RobClubley

Every time I open the garage it gives me a thrill. https://fb.watch/2lrc7V6mxu/

No parks at work. Off-roading time? Kinda.

There's the Kiwi sticker in the back window.Inspired by your good self. Not quite the same thing. You can see it in the one with my sleepy daughter.

300km round trip up to Manfeild yesterday with my daughter. The car ran really well, even when stuck in 40 minutes of stop-start traffic on the way back. I definitely have an exhaust leak which might be what's causing the overboosting/4k rev cut. Which meant we had to have the windows and sunroof shut and rely on the fan. It got a bit hot. But a great day, and we got to do a couple of lunchtime cruise laps around the circuit which was awesome.

2/3 of a tank, $150. Ouch.

I don't wonder I know! If I started again I'd have the engine out, loom out, rewire and fix. But that seemed like a step too far at first as it appeared to be a relatively working car.

Just over 200 miles covered since the WoF. I think I've fixed the Check Oil Level warning, and as far as I can tell it was just poor contacts on the relay as since the last time I pulled the relay out and put it back a couple of times doing diagnostics, the oil light is off and the warning has stopped during driving. Now she natters about checking brake pads (the wires from the pads don't have anywhere to plug into) and occasionally tells me brake lights not working (they are) and please refuel. Talking of fuel I recon I've averaged about 14.5l/100km, but lots of school runs and stuff. My speedo and a few other bits stopped working the other day. After a bit of mucking about I traced it to a broken earth wire on the relay that activates my little switched life fuse box that powers a few bits and bobs. Including the speedo sender. I had a hissing in the footwell after a drive up to drop the ozone generator off. The pipe the ECU uses to measure boost had split at the end and fallen off. Then finally I did the school run yesterday and turned the key to go home.. nothing, totally dead. I traced that to a failure of my own - when fixing the boost pipe issue I'd pushed a wire out of the way a little, just enough for it to catch on the steering column, wrap around and snap the wire. The one that leads to the starter relay. Kneeling on the ground in the rain and wind rigging a temporary fix to get home was not much fun!! I've done some better cable management and cable-tying now.

I love the look of these tyre valves, but this one decided it would only let air out when the cover stuck in place. Bugger that, changed back to a standard valve 🙂 Thanks to Jason at The Tyre Clinic Porirua for sorting it and not charging for the privilege.

Stopped for a quick phone snap on the way North to Kapiti Hire.

Hoping this will help with the old car smell ! A bit of extra lowering with 140kg of builder's mix in the boot Also, some nice cars at cars and coffee yesterday.

I found a wiring diagram for 84 Patrizia which agrees with what I have and my loom, and only has the one low pressure sensor. Bit of progress. At 4000ish RPM I'm hitting 12PSI of boost. Factor manual says max boost should be no more than 10.2PSI. So maybe I have the wrong wastegate spring. Or wastegate isn't working correctly.

Damn that was close! Gauges for diagnostic purposes... Professional install bro. The good news is oil pressure is good. Patrizia still warns about oil pressure even when disconnected from the pressure switch. The switch opens when engine has pressure, so if Patrizia was warning based only on this switch she should have shut up with it disconnected. Need a co pilot to check boost levels safely.

I went back to re-check and the sensor that I pulled out with wiring repairs is the one that tests as working with the LED method. That's the speed sensor. The other sensor lower down is the TDC sensor. Wiring continuity is good to the connector from the ECU plug, and the engine won't fire with TDC sensor disconnected, so it is doing something, but it fails the LED test.

I re-checked the intake air temp sensor - wiring is good to the computer and showing 22 ohms across the terminals. I also replaced the dodgy looking terminals to the throttle switch and checked continuity and operation of both switches. Then I found this http://www.audiurquattro.de/ecu/check.htm To check the speed sensor, remove the plug from the ecu and connect an LED across terminals 11 and 24.Crank the engine over with the starter. If the Led flickers on cranking the sensor AND wiring are good. All good Checking the reference sensor is similar. Connect the LED across terminals 12 and 13 of the ecu connector. Crank the engine over, the led should flicker. If it doesn't, check the wiring. This one didn't flicker. Once I pulled it out it appeared the wiring was damaged on the sensor. So maybe this is the source of the problem.

Rusty will not be a garage queen!

First drive! Some random pics from around Wellington. Lots still to sort out but I have a usable car now, and a baseline to go forwards. Very happy indeed. Hmm...

I am very excited

Abs light goes on, light goes off, must be fixed. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2888272174738098

This is one way to fix it... Not that I'd do that of course. Little school run test drive.

Ahhhh, f$%k it. Re-seating the sensors again and for the first time I noticed this. Damaged rear speed sensor. Of course these things are rarer than rocking horse poo and the one I've found on Ebay is extortionately priced. Also it looks like there's at least one tooth missing from the hub at that side.

It's always good to receive car parts. Great service as always from Classic Quattros That missing accelerator cable clip, proper door pins and seals, temperature sensor and a few other bits.

I was in Ohakune this weekend so popped over to Smash Palace for a little pick over the Coupes they have there. Got a nice condition dash surround and some spare switches. I went there about 3 years ago and pulled quite a few parts off the white Coupe Quattro but didn't have enough cash for everything. They put a pair of Frankani tail lights aside for me and I planned to collect them soon after. When I called back they couldn't find the lights, they were somewhere upstairs, which as you can see from the photos is a rather packed Aladdin's cave of car parts. I called a year or so later and had a look myself, no luck, so I assumed they had been sold to someone. This time I thought I'd have one more look, and after 15 minutes going over every shelf with my phone torch, right at the end I spotted them on the floor! Absolute score, and they're better than the ones I have, except for a hairline crack on the side of one. But I am very pleased!

Clips on the way from Classic Quattros. Tested the resistance of the ABS sensors - fronts 1050 and 1058, rears 1117, 1122. So pretty close. Spinning the wheels changes readings very slightly. With ignition on I'm getting 11.2v to the switched live on the ABS, which could be a part of the issue. Not sure why but slightly low voltage seems to be common around the car even though the battery is good. I removed and re-seated the 4 sensors again. Wasn't sure the front left was in properly so I put the car back on the ground and went for a test drive. AS soon as I get over 30kph the ABS disables.

Driving Rusty reminded me about the rather annoying rev cut about 4000rpm and I decided to have a quick look at it using this guide. http://www.intendedacceleration.com/tip_2.html Well the idle switch works, and the air intake temp sensor, but the metal leaf on the full load switch was bent meaning it would never switch, and I'm missing the throttle adjuster clip (my mistake I'm sure) which means I can't actually apply full throttle. The full load switch isn't connected to the ECU so that's not the issue, everything else seems to check out. Next step, more tests: https://audifans.com/mirror/www.isham-research.co.uk/quattro/wiring/Typ85/mac01pin.html I've also jacked up the car and put it on stands to test out the ABS more fully. Watch this space!

On the way home from Auto Brake and Clutch. No changes made yet, parts on the way, will take some time soon to do more troubleshooting. It looks so small next to a Ranger. 29 miles covered in the last week, more than the previous year.