CIS-E fun, facts, foibles, follies and fuestions

[sharpshooter33 at roadrunner.com (David Brown)]

My moneys on the exhaust going bad now.  That's always been my luck with 
fixing something...then something else goes wrong.

Interesting stuff though...made me wanna go out and sand down my connection 
to the coolant sensor. I've been fighting the same type running problems and 
I've just been too busy messing with other stuff to get out and work on it.
David
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nate Mellom" <doubt@inwave.com>
To: "Scirocco list" <scirocco-l@scirocco.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 11:27 PM
Subject: CIS-E fun, facts, foibles, follies and fuestions


>A little history.
> I bought my '88 16v in October 2005 from some poor soul who dumped $1500 
> at a local import shop to get his car running correctly (I have receipts). 
> New distributor, timing belt, fuel distributor work, etc, etc, etc.  He 
> sold it to me for the princely sum of $800.  The issue? Stumbling, 
> stuttering and a complete lack of power during acceleration. It was barely 
> drivable.  It got worse as the humidity went up.  I played and tinkered 
> with it for months, new O2 sensor, made up a nifty DPR test rig, checked 
> timing, but nothing.  When I checked my mixture, I'd get either 0.00 or 
> 9.99mA.  I never got an honest number. Eventually I adjusted something 
> (still not sure what worked), and it actually ran well enough to take on 
> DD status.  I knew it was running WAY rich, I was using fuel like mad, and 
> it stunk, and sometimes it was a little smoky.  A few months ago I swapped 
> in a new cap and rotor, and the humidity-related stalling and stuttering 
> cleared up.
>
> Last week, I had it in for my favorite VW/Audi gurus to do wheel bearings, 
> and for shits, I asked him to check my mixture (I still hadn't gotten a 
> real reading).  When I picked it up, he was floored, even HE only got 
> 9.99mA.  He told me he could play with it, do a pin test (per Bentley), he 
> figured there was a broken wire somewhere, SOMETHING to explain the high 
> reading.  He did play with the mixture, and was going to fiddle with it 
> more, but I had to take it home.  It was like day 1 again.  Stumbling, 
> hesitation, hunting idle, and it would usually drop low enough to stall at 
> a stop.  Got it home, played with mixture and idle settings until I 
> thought it I got it right, took it to work the next day, same thing, a 
> little better at best.  Got home, broke out the Bentley, found the CIS-E 
> electrical test section, and went bananas.  I tested everything I could 
> with one person (a few tests required cranking and testing), and found 
> what I thought was a bad reading for the coolant temperature sensor 
> reading.  Should be (x ohms @ x *c).  It didn't seem right for the 
> temperature of the engine.  I pulled the wire off the sensor, sanded the 
> connector all nice and shiny, plugged it back in and... Shit! A real 
> reading!  And, it even matched what it should be, based on the chart! 
> Well, now we're cooking with gas!  So, I get back to checking for the 
> magical 5mA.  Sure enough, 5 or 6 turns clockwise, I actually got a 
> reading, then a range!  Dialed in 5, got my idle smooth and consistent, 
> and whaduhyaknow?  The thing runs like a freaking top.
>
> Lesson learned?  Check over everything, twice or thrice if need be, 
> eliminate possible issues, and you'll have a good chance of finding the 
> problems.
>
> Now, some questions.
>
> Someone posted on a VW forum a very good write-up on checking mixture and 
> idle, and it helped me greatly.  At the end, he wrote to enhance 
> performance in mid-range RPM power (4000 on up), to richen the mixture to 
> about 2.5mA.  Is it a good idea?  Will I see results?  With the proper 
> mixture it seems a little soft now, it seemed to have more zip when it was 
> ear-tuned, so maybe?
>
> My exhaust note seems louder now, since things are right.  Could this be 
> because of the proper settings, or is my exhaust just failing, and they're 
> just happening at the same time?
>
> Sorry for the novel, my longest post in a long time.
>
> Nate
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Scirocco-l mailing list
> Scirocco-l@scirocco.org
> http://neubayern.net/mailman/listinfo/scirocco-l
>
>
> -- 
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 269.5.4/768 - Release Date: 4/19/2007 
> 5:32 AM
>
>