The Wolf roams

[WhiteWolf]

Thanks for the reply..

It would make sense that.. If it spins in the wet the dash shakes like it's ready to come off as well... I will check it tommorow...
Cheers

[WhiteWolf]

Hi all....

It's been a while and the wolf is still roaming..

For a while though the car had been struggling sometimes with fuel delivery on acceleration in the end I found out it was the relay breaking down..

My ghostly cruise control haha was due to my accelerator cable sticking.. I found that out when it snapped as I attempted to pull out of a junction lol.. Luckily it was downwards and I had a few spares to choose from..

Tbc

[WhiteWolf]

Sorry for the last update..

I have a problem with the car which is kind of baffling me but it isn't too serious.. It is hysterical for other drivers though I think you'll agree...
It when I accelerate hard.. It's fine up until a certain point.. I can't be exact with the Revs because the counter doesn't work unless you tap the front of it hard..
Anyway, it first happened when the wastegate pipe was not attached unbeknown to me.. Much fun
I went to pull off hard but as soon as the turbo gauge went into red, I'm talking needle bending, it just stopped dash lights and all came on.. It wouldn't even bump start.. The exhaust was misfiring every second as well.. I pulled up safely and it started started straight away..
I diagnosed the wastegate pipe and a pipe that had come off of the ecu.. Everything back to normal..
I don't really drive it that hard.. I did again the other day and the same thing happened.. It just stopped with the reoccurring popping from the exhaust.. It starts straight away..
Is it overfueling critically when it's floored.. Do I need to adjust the mixture more on the airflow metre...
Sometimes when I come off the gas it will do a single pop as well..

I do still have the Es back box on though

Apart from that she drives ok..

[Robou]

Reset the ECU by disconnecting the battery for about half an hour or, if you are the happy owner of one of my mods, by acting as in the manual.
The ECU collected a lot of this mishap in it's RAM and is using safety precautions causing uncontrolled behaviour.
If this doesn't help you blew something. Like pipes in the inlet circuit or worse.

[WhiteWolf]

Thanks for the reply..

I reset often with the lead attached to the Ecu..

The engine boosts up lovely.. I don't think there are any air leaks as the previous owner has done a lot to secure everything...

I've noticed the turbo gauge won't normally go into red.. I took it on a 70mph road and I had it in 5th and the gauge went into red but not to the very end and it boosted lovely...

Could this be a problem with the recirc valve...

Does the gauge normally go into the red or stay in the Orange ?

I don't think there is permanent damage...

Air pipes have come off before and it judders heavily on acceleration.. It also indicates it on the gauge there is a leak..

This was weird... The engine just stops with popping from the exhaust... It's a weird one... Could the engine be getting flooded under harsh acceleration...

Thanks do the help...

[Robou]

The maximum boost depends on what the ECU allows, in your case approximatly 1 bar, and what the turbo can deliver. This again is depending on the speed of exhaust gas which in turn is depending on the rpm. So if you try the same experiment with full throttle in 4th you probably see the gauge further into the red. This is quite a stupid explanation, there is more to it, but it serves the purpose.
The dump valve has nothing to do with this, unless it leaks, then it equals a leaking pipe.

[WhiteWolf]

I understand... Thankyou..
I am really struggling with the mixture though.. It runs very rich..
The oxygen sensor has been disconnected and as I understand it makes my ecu increase the fuel mixture by 5%..
I understand I can adjust the Maf.. Do I increase the resistance to increase the air mix or is it the other way..

[WhiteWolf]

I have been reading some posts on here about the Maf...
What I have gathered is the smaller the resistance the leaner the engine will run..

I have taken notice of the two values 320ohm for the un modded ECU and 520ohms for the modded ecu..

I set it to 520ohm as advised but the car is seriously overfueling.. I have the oxygen sensor disconnected so should it be lower than 520ohm...

Yesterday I basically started the car and turned the co2 anti clockwise until the car started stuttering and then slowly turned it clockwise until the engine picked up again..

I took it out and the pickup has improved.. The engine temperature is now in the 80c instead of the 70c as before...

Although there was a massive backfire again.. Bigger than before

[WhiteWolf]

I think the biggest problem is the backbox that is on the car.. It is an Es backbox which is an inch smaller in diameter..
I am replacing the whole exhaust next year.. Including the removal of the catalytic converter.. My car was registered on the 1st of jan 1992 so it misses the cut off of 1st of Aug.. This will improve the pick up no end... I don't know wether to increase the diameter to 3"
Can the manifold be improved on because I could get that made as well..

