Andyrews Progress Thread, 1/16/22 A Trip to The Red Barn - Lets fab a Firewall! Options

[dan10101]

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[Andyrew]

Well everything was going really well. I kept finding minor things and fixing them but I got to the point where I ran out of minor things to fix.

I fixed all the electrical issues noted earlier with the tail lights and the intercooler pump and controller.

Today I decided to forgo my notion of replacing the fuel (2 years old?) With some good fuel and try and start it.

First there was no crank, solved that with the signal wire to the starter.

Then there was no fire.

Pulled #1 plug, loads of fuel. Checked spark and there was spark.

So now we have timing and compression. Ecu could be programmed wrong for a start condition but it started 6 months ago . Same goes for compression.

After checking the codes I found the predominant ones were the following:
Crank sensor
Cam sensor
Temp sensor.

Any of those being bad could cause a no start issue.

Now I've changed the crank sensor a good 6 times trying to solve this as it's the most likely culprit and the coolant sensor at least 3. The cam sensor could he bad but I just doubt it.

So I decide that I need to check the wiring again. Check the pins from the ecu and power/ground to the connectors and every connector shows good oms for each pin.


At this point I see a couple options

1. bad cam sensor
2. Bad fuel
3. Bad crank sensor (who knows, I could just be that unlucky...)
4. Bad coolant sensor (I have a new spare I bought with my new connector I had installed)
5. Bad ecu (I have 2 spares that will start the car and neither work)
6. ???

I'm going to start with bad fuel and also order a new cam and crank sensor.

I currently have the engine harness out of the car again (getting good at that... Only took half an hour). I'll clean it up a hair with some tape and maybe some loom/zip ties and reinstall it.

My wife has been giving me good garage time but she's counting down the hours... I told her I'm in troubleshooting mode now and didn't account for there to be this much issues with getting the car restarted... She seems to be ignoring that... funny, so am I... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer3.gif)

[tygaboy]

Andrew - You have the patience of Job. Watching you with the wiring thing is giving me second thoughts about one of my latest hair-brained ideas.
If you'd like a break to bend some tubing, let me know!
Chris

[76-914]

Hang in there. I know what it's like chasing down Gremlins. When I started my conversion I had planned on doing what you are doing. Steering column. dash, ignition switch, etc. One day reality smacked me in the face and reminded me that at this stage in life I shouldn't be piddling around so I deleted that section of the conversion. After reading thru your trial and tribulations I'm glad that I didn't pursue that phase. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[Andyrew]

Andrew - You have the patience of Job. Watching you with the wiring thing is giving me second thoughts about one of my latest hair-brained ideas.
If you'd like a break to bend some tubing, let me know!
Chris

Chris,

Very much appreciate the compliment and offer. Next couple months I think would be a great time to come up and bend some tubing. I dont think I'll bring the car this time, yours is pretty much the same (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

The wiring part isnt bad, its the troubleshooting thats been the biggest headache and its probably all me doing it wrong...

[Chris H.]

Man that is such a pain in the ass. Similar thing happened to me when I tidied up the wiring.

Are you getting ANY ignition at all? Does it even cough? If it's the temp sensor it will usually fire after a lot of trying and then run like crap for a few minutes until it gets some heat in it. Had to hold the gas pedal to the floor for mine to start when the temp sensor went bad.

Off the wall thing to check...is you battery good and fully charged? Some ECUs require a minimum amount of voltage to fire the engine up. Probably fine but good thing to check.

[Andyrew]

Man that is such a pain in the ass. Similar thing happened to me when I tidied up the wiring.

Are you getting ANY ignition at all? Does it even cough? If it's the temp sensor it will usually fire after a lot of trying and then run like crap for a few minutes until it gets some heat in it. Had to hold the gas pedal to the floor for mine to start when the temp sensor went bad.

Off the wall thing to check...is you battery good and fully charged? Some ECUs require a minimum amount of voltage to fire the engine up. Probably fine but good thing to check.

Temp sensor is new, the Audi has a thing where it will shut off ignition after 5 seconds of cranking. I havent tried to touch the throttle with it cranking as it always lit at the first crank when it wanted to fire.

Battery just got a fresh charge.


It didn't cough or anything, which I found really odd since I have spark and fuel. I'm going to try my process and see if doing all that fixed the problem. If not I'm going to try starter fluid and then talk to my tuner about doing something with the start up tune to fix it.

[Chris H.]

Yeah that's weird that you got nothing at all. Good call on the starter fluid. It should do SOMETHING if you blast it with that.

I forgot to add the wire from the ECU to the + side of the starter initially which tells the ECU it's cranking..again unlikely to be your problem but something to check.

[914forme]

unless your cam timing is way off, you sure this thing has not jumped a tooth or two? Might want to run a compression check just to make sure you're not chasing your tail. If you already done that, then I am out of options.

[Andyrew]

unless your cam timing is way off, you sure this thing has not jumped a tooth or two? Might want to run a compression check just to make sure you're not chasing your tail. If you already done that, then I am out of options.

