible to get to the big end bearing caps with the sump off - but engine still in the car? Was wondering if I can get away with removing the head and sump - then doing the big end bearings. Was also wondering if it is possible to take off the main crank bearing caps and have a look at the condition of them, again with the engine and gearbox still in the car? Would rather not do the main crank bearings as that involves dropping the gearbox + subframe etc etc, but appreciate doing the rod bearings and not the main bearings may be cutting corners somewhat... Have dropped the subframe before when I did the clutch and while it was doable - it was a lot of ballache and certainly not something im in any rush to do again! Any help greatly appreciated! Thanks, Jac

Not had a look lately, but as far as I remember I don't think there is quite enough meat on the arm for the tie rod to get another hole closer to the centre. Been having a look at other hub carriers, but haven't seen anything that looks like a winner yet...will keep hunting amongst the other VAG cars...would be easier if they had design or fabrication drawings for them I could find...then all the measurements would be done and easy to see whats what haha! I think a fairly simple bit of metal work...nothing as clever looking as the super steer...could do the job. So long as the attachment stays still relevant to the hub carrier (i.e. cannot rotate with reference to the hub carrier) (hence the brake calliper bolt on the above device) could work. Will keep looking around...maybe even try talk my way into a workshop for an afternoon one day to see what can be done haha!

Hi Guys, Have seen on the forum that for the likes of the Octavia's, it is possible to install an R32 steering rack in order to quicken up the steering. But in the case of a Fabia, no other rack is a 'bolt on' way to quicken the steering. http://blog.perrinperformance.com/50/ Just came across the above link to a device that quickens the steering by moving the track rod connection point on the hub, a little closer to the centre / pivot point of the hub, and hence quickens the steering (and presumably makes the steering a little heavier and allows for more lock (although might end up causing rubbing I guess)). Any of you guys came across anything similar or done anything similar before? ...cant imagine it to be too hard of a device to make...

Ah that's good! Have never played about too much with microcontrollers or C, didn't know that functionality could come already in place! Everything I done before was either old school analogue, quasi modern analogue IC's or via an atmega chip coded on an arduino lol (spot the idiot who codes like a monkey lol) :p As I say excited to see this complete as every morning I drive to work whilst cursing the cost of having a diesel rather than petrol hot hatch lol.

With previous things Ive built for the bike (shift lights, rev counter and quick shifter) Ive had pretty good success using discrete voltage regulators. They are fairly cheap and can take a fairly large input voltage range and output a reasonably clean 5V. Shunt capacitors and or a series inductor can help with noise rejection on the 5V supply rail too - but in all but the rev counter circuit, I never had any real trouble with 5V rail noise. I havnt even had to bother with a heatsink with them either as the current draw for the control circuitry is way down in the couple of mA region. Not sure what the closing / holding current of the relays is, but if 5V isn't enough then as you had suggested before, using mosfets or similar to switch the v+ of the car, but with the control circuitry supplied by the 5V rail, might be an option. Only way Id guess to monitor the battery voltage would be to have again another fixed voltage source (quite a few discrete components or IC's available for such) and an op-amp comparator circuit. i.e. comparing supply voltage (the terminal 30 connection straight onto the circuit board would be ok id guess) as well as that fixed voltage generated from the fixed voltage source. As you say though, I guess the battery voltage isn't the best solution for monitoring load. Getting the microcontroller to monitor the DFM duty cycle would defo be good! Il be keeping an eye on this thread excited for when Wino and yourself have it all sorted!

Glad to hear it looks normal! Was just surprised as to how rough the tips looked...but that said...after 100k of having diesel sprayed onto them at hundreds of bar, I suppose they do take a bit of a beating! But good point Wino, I hadn't quite thought it through! New plugs in and cold starts are now much better with no unburnt diesel coming out the pipe immediately after a start either

Crickey, bit of a strange one! Only guesses left would be the connector at the alternator for the signal wire, or the alternator / voltage regulator its self :s ...got a spare one you can try per chance lol?

