Porsche 924 white

[inconsistant]

I picked up a complete switch mechanism when I got that pile of spares, I'll aim to fit it either never, or when I get around to it, whichever comes first.

[The Moog]

Well done that man .. Nice to see the porker back on the road

[danthecapriman]

Excellent news!

It's a great feeling to get a car you've been working hard on back on the road again. It'll probably feel better the more use it gets too.

 

I love the interior btw, brown 80's loveliness.

[beko1987]

I picked up a complete switch mechanism when I got that pile of spares, I'll aim to fit it either never, or when I get around to it, whichever comes first.

I;ve still got parts for the XM from that frame of mind! Anyone need a rear door puddlie light, a speaker grille or sunroof motor?

[forddeliveryboy]

He was struggling to get it running consistently, and wasn't getting good sparkles, until he swapped the (new) Beru sparkle plugs out and put the old Bosch ones back in that I'd left in the boot, then it ran fine with good sparkles. Bit of a mystery why that was.

 

 

I'm checking new plugs before fitting them nowadays on a meter for resistance, about 1 in 20 of some makes is way higher resistance than the others, and if used often fails within a few weeks. Denso seem to make the most reliably-performing good quality plugs.

[colino]

I remember about 30 years ago when I worked for a short period for the biggest retail car shop in the UK (yes it was bigger than the bike shop) and the buyers were always pulling off magnificent international deals.  They fell out with Champion and replaced them with Magneti Marelli a brand so unreliable that I think returns were in the 90% range.  No excuse for bad, new plugs.  The technology is ancient, as is the manufacturing process, so they must have been making the cores from recycled Fiats.

[inconsistant]

The following weekend was 'Open House' weekend, where loads of usually closed to the public buildings are opened up for a good old nosey around. I popped over to Croydon Airport* to have a look around the old booking hall and control tower, both part of the main building which is the oldest purpose built terminal building in the world.

Been past it many times but never been inside. The last ever airplane to fly from there, in 1959, is on stilts outside.

 

(*not an actual airport)

 

 

 

Nice to be taking photos of the outside of the car for a change, rather than inside sills/under the bonnet etc.

 

I've been trying to use it a few times a week, because I can, but also to check things are all running OK on shorter local journeys. I drove it to the station the other week via the school run, which made me hate myself a little bit. My son loves it, he's such a show off!

Due to the heavy rain/roadworks everyone else had the same idea, so it was 3 miles of stationary/stop start traffic with the heater, rear demister, wipers, rear wiper and lights on, and I'm happy to say there were no dramas, which was reassuring.
It's nice to gain a bit of confidence in the car, as I'd really like it to be a useable second car. That was the original intention, but it hasn't quite worked out that way this year!

 

It was idling slightly low, not sure if that's because of the conditions that morning and what else I had running, but I noticed it was about 800revs, and had a little flash of the oil light for a split second as I slowed to idle. I've also got a 'dead spot' at 2000 revs, where gentle pushing of the accelerator is fine but if I open it up too quickly it hesitates and if I don't back off it becomes a bit of a chug. It happens in all gears. It was suggested that I should wind the mixture up 1/8 of a turn but it hasn't cured it. It's worse, if anything, so I've put it back. 

[xtriple]

Great thread. I do like 924s but having worked on a couple when they were new(ish) I wouldn't want to repeat the experience. I admire your fortitude!

 

Cassettes: if there is any Pink Floyd, Marillion, Aerosmith, or anything along those lines, then you may have found a buyer. The green Bentley of much remorse has a working cassette player and I would like to use it!

[inconsistant]

Thanks, I've been admiring your balls and enjoyed the highs and lows of your Bentley thread, I reckon you're due a happy ending, in the Bentley owning sense.

 

Edit: Shitannia focus on prog rock & metal is imminent.

[Slacky]

great thread respect for all you perseverance & hardwork

[Tickman]

What a brilliantly written roller coaster ride.

As for ripping the heart of you motor apart being the first proper spannering, superb!