I'll give it a check. The biggest problem is the car would run perfect when running. So it makes most sense its a sensor issue. I mean the car obviously has ~ 350-400hp on only about 16lbs of boost (Its way way faster than the v8 has ever been) so for the cam timing to be that far off would be really suspect. Also its a manual tensioner and run a hair tight (new belt) so it really shouldnt jump.

But I really do appreciate all your guys thoughts (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Chris914n6]

If you have fuel and spark then all that is left is air... the ecu isn't seeing it via MAF or PS or whatever yours is.

[Andyrew]

I was running my mafless tune (my most street able tune) so it basically has a map sensor for monitoring boost pressure and wideband 02 sensor. It actually works really really well.

I have a (very expensive) blow through MAF and a tune for it but that particular tuner never got it right before I had my issue that has put me down for the count.... It's apparently very difficult to tune with but once setup it's amazing. I have noticed more torque with this tune. Not sure it's a better AFR or the tuner just threw some bottom end timing at the setup.

I can log my MAF readings to see what we're looking at. Also I could check my 02 readings.

[Amenson]

At this point it sound like you did all of the obvious trouble shooting. Next step should be to check the cam/crank sensors at the ecu with an oscilloscope.

[Andyrew]

I FIXED IT!


Ugh.

I have successfully hot started the car. 5 times in a row full warm with no issues.


My course of action.

1. New gas.
2. New cam sensor
3. New crank sensor.


What fixed it? I don't know. I did one at a time and none of them did it. So I was looking around for new options and noticed I forgot to ground the ECU/engine harness. Ugh. Ground the harness and it fires right up.


So I'm going to swap the cam sensor back and if it doesn't start I'll know that's the issue. I never tried that option as I never got the codes for it.


Ran the engine for about 5 minutes without the water pump on so it got to temp faster, but at least one of the lifters didn't pump up so I'll need to get some miles on it or pull the valve cover and hit the lifter a couple times. Worse case pull the cams and clean out the lifters.



With the engine back in operational condition I pulled the dash harness out and began the final clean up on that. I pulled all the fused power wires that were not used, ran appropriate lengths of wire and cleaned it up for future use. I'll run things like the stereo, heater, lighting, ect off these wires.

I'll finish that up in the next couple nights and focus back on my laundry list of items to tackle.

[tygaboy]

Woot, Woot! Hopefully, you're all done with this phase of the work. You deserve lots of credit for your "sticktoitism"!
The bad news is that you're first on my list to call when I start in on my wiring!

Big CONGRATS to you, Andrew! Way to keep after it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cheer.gif)

[76-914]

Freaking great news. When I saw your post this AM I thought to myself, "Man, I hope he gets to the problem soon". Looks like you did. I expect we'll see you at WCR this year young man. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif) OH, BTW. CONGRATULATIONS! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cheer.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/piratenanner.gif)

[dan10101]

I FIXED IT!

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So Cool!

[Andyrew]

Spent a bit more time on the wiring, getting everything in place.

Video on that and my ADD explanation at 1am...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA80L7vFC8k


I picked up the following spares and parts.

Fuel pump $35
Clutch disk $60
Fuel filter and spare element $80
Shift cables $60
Transmission $200


Transmission was a great find. 30k mile trans that had been sitting forever and just had one rear bolt tab broken. I'm using that bolt for an exhaust mount on I'll JB weld and drill and tap it.

I spent some time last night tearing the axle flanges off (Trans Code EHV has 108mm stub axles.... I use 100mm.) And then pulled the diff cover and removed the diff. I couldn't get the dowl pin out with my tools so I have some punches on the way. I have a friction type LSD to go in and will need to machine my spider gears like Mike Bellis did but it's a great while I'm in there project....

I'm replacing the trans as my car won't shift for beans. I thought it was the clutch but after readjustment it doesnt seem that way, I'm going to rebuild the pedal cluster and but some new brass bushings in as it has a bit of slop and maybe that will help as well.


Progress is moving nicely (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Andyrew]

Woot, Woot! Hopefully, you're all done with this phase of the work. You deserve lots of credit for your "sticktoitism"!
The bad news is that you're first on my list to call when I start in on my wiring!

Big CONGRATS to you, Andrew! Way to keep after it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cheer.gif)

I'll hand over all my wiring tools/supplies to you as I have buttloads of stuff now and hopefully wont be needing it.

Whatever you dont use just give back (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I'll bring it with me when we finishing up the cage (Any dates in the coming months work better than others?).

[dan10101]

Transmission was a great find. 30k mile trans that had been sitting forever and just had one rear bolt tab broken. I'm using that bolt for an exhaust mount on I'll JB weld and drill and tap it.

Don't forget I'm going to bring down that spool gun. I'll bring some scrap aluminum too if you want to practice.

Oh, I think you meant to reply to Chris in your last post. But we are all happy that your making such great progress.