Electrical gremlins

[spanneredmonkey 0]

well I just got back from overseas with work and my rado has got I think two sperate electrical snags

 

1 it takes ages to heat up the engine, it struggles above 70 and munches petrol like billyo I think I am getting about 7 mpg (i think this is the blue temp sensor.... but could do with a confirmation of this)

 

2 the indicators are intermittent and its killing off flasher units at a rate of knots the hazzards work all fine but the indicators work when they feel like it,

 

anyone shed some light on any of these probs would be much appreiated

[domwells27 0]

well I just got back from overseas with work and my rado has got I think two sperate electrical snags

 

1 it takes ages to heat up the engine, it struggles above 70 and munches petrol like billyo I think I am getting about 7 mpg (i think this is the blue temp sensor.... but could do with a confirmation of this)

 

2 the indicators are intermittent and its killing off flasher units at a rate of knots the hazzards work all fine but the indicators work when they feel like it,

 

anyone shed some light on any of these probs would be much appreiated

 

My indicators were fooked for a while. Turned out to be the stalk itself,same as you hazards worked fine.

[Album56 0]

Blue temp sensor is easy to test if you have a multimeter, on the ohms range it should test approx 2000-3000ohms when cold & approx 200ohms hot, they do go open circuit which fools the ECU into thinking the engine is cold even when its hot which kills your mpg not to mention lambda & cat.

[dannyboy 0]

I agree with the above but check your thermostat too.mines overcooling too at the moment so car never really leaves cold enrichment mode hence overfuelling.

Seems to be the thermostat isnt closing fully or is one of the lower degree types.

 

had the indicator stalk prob too.got some electrical cleaner on the contacts as its was covered in grease.easy fix

[spanneredmonkey 0]

cheers guys, I have been doing some tinkering this morning...

 

the blue sensor starts off at about 6kil ohms, and drops to 700 ohms when hot/warm, the needle in the car struggles above 70 and stays there, even with some spirited driving on the airfield, what does the yellow one control?

 

followed the wiring for the thermostat on the radiator, and it only seems to be connected to the battery and the fan..... does that get connected into the system anywhere else?

 

I will have a look at the huffy indicators later, thanks for your help so far guys

[spanneredmonkey 0]

whoo hoo, after a long battle I managed to swap over the thermostat!, man thats buried...it took me ages of swearing and cursing to get that blighter out! done that and swapped the blue sensor...took less than 2 mins

now she warms up straight to 90 ish bosh.... still over fueling though I have had a thought about that

 

I disconnected my battery when I was over seas from Oct/Nov (to save the alarm draining it|)is there a procedure you need to go through for the ecu when you plug it back in?

would me doing it incorrectly cause an over fueling prob?

[dannyboy 0]

no theres no procedure to plug the ecu back in other than obvious disconnect the battery first.

Youll have to ask the guys about motronic,if it has a learn function(not sure about it).some ecus do and plugging it for some time will delete all the learned periameters.all you need to do is drive it to get it to relearn

 

wouldnt cause you to overfuel,just remember its cold this time of year and engine dumps more fuel in to warm up.

 

glad to see thermostat helped

[spanneredmonkey 0]

ok I think I have airlocked the cooling system, it warms up nic3e then the water level light comes on and i find its boiled over and chucked half the coolant on the deck. the top pipe is warm but not red hot bottom pipe is cold, anyone shed any light on it?

 

fixed the indicators de greased satis many thanks for the tip

[dannyboy 0]

not to insult your intelligence but did you put the thermostat the right way around?

[spanneredmonkey 0]

same way it came out, spring into the housing?

[dannyboy 0]

give me a minute and ill double check thats correct.

 

yeah its spring end faces towards front of the car(towards the sensor housing),it is a vr6 i presume?

[spanneredmonkey 0]

yeah its a vr6, the way it pressurises is like it may be jammed or airlocked, its a pain just as i fix one thing another happens

 

at the mo it get up to around 90 on the car guage if i leave the cap off it bubbles over the top, i was trying make sure it was bled thats when i seen the prob,

[dannyboy 0]

massage the hose of the rad by squeezing quickly then slowly releasing.found this way gets coolant into the rad. its prob caused by the thermostat get hot on one side only so not opening properly hence coolant not activing the thermo switch.

 

get coolant round whole system and should solve your prob

[spanneredmonkey 0]

cool will give that a try, if not its gonna be another shouting session ion the snow taking the whole lot apart to test the thermostat, which I should have done to start with! thanks for your help

[dannyboy 0]

Well look at it this way,im doing mine tomorrow if i can get to work after 27 inches of snow hit the ground

 

then into a freezing cold shed and get scoulded by hot coolant

[spanneredmonkey 0]

fairplay though I may nick the hangar keys tomorrow if this snow carries on plus its costing me a fortune in antifreeze...I wish I had a work shop manual may speed up some of these jobs!! I may get it down to under an hour for the assembly off changed and back in :-) good luck with your tomorrow!

 

ps your refill method? top hose or reservoir?

[dannyboy 0]

Get some AL39 in there, i use it in my g60.used it in all my vws and never had a prob.

 

p.m me i can sort you out something reference work shop manual

[spanneredmonkey 0]

damn and blast t6o hell!!! I had the thermostat out and it was u/s on fit, got another one, sorted now the stat on the radiator that turns the fan on is tits! and I have snapped my door handle....why oh why did i friggin decide to start this job! and to boot I have had my Afghan dates pulled forward cause some in an office in oxford-shire is a f@~Kwit, now i need to get it all tip top and shiney by tuesday!!! anyone got a repair kit for a handle or a handle thgat I vcan have off them asap in the surrey/hants area?

[dannyboy 0]

Man you think thats bad,ive been D!(ked to go to batus for winter repair for four months. and its colder than germany!!! Its great being a bullet and tour dodger!! :rambo:

 

Do they have them repair kits on ebay for the door handle.Thats why i love corrados,fix one thing-another five things break :bonk:

[spanneredmonkey 0]

Batus wont be too bad cold but they have beer :-) , always fancied a tour there, pity they dont do chinney stuff there! Elcentro is ok, but I could have done with more than 10 days in the UK... 1060 days in ops in 7 years is taking the rip to be honest....that and a motor i love thats infested with gremlins at the mo lol!! and the Caddy is playing up...gotta love old Vw's