[inconsistant]

The previous update from October wasn't the happy ending I'd been hoping for. Oh no, the car has continued to fight me right up to the end of the year. I've not update this for a couple of months mainly because I've been absolutely sick of the thing.
However, new year, new start, and a bit of time off work to spend on trying to sort it, so a chance to bring this thread up to date...

Recap: With the 924 running and MOTed again I was trying to make excuses to use it a couple of times a week even if it was just to the station and back. It was starting, but was a bit of a struggle to get going and had some hesitation when accelerating around 2000revs.

 

 

------------------------

 

An ongoing problem for a while now. It goes away if I gently rest my foot on the clutch while I drive, and I also found out it comes and goes when I wiggle the clutch cable in the engine bay. To be investigated...

 

-------------------------

 

The bloody sunroof. It's that time of year again when all old car owners reach for the gaffer tape. Except not me, because I've got a better plan which involves the self adhesive neoprene we use at work. Sticking this around my sunroof hole will fill the channel that rain runs into before it capillaries into the car, and also would allow me to use the sunroof too because it's squishy and we use it to seal our vacuum formers so it's bound to work...

 

 

 

 

-------------------------

Autoshite essex meet: an excellent trip out, spoiled by the car. I jetwashed the car in the morning, including the underside of the bonnet and the sides of the engine bay, which I probably shouldn't have. Although I didn't do the engine it got a bit wet from collateral sprayage.
It wouldn't start, at all. I cranked it like a crazy thing, I tried jumping it from the Versatile 40 and eventually after about an hour of messing around it coughed and spluttered into life.
I headed off avoiding the motorway and stopped at Pratts Bottom for some petrol, where it then struggled to start again. Once it did, I then felt very nervous on the M25 worried that I'd stall it in traffic, and at the same time thankful that they've now removed the toll booths from the Dartford Crossing. I got there, eventually, but I can't say I enjoyed the journey much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I met some really pleasant chaps, and saw some wonderful cars. I was really surprised by how much genuine interest there was in the 924. It's a funny sort of car... Porsche/sports car/classic car lovers don't tend to appreciate them because they're not fast/expensive/distinctive enough, and yet it did look a bit flashy amongst the assembled autoshite chod (until you got close up and then it became abundantly clear that it was well at home).

It's a car that, I think, gives a good measure of how interested people are in cars generally. Or rather, it is a good way of discovering whether people who say they are interested in cars actually are, or whether they are really only interested in displays of wealth and/or power. 

 

The journey home was uneventful, although it's also not pulling cleanly from about 2000revs unless really I'm gentle with accelerator. It wouldn't accelerate in 5th at 70, had to change down.

An eagle eyed Autoshiteist spotted a split air hose, and I had a spare at home so I replaced it, thinking/hoping it would sort the poor running which could be from an air leak.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-------------------------

 

...and back to the sunroof. Still leaks. I used my car cover and made sure I only put it on when car was dry but there was always lots of condensation when I took it off, and I'm not sure that amount of dampness is doing the car any good, even though the paint is in terrible condition anyway from a rubbish respray at some point in it's (recent) life.

This is what the car looked like after being under the cover for 3-4 rainy days:

 

 

So I did what all owners of old cars do at this time of the year, and reached for the gaffer tape.

Which so far seems to have worked ok.

 

 

-------------------------

 

I took the battery out to clean underneath it as it's a notorious rust area, and as I was reconnecting the +ve terminal I snapped the battery clamp because I was using superhuman strength rather than the more appropriate  reasonable amount of strength. Derp. Idiot. 

 

 

I bodged up a replacement with a 6mm furniture fitting and some 6mm nuts while I sort out a replacement proper one.

 

Also I finally realised that the black wire dangling worryingly in the passenger footwell is the other end of the wire that is hanging about with nothing to do in the battery compartment, so I removed it. Electrics isn't my strong point, so an easy job like this is a great confidence boost. If only all automotive electricals didn't connect to anything or do anything then I'd feel a lot more confident in my ability to tackle it.

 

 

 

-------------------------

 

MORE TO COME...

[dollywobbler]

Have you changed HT leads? Dampness and ancient leads will cause all manner of pretty, sparky chaos.

[andy18s]

What condition are the engine to chassis/battery earthing cables in?