I've drained the coolant system as well and replaced the brown water with antifreeze.. I just opened the bottom pipe on the drivers side of the radiator..

[WhiteWolf]

Happy new year fellow 480'ers
Since adjusting the airflow it is running a lot smoother.. It is not cutting out under hard acceleration any more...
I don't really drive hard because to be the fair the car is quick.. Even the normal Es variants are torquey enough.. My rev counter doesn't work after about 2 minutes of use so I never really know what revs I'm in when the cars warmed up.. I've never hit the limiter whilst driving but today I thought I would keep my foot down in second to what rev equaled what speed I was going and I noticed it struggled to get past 4000 rpm.. I though something was wrong because sometimes the car is lighting quick and other times it struggles.. It's still quick when it struggles but when it's quick its ferocious
The car is good on gear changes as well I think.. I stand to be corrected though.. When I swiftly change gear the revs only drop 200rpm.. It's exactly 2 digits on the speedometer..
Hopefully this year will be a big year for her

It's going to be an electrical problem somewhere or a fueling problem so I'm going to check from the easiest first like the distributor etc. I need to also order a fuel filter anyway.

[WhiteWolf]

The car is still running haha

I think I have the Maf set a lot better..
What I have been doing with Maf is with the car running turned it anti clockwise until it started stuttering.. Then turned it clockwise until it stopped..
After resetting the Ecu I drove the car for a few days and the excessive smell of fuel had disaapeared so had the car just stopping under harsh acceleration.. Worse when down hearing and flooring it. Acceleration was not as brisk though.. I turned it 360 degrees clockwise and once again reset the Ecu by the reset wire as I have a Robou mod..
I then again drove the car for a few day to allow the Ecu to learn again.. It started to feel better and the fuel smell was still not present which was a blessing..

Yesterday I turned it 180 degrees clockwise and I am really happy with the response
I don't know the exact measurement but it feels right..

I think I have a problem with my cool though.. It is possibly breaking down.. I'm looking to replace it with an oil filled coil...
I've seen some advertised on eBay called multi spark coils made by spitfire.. Can anybody re commend a coil that's better than the standard one..

I'm going to replace that along with the distributor, rotor arms, leads, oil, oil filter and fuel filter..
It doesn't like going over 4000rpm.. I rarely attempt to go over 3000rpm anyway
It certainly puts a smile on my face..

[Robou]

Any coil with low resistance will do, mostly it is advertised as fit for a transistorized ignition. The adventage of an oil filled coil is a better cooling and it recovers more or less from a spark bridge inside. The price should not make any difference, I remember Lucas used oil exclusively in the past. Do not spend too much money, there is a lot of ballony in this field. Our ignition system is sort of primitive, it uses no dwell adjustment so the spark is the same at idle as at 6000rpm and there it stops, at about the same time the limiter in the injection comes in.
I trust a different coil, distributor cap and rotor will solve a lot of your problems. While you are at it, position the spark leads with the help of spacers as far as possible away from each other and the engine. And inspect the plugs.

[WhiteWolf]

Thanks for the reply and for putting right a lot of misinformation about coils.. If the spark is the same at idle as it is at 6000rpm there is no point in going for one that has variable dwell.. I think that's correct...
I have taken the cool off of my donor car which is a Bosche unit.. I will try it out in the next few days.. I will replace with a new one though along with the distributor and rotor arm.. Possibly plugs dependant on condition..
I've never thought about spacing the ignition leads but it makes perfect sense. I suppose it's the same as having an extension lead coiled up under load..

Also today I removed from the donor car was the sunroof as mine doesn't close, it only opens.. The tailgate with the loom attached.. Mine is taped at the loom at the minute.. I've removed the whole loom from inside the car along with the ecu's.. The dash loom that is.. I've removed all engine sensors.. I've also removed the plastic housing around the gearstick and upto the turbo gauges..

I've previously stripped the car of all plastic to replace the missing interior on the runner.. I removed the steering column with ignition lock and all door locks.. That's just reminded me, I need to take the tail lock off tommorow before the scrap man comes..

I've taken the drivers side glass out of the door..

The last thing I need to take out is the heater matrix.. I hope it's just those little 6/8mm bolts on the face plate of it or I'm stumped....


It's also decision time soon.. I have a beautiful Es on a 1992 plate which body and interior wise is immaculate.. My turbos body and interior not so... The Es has only done 73,000 miles as well..
Do I swap engines etc or just get the turbo sorted out.. Everything lines up beautiful on the Es.. Windscreens perfect.. No leaks at all apart from the rear lights.. My turbo has its own weather system inside it..