Hi guys, This evening I changed my glowplugs to cure a bit of a rough starting issue on cold starts on cold mornings. Pleased to say its cold again this evening and problem solved In looking at the old glowplugs however, a bit of a strange wear pattern is apparent. It looks like you can see where the injected fuel is spraying onto the glowplug tip. My question is...is this normal? Or is it a sign of injectors that are possibly showing some wear on the nozzles and hence the spray pattern changing a bit? Glowplugs (for all I know) have been in the car from the start, quite heavy corrosion on the outside, so they have certainly been there a while, but don't know how long. Car is nearly at 100k miles just now. Thanks, Jac

Is that for the anti-slip / anti-skid control on the car? Had a similar issue on mine for the electronic stability control, turned out to be a non compatible wheel hub. The speed sensor ring on it wasn't compatable with the wheel speed sensor. Wheel bearing happened to be faulty at the time, changed it and the problem was gone.

@Wino - Nice one, that's interesting! Cheers for that! Been thinking about it all afternoon, now got plans to build one out of nosiness lol. Triangle oscillator, op amp comparator, switching device of some sort (likely a MOSFET for ease) and I think its quite doable Back on topic though, did some more digging through the current flow diagrams, not sure how I kept missing it this afternoon but found the full current path now Have attached a rough sketch (via paint) from the current flow diagrams. Matches the links you provided in post #99, with the F268 switch essentially being the start of the chain. Once that switch is closed and the other conditions (monitored by J248 - engine speed, alternator load, coolant temp and external temp) are all met, then the far side of the relays see 0V and they close allowing power to the ptc heaters. The wiring between each 'shouldnt' be too taxing...BUT...im not sure if the ECU will allow such without some coding mods... 'shouldnt' as anyone who has ever looked im sure will agree that trying to start wiring up a car with mods / attachments to the original loom can at best be time consuming...and at worst mega ballache!!! Pages (for further reference) from the current flow diagrams are: 53/22, 10/7 and 10/10. EDIT: But as I said before, to be honest I actually much prefer the idea of it being controlled via the rear window heat button with a low volt hold off! As I cant help but imagine really the only time Id get proper use out of it would be cold mornings to help warm the car up to a comfortable state and help defrost it...i.e the sort of times you need to use the rear window heat button!

@Wino - Yeah its from the very last link with the .rar file. Another good one is the electrica.pdf that there too, quite useful to say the least! Not actually sure whos mediafire page it is...but big thanks to them! Hence why I linked the original briskoda thread that I found them in lol. I think my car must have been an experimental model where they let the lads from lambo have a go at wiring it...had more electrical faults than you can shake a stick at haha! ...turns out being an electrical engineer isn't glamorous...but it does save a fortune in garage bills and saves me having to call an auto electrician every time something else goes wrong haha! Havnt found where 60, 61 or 41 end up yet (im at work too) but when I do will post it up (unless someone beats me to it lol). EDIT: Ah that's interesting as to DFM! Maybe not an smps as 150Hz seems rather low for a switching frequency...not strictly relevant...but wonder how it derives its duty cycle in relation to load current...something to investigate when its warmer I think! EDIT 2: http://www.motoplat.nl/Tech%20Info/DFM%20Explanation.pdf Next time I post il make sure its strictly on topic! Turns out the DFM signal is just based on pwm of the rotor excitation current! The above seems to fit nicely with what you found Wino with your Polo. ECU then just looks at this signal and can infer the load factor of the alternator. Thought 150Hz was a bit low for a switching frequency...but that said the required output of the alternator is DC...so I don't suppose AC generated power quality actually matters so long as the alternator holds its output at a reasonably clean 14.5V(DC) (or whatever the nominal voltage of the car is).