If you have electrical issues whilst wiggling the clutch cable then the car could be earthing through it...

Do these have an earth from the rear of the cylinder head?

 

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

[garethj]

The HT leads can't be that ancient, I changed them when I owned the car for high quality ones.  Air leak somewhere else perhaps?  Is someone from the owners club prepared to take a look?

[inconsistant]

And now onto the main fight:

 

NEC Classic Car Show

I've been using it a couple of times a week just to give it some miles. It was getting more and more moody about starting. Never took less than 3 or 4 cranks before it would start and even then it was touch and go as it would only just cough and splutter into life if I got the right combination of accelerator pump, ignition, cranking and swearing. It certainly doesn't start cleanly. I knew something was getting worse, not better, with use.

The friday of the NEC classic car show weekend I took it to the station (10mile round trip) and it was fine on the way, except for the usual struggle to start. On the way home after work it struggled to start but when it did there were funny goings on with the electrics, I can't remember exactly but things like not enough volts showing, no dashboard lights, headlights struggling to pop up, etc.

It stalled, and when I restarted the electrical problems had sorted themselves out. Still a bit nervous driving though. On reflection this electrical weirdness may be because of the poorly fitting +ve battery terminal connector bodge I did.
Got home, had tea and was ready to set off for Birmingham. Remember... friday night, dark, pouring with rain, and 160 miles of mostly motorway driving ahead of me. Bottom a bit twitchy to say the least.
Struggled to start the car, and then as I went to pull away it stalled. I couldn't restart it even after several attempts. Back indoors for a big cup of coffee and a bit of 'give it 20mins' style car mechanics, and some grumpyness about the effing car ruining my plans for the weekend.
Then I gave it another go and it started. Right, so I am off to Birmingham after all!
Went to pull away and it stalled again and wouldn't restart. I cut my losses and went inside for a big glass of red wine, and a weekend of hating the car and reflecting how it was making my life miserable.

 

So I have a starting and running problem, which I think might actually be two different problems, and here they are described in more detail:

Problem 1: starting
Since doing the head gasket and getting the car tuned up and back on the road it's been difficult to start. The mechanic who did the sill welding/tuning said he was struggling to get it to start well too, even though it was in tune (although that might have been his way of saying he ran out of time on it). It’s difficult to start cold or hot. It means the start of every journey and any stops on the way have an element of uncertainty about them and therefore I have developed a fear of stalling or stopping for petrol that is really spoiling any enjoyment of the car.

In the days before HGF the car started well, 1st or 2nd turn of the key and it cleanly fired into life. Now, it takes several turns of the key and much cranking, (fortunately a new battery helps) and when it does show signs of life it’s always just as I release the key when it coughs splutters quite a bit. After a few attempts at this I can just about catch it coughing and spluttering and it staggers into life. Within seconds it then sits at idle nice and smoothly.

Problem 2: running
From about 2000 revs, maybe a bit less, it won't pull cleanly. For example, I'm at say 30mph in 3rd or 20mph in 2nd, off of the accelerator as I come to a mini roundabout, all clear so without changing gear I give it some accelerator to pick up speed and the car staggers/hesitates and won't pull. The car jolts and judders and flooring it makes it worse. If I lift off the pedal and press down again more slowly it ‘clears’ and pulls away fine.

 

 

Over the weekend I was fiddling and got it to start, then under the bonnet using the throttle body thingy to rev it, I turned it quickly to see if it would hesitate, but it stalled. I then couldn't restart it. And that was the point where, until last week, I gave up on it. I've had a year of sorting one thing after another, and just as I was beginning to feel like I could use it again as a proper car it started messing me about… but in a way that needed some diagnosing skills which I just don't have.

 

It feels like the starting problem is the Cold Start Valve not working, but I fitted a known working one. It seems to be getting harder to start if anything, which might be down to the weather getting colder which sounds like the Thermo Time Switch not operating and letting the CSV fire. If that's the case then effectively I'm trying to start it without any choke. Although I rewired the connection between TTS and CSV (remember the wire trapped between bell housing & block) I seem to remember not being able to get CSV to squirt into a bottle on start up.