So it's all go, go, go...

[WhiteWolf]

It was scrap time today unfortunately.. I scavenged a few more bits off it namely the fuel pump..

In my Es there is a spare set of information clusters.. I've decided I need my rev counter back in my turbo.. Also I'm going to try and repair the speedo which decides to die if there is golf near by.. As soon as I give it some it starts being erratic.. The Rev counter only works for a minute of that.. I can keep it going by slamming something into the Rev counter every 30 seconds for about 5 minutes..

So I've just stripped the spare unit into speedo head, Rev counter, circuit board and casing..

What I've just realised is I should have plugged it into my car to check if they were working
I'm sure they are though..

I'm going to inspect mine thoroughly tomorrow and more than like just change the Rev counter and speedo head.. The rest of it is fine.. All lights up beautifully.. Info centre is good.. Although the other day I went a bit crazy with the wd40 in the engine bay and the whole info centre started dancing then it just died.. Lights but no signal.. I unplugged and plugged back in the red wire on the alternator and it returned to normal..

Hopefully all will be sorted.. I will more than likely change the coil as well and inspect plugs etc

Stay tuned folks

[WhiteWolf]

Today I decided to repair the speedo and occasional jumping of the speedo.. Normally when on a bumpy surface giving it some...
Anyways, I took the cluster out of my car and stripped it down... The little blue plug that connects to the speedo was showing wire.. The insulation had peeled away on 2 of the wires. Great I thought, I'll just tape them up... As soon as I touched it the rest of the insulation fell apart.. Now I'm left with 5 bare wires..
No problem, I have a spare cluster which I previously stripped to practice with.. The blue plug on that cluster was fine..
I checked the numbers on the circuit board and everything matched apart from the letter.. Mine is a 'b' the spare board is an 'a' This might be the problem..

Anyway, I swapped it over and put the cluster back together.. Replaced bulbs etc.. I've just put it in the car and switched it on... No backlight or info centre at all.. No illumination from anywhere.. The warning lights work battery, oil, abs etc along with the indicators and full beam.. Just no info centre at all... The Rev counter works beautiful though so it was that wire..
Have I missed something apart from the obvious a,b markings on the board..

[WhiteWolf]

I've just exchanged boards again and insulated the blue plug.. There is nothing still.. I've put it back to how it was now I have nothing.. No info centre at all.. No illumination.. Rev counter works and speedo.. Indicators work.. Abs etc...

Great!!!

[WhiteWolf]

I've just been out and checked all the fuses.. Checked the grey and green plug on the back. Everything looks fine...
The only thing I haven't returned to normal is the Rev unit itself.. Surely that can't cause this problem...
There is no light at all on the cluster apart from battery, oil and and light.. No info centre, not dim nothing..
Speedo and revs work so I've repaired that..
I could really do with a heads up because it's impossible to drive at night because I can't see the speedo.. I have no indication of engine temp etc

I'm stumped..

[WhiteWolf]

I think I have found the problem.. It is my stupid error or clumsiness
I dropped the circuit board onto the floor earlier and thought nothing of it..
Obviously I checked the board for damage but didn't think to check the bulbs..
Long story short most of the big bulbs and also the halogen one have had the filament destroyed
It wasn't a big drop and no other damage has been done..
I don't know why the bottom left of the cluster didn't light, fog lights, spots etc but main beam did.. Maybe the circuit passes through the bulbs..
That's the first problem to solve now sourcing some bulbs..

Feel free to pop some in the post

I will go to the Es tomorrow and have a look at what's on offer.. If I remember rightly there is not much selection


All this trouble... I could've lived without the revs to be honest...

Anyone have a time machine

[WhiteWolf]

It looks like it is the bulbs... I've put it back in the car.. All the warning lights come on.. Spots, fogs etc
I've shined a torch at the info centre and that works apart from the illumination that is..
I'm sure there's one good bulb on the board though that should have lit up...

Rev counter works perfect as well which is what I set out to do...

I suppose I could try some led lights in the info centre... I will just place them in the holes where the bulbs are supposed to go on a separate feed obviously from the ignition switch...

Hopefully I can source bulbs and I haven't damaged the illumination circuit if there is one.. If not it will be the led route...

[brinkie]

Hopefully I can source bulbs and I haven't damaged the illumination circuit if there is one.. If not it will be the led route...

There is a separate illumination circuit, otherwise you can't dim the dashboard lights with the rheostat under the steering wheel.