MAJOR LOSS OF POWER

[MARTI]

MONO

Thanks for link to Maplins - the convertor & driver software work fine.

Regards
MARTI

[phade]

Hi Marti,

The most common cause of the inlet manifold pressure being intermittent is fractured plastic vacuum pipes and/or vacuum hoses. One of mine had completely shattered as soon as I touched it !!

One quick question. Have you replaced relay 30 ? That can cause the car throw up random errors (I've seen this on a couple of 1600i s I have looked at so far).

Another thing I have noticed about the engine oil temperature sender (I saw that error on the last 1600i I looked at a couple of weeks ago) is that it requires oil for it to work properly (oil wasn't going to the cylinder head on his engine). Have a quick look at the engine oil temperature sender and see if there is any oil on the sender (inside the cylinder head) its self.

If replacing relay 30 doesn't cure the fault then the only thing I can suggest (in terms of the engine running properly at first and then dies after it's warmed up) is to replace the hall sender inside the distributor (or alternatively replace the distributor its self).

I had a faulty engine oil temperature sender and a faulty hall sender on my 1600i, which took nearly 2 months to find that fault, despite using my VAG1552 to try and trace the fault (eg. "No fault recognised").

Let me know how you get on.

Cheers,

Phil

[MARTI]

[quote="phade"]Hi Marti,

The most common cause of the inlet manifold pressure being intermittent is fractured plastic vacuum pipes and/or vacuum hoses. One of mine had completely shattered as soon as I touched it !!

One quick question. Have you replaced relay 30 ? That can cause the car throw up random errors (I've seen this on a couple of 1600i s I have looked at so far).

Another thing I have noticed about the engine oil temperature sender (I saw that error on the last 1600i I looked at a couple of weeks ago) is that it requires oil for it to work properly (oil wasn't going to the cylinder head on his engine). Have a quick look at the engine oil temperature sender and see if there is any oil on the sender (inside the cylinder head) its self.

If replacing relay 30 doesn't cure the fault then the only thing I can suggest (in terms of the engine running properly at first and then dies after it's warmed up) is to replace the hall sender inside the distributor (or alternatively replace the distributor its self).

I had a faulty engine oil temperature sender and a faulty hall sender on my 1600i, which took nearly 2 months to find that fault, despite using my VAG1552 to try and trace the fault (eg. "No fault recognised").


HI PHADE

The vagcom doesn't suggest distributor, but I will attempt to replace - haven't done this before so probably take me some time - at least I've got the tools & parts now. I wanted to avoid this if at all possible - since it's more awkward for a novice like myself & risk screwing-up something which was set at the factory. However, time is running out for this car and I'll take my chances.

To answer your questions, the relay 30 has been replaced. The tubes look fine (to be honest, I don't know how they work, but look like new). The oil temperature sender had oil on it when I removed the old one.
The engine oil level on the dip stick is just slightly below the top mark.

One thing I did notice however, when engine just about to fail, the temperature registered on vagcom as falling considerably - which is not possible - so something's not right.

You don't think ecu is faulty?

I'll let you know how the distributor change goes - but this will be next weekend at earliest now - If I haven't posted here by then, it just means I haven't finished it.

Best regards
MARTI

[phade]

Which temperature sender's value fell considerably before the engine stalled ?

[MARTI]

[phade]

Hi Martin,

That sounds like the hall sender fails when the engine gets warm.

You could either take the distributor apart and replace the hall sender or replace the entire distributor. I think those things tend to fail with age by the sounds of it. That's what happened to my car at about 170,000 miles.

To replace the hall sender (I replaced the entire distributor on my car), undo the lower circlip on the bottom of the distributor's shaft and withdraw the shaft from the distributor body. The hall sender should then be accessible.

Cheers,

Phil

[MARTI]

[phade]

The gunge is simply down to condensation when the engine oil doesn't get hot enough (it does that on my car as well). I just simply clean out the gunge with kitchen roll (make sure that the breather and the air filter unit are free of gunge as well as the oil filler).

[MARTI]

[quote="phade"]Hi Martin,

That sounds like the hall sender fails when the engine gets warm.

You could either take the distributor apart and replace the hall sender or replace the entire distributor. I think those things tend to fail with age by the sounds of it. That's what happened to my car at about 170,000 miles.