Ah ok, I wondered as much from reading earlier posts in the thread - that unless it came out the factory that way...none of the required bits will be there :( Last time I was looking at the relay holder for the glow plug relay I cant remember if they were there...but as above....doesn't seem likely :( From the current flow diagrams, it shows that the relays connect to points 60 and 61... ...had a quick look through earlier and couldn't find it...but if those points could be found then a full on OEM style solution could be done... ...subject to the coding being present on the ECU to allow it right enough...but again as before...im not sure how likely that would be :( Like your solution you guys came up with though! It more or less mimics the OEM setup with the hold off on low voltage instead of alternator load factor. And as before, I prefer the idea of it being button controlled rather than it being dependant upon coolant temp and heater temp control knob posn. In reference to the above, have attached another diagram showing the current flow diagram for the alternator. As Wino said, It would appear that 'D' is just a start permissive signal, with 'DFM' being the voltage regulator output signal. Will try do some digging, but id guess if a small switched mode DC/DC convertor were present, it may output a square wave with the duty cycle being related to the alternator load factor (i.e. high amps - high duty cycle as the smps tries to keep the terminal voltage at nominal) - or if the alternator were of the non permanent magnet type, this may be a signal taken off of the voltage regulator which controls the alternator rotor excitation - in which case I imagine the signal will be just a varying DC voltage (i.e. high amps, higher signal voltage from the higher rotor excitation current). As I said before, bit cold outside and I don't have a garage so I wont be going hunting for relays that most likely arnt there...and im afraid I cant get my 70's relic of an oscilloscope outside lol, but will have a look through the current flow diagrams tonight and try find the 60, 61 and 41 cable continuation references to see where they end up too!

Hi Guys, Might be a little bit late to the party with this, but have recently been thinking about this and found the current flow diagrams showing the oem setup, more for reference than anything else of course...as to be honest I prefer the idea of being able to control it using the rear window defrost button haha! It shows relays 8 & 9 are the low and high (or preheat / staging relays) used to supply the ptc heaters. Additionally it shows that in relay slot 10, 3 fuses (40A each) are used to protect each heater and associated cabling. Ive not had a chance to check (and with the weather just now - unlikely to get a chance to check until the temp improves) but if relays 8 and 9, as well as the 3 fuse carrier in relay slot 10 are already installed, it might be possible to just get away with buying the ptc heater... Has anyone had any luck and seen if relays 8 and 9 are there? And if 3 slots for 3 fuses are in relay slot 10? Also, link to the place where I found the current flow diagrams and lots more - http://www.mediafire.com/?32vct1hmvx1rz Taken from this thread - http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/117337-excellent-free-service-manuals/ Jac.

Quick Update. This afternoon checked the wiring at the ecu end, pins 111 (green wire) and 103 (brown wire). Brown (-ve) is totally fine and when the ignition is on shows continuity with -ve on the battery (as expected). Green wire on the other hand has a break in it somewhere inbetween the temp sensor and the ecu connector... ...seeing as they are a twisted pair all the way through the loom and bound with tape it wont be quite as simple as cutting one end of the existing wire, and puling a new length of wire through using the old wire... so will either open up the whole loom and find the break and repair it...or connect up a new length of wire and try find a semi decent route for it! Thanks rwbaldwin for the help with what ecu pin to start looking at

Yeah thats the range I had for the sensor, chucked it in a cup of hot water later on last night and the value dropped away to a couple of hundred ohms as expected. As for the continuity checks I used the old pikey method of making a very tiny nick in the insulation and checking the continuity from that point to the temp sensor connector, then potting and taping back up the nick. Portion I checked last night was fine. My next question was what is the ecu pinout but youve already beat me too i haha! Thanks for the help Will report back with any findings

Hi Guys, Got my Fabia VRS a little while ago and it had the EML on. Couple of days ago had a look with the fault code reader and got the (apparently common) 17571 fuel temp sensor short to +ve / open error. Had a check of the sensor and it seemed fine, had a check of the wiring physically and performed a continuity test over the short length that sticks out the main loom and its fine too. Bought a new sensor and popped it on tonight...and the error keeps coming back. So before I go opening up the whole wiring loom and checking the wire physically and electrically over its full length...is their anyway possible the map on the car the now (non standard map) could be causing the issue? Turned the ignition on and have 0V between the 2 connector pins on the loom and 0V between either pin and -ve on the battery. So as far as I can work out, the ECU either has a software or hardware error with it...or the +ve wire to the sensor has a break in it somewhere...but not in the little bit of wire that sticks out the main loom :( Thanks in advance for any help!