I had a spare CSV and TTS, a multimeter and free time so did some investigation. The cold start circuit components are a pain to get to as the TTS is down the back of the head and not visible so it has to be got at by hand only. I tried a couple of tests but sort of gave up because it was cld and I couldn't be arsed because I've been over all this stuff so many times over the summer that I can't figure out what might be the problem. The TTS and the CSV are both known to work, just not on my car.

 

We had a little local 924 owners club get together, and I wanted to get mine running so I could take it, but I still couldn't be arsed, so I cycled there. Five of us turned up in a 911, 944, 924 and a bike.

 

 

 

John, who knows his onions, popped back with me to have a look over mine. We ('we' meaning him, and me agreeing with everything he suggested) found that:

 

Battery checked and charge is OK.

We tested the CSV and confirmed no volts on cranking.

We replaced with a known working CSV and no volts again.

We removed the AAV and checked it was open, since weather was cold, very cold. It was open.

We compared with another known working one and they both had the same size/shape opening.

We removed the TTS connector and checked for damage/poor connection, but all ok.
The TTS was tested/fitted after HGF work recently.

We removed and replaced the connector that I fitted to the wire between the CSV and the TTS (because of that wire being damaged) since the connector was suspect. Still no volts at CSV.

Checked resistance of all components and wires as we went along, and all OK.

Each time car cranked no volts at CSV.

We had checked all components of the cold starting circuit and confirmed there was no reason why the CSV wasn’t getting power, so started tracing backwards away from the cold start circuit.

We checked the wires going from the battery and ignition to the starter and mine seemed to be different to his.

 

 

 

Comparing my wiring with his car it looks like it’s been replaced/tinkered with/bodged at some point. It’s a multi coloured shambles compared to John’s wiring. Our attention was drawn to the red wire that goes over the top of the firewall between the battery and the heater, and down into the passenger footwell. We traced it around the back of the centre console to under the dashboard but struggled to see where it connected to. It’s not a hot start bodge, as there’s no switch attached.

 

 

The Haynes wiring diagram came out. I’m now very out of my depth and won’t pretend to understand, but John seemed to think that the wiring layout was the reason why there’s no voltage going to the cold start circuit. He added a temporary wire (from the blue heat shrink you can see on that red wire that jumps over the firewall to the left side of the connector block that’s just behind it in the photo above, connected next to the blue/green wire you can see) and we got Volts showing at the CSV when cranked.

 

'We' concluded:

*That red cable that goes over the top of the fire wall shouldn’t be there

*What should happen… a red/black 4mm wire is connected to pin 50 on the ignition switch. When the key is turned it becomes live… power goes to pin 50 of the starter motor and on the way power goes via the 1mm red/black which powers the TTS and then the CSV if cold start and the 4mm red/black goes to starter solenoid, turning the engine.

*It has been bypassed and works fine but the previous owner/whoever bodged it didn’t reconnect the 1mm red/black into the circuit.
If I put the link back in (the wire that John added to get volts to the CSV) it should start.

*4mm red wire that goes to under the dashboard needs checking out, it could short to earth/be trapped etc.

*check out where it goes first, reconnect it to where it should go and reconnect the red cable to the block by the battery and see what happens. It should go through a fuse.

That's where we got to when it got too cold/dark/late to continue. I didn't really understand much of the stuff above to be honest.

 

 

fast forward a couple of weeks to the Christmas hols, and I've been pouring over the Haynes wiring diagrams all day, colouring them in to try to make sense of what I can see under the bonnet and behind the dashboard, and taking photos of what I've found. The Haynes wiring diagrams are a real struggle for me, like a foreign language.

I did discover that the rogue red wire that goes over the firewall into the passenger footwell and behind the centre console to under the dash... it is soldered to the 4mm red/black wire that goes into the ignition switch. And it's a nice peaceful place being upside down in the footwell of a car, especially of you take the seat out first so there's a flat floor to lay on.

 

 

You can see on that photo that it's been cut and that the other bit of the red/black 4mm wire you can see continues with the rest of the wiring. Not sure yet where it goes or why it was chopped. The wiring diagram says it should go via 'E17' to circuit 50. Not sure what 'E17' means.