To replace the hall sender (I replaced the entire distributor on my car), undo the lower circlip on the bottom of the distributor's shaft and withdraw the shaft from the distributor body. The hall sender should then be accessible.

Cheers,

PHADE

Since I've tried everything else, including the spark plugs (though yet to try replacing the HT leads), I decided to fit complete new distributor (separate Hall sensor not available).

Fitted the new distributor as close as possible to angle of original one - i.e. did it by eyeball only. Ran it on the Friday night - this was looking good since it ran for ages (about 25 minutes) with no problems in idle (except very slight "burping" in exhaust. Decided just to turn off engine & adjust timing slightly next day, with timing gun.

Saturday, ran engine for short period (before any adjustment) - back to normal - fails after about 10mins idling. Can't explain why it ran so long on the Friday night! Spent rest of Saturday trying to adjust the timing - but no joy - keeps failing after 10 mins no matter what I do. The vag com showed temp reaching about 110 degrees - valance etc very hot (perhaps just because I was pulling on the throttle - don't know.
Fault codes are no longer registered - so not sure if vagcom is reading the ECU properly. Tried replacing the ECU with a new one, but still fails after 10 mins (and since I don't know how to do initial set-up of new ecu - cant read fault codes from this) - decided just to replace the ecu with the original one again.

I'm finding it very difficult to set the throttle to achieve 1500 rpm, since 1mm packer at throttle takes to about 1100rpm & 2mm packer takes to about 2500rpm. So something is not right with throttle or ecu - don't know.
(I don't attempt to adjust timing until engine reaches about 90 degrees)

I've marked the flyweel with marker 10mm (6 degrees) approx from notch, but virtually impossible to line with centre of engine casing, since engine so irratic.

It doesn't look like it was the hall sensor after all.
No matter what I do with the timing, I still get burping in the exhaust (like slight misfire), then failure after 10 mins. So it's not as if I can drive to a garage for final adjustment - even if they could fix it.

I'll try a new set of HT leads, if this doesn't work, then I'll just have to give-up on this car - quite disgusted really, that it should have failed after only 8000 miles in the first place though. My pockets are starting to run empty.

Again thanks for all your help, advice & possible suggestions - I do appreciate.

Best regards
Marti

[poddy]

Hello Marti, just reading your posting, I have a VW Type2c VAN which has the same engine, but with the Motronic ECU, I experience the same problem last week, it was on one of the hottest days, the oil level was between middle and bottom marks. I eventually called the AA and they followed me home, one thing they suggested was to check the oil filter, as this could become clogged, so stopping the oil flow. Since then, I have topped the oil up with 0w-40 recommended for these brazilian engines, and have tried to push it hard to replicate, but havn't, which is a good thing. Hope this may help as well

[MARTI]

At last!
Car is fixed!
Many thanks for all the advice & suggestions posted here over the months.
(Too many to mention).
Hopefully, the comments will be of use to others who visit the forum with similar problems.

In my case, the problem was only fixed after taking to another garage.
Still, I would not have found this one myself.
Turns out, NO PARTS WERE REQUIRED!
The main hose from the bottom of the fuel tank had been cut too long at the factory, over time it developed a fold / sharp bend, which eventually closed off the fuel supply to the engine - that simple!
(And I was so sure the problem was temperature related).

All that was required, was to slightly shorten the hose & re-connect.

Do I feel stupid? Don't know! The suggestions on this forum helped to eliminate a lot of possibilities, before I took it to garage (e.g. entire ignition system). Still, although a simple problem, it's been a very expensive one - got a few spare parts now though - should help when some of the more common problems arise.

My only complaint (though no fault of the garage), the short towing trip to the garage by recovery truck, resulted in slight damage (very minor bend) to the exhaust catalytic converter as it was loaded on back & also minor abrasions to one of the wheel arches, from the belt used to fasten the wheels (hopefully remove most with coarse polish).
I've had the car three years & never damaged it.

This is one reason, if you love your car, and have the skills, you should try to mend it yourself, before getting a third party involved.
Unfortunately, I don't have the skills!

I assume most owners already know, that you have to be careful with the angle when loading the car for towing & watch the clearance of the exhaust on the ground.

Still, glad to have the car back working, and again, many thanks to all those who posted comments.

Regards
Marti