The other end of that red 4mm wire goes over the firewall and goes straight to the starter motor.
The other two wires that go down there (black 4mm to starter, blue/green 4mm to alternator) both come from the 3 way connector block on the bulkhead.

 

 

 

 

From right to left:
the violet/clear 2mm ® connects to the black 4mm (L)
the blue 1.5mm ® connects to the blue/green 4mm (L)
the red 2mm and red/black 4mm ® connects to nothing (L)

Is this red/black 4mm the one that comes from the ignition switch, that has been bypassed for some reason by the red 4mm that comes over the firewall and goes straight to the starter?

 

 

Should I reconnect both sides of the red/black 4mm under the dash back together, and connect the red 4mm from the starter into the blank bit of the 3 way connector on the firewall so that it connects to the red/black 4mm and the red/black 2mm?
I'm assuming it's the other end of the same wire. If it is then I'm also assuming that it goes through a fuse on it's way from the ignition switch to the engine bay.

Also, where does/should the red/black 2mm go? Is that the (missing) connection to the cold start system? It's difficult because I don't really understand the wiring diagrams AND I don't trust that the wires are original colour.

 

I did a drawing to try to make sense of what I could see.

 

 

and then got my felt tips out and coloured in the wiring diagrams... something I knew I could do, because I needed a little confidence boost, and I thought it would be useful.

 

 

 

I pulled out the aux fusebox and the fuse/relay panel to see what I could find that looked like the diagram:
I've got a red/black 4mm wire connecting to what looks like pin 87 of the Fuel Pump Relay. I think this should be the wire that goes to aux fuse 2.

I've got a red/black 4mm wire at aux fuse 2... will do a resistance check to see if that's both ends of the same wire. Other side of aux fuse 2 is a green/black and red/white (you can see the wires in photo but not fuse). Wiring diagram says these go to fuel pump (green/black) and wur/aav (red/white).

 

 

 

 

So if the red/black wires I see at the FPR and aux fuse 2 are both ends of the same wire then where is the other end of my red/black 4mm wire from the ignition?

 

 

I'm writing this in a confused sort of way because that's what it felt like. The photos above are actually of the inside of my head, not of the fuseboards.

 

 

 

 

I've realised that these are the 6 connector blocks (above) on the back of the main fuseboard that connect the 6 wiring looms up to the fuseboard. They are numbered A to G and are colour coded. This helps a lot. I also now realise that this is what the numbers/letters refer to in the Haynes wiring diagrams.

I now understand that the red/black 4mm wire from ignition goes to the black connector block E pin 17. (the lower of the two big middle ones) and that's what E17 means on the wiring diagram.

 

 

 

Then it comes back out of Ivory connector block A pin 10 (the big one in the middle) and goes into the engine bay and is the red/black 4mm wire that goes into the 3 way connector (T2h) along with the red/black 1mm that feeds power to the cold start circuit. It should then go from T2h down to the starter.

 

So my red 4mm wire bypasses all of this and goes straight from the ignition to the starter (just re-stating that for clarification!)

Before disconnecting the red 4mm and reconnecting the red/black with the ignition switch I want to know why it was put there, and to establish that the red/black wire is in working order/connected/not damaged etc.

 

Resistance test time.

Test 1: from cut red/black 4mm wire at ignition switch to E17 = 0.5ohms

Test 2: from E17 to A10 = nothing... so a problem with this bit.

Test 3: from A10 to T2h connector in engine bay = 0.5 ohms

So, to confirm the above, with a wire between pin E17 and A10 as below:

pic jumper wire between blocks

Test 4: from cut red/black 4mm wire at ignition switch to T2h connector in engine bay = 0.5 ohms

Conclusion: red 4mm wire fitted because there's a problem inside the fusebox somewhere between E17 and A10.

Am I right? No. Just when I thought I knew what I was doing the stupid thing was that for test 2 I had both connector plugs (A and E) dangling in the air and not plugged in. So of course there's no resistance between them because they're not connected to each other. Derp!

 

I should have plugged them in and tested the resistance from the back where the wires went into E17 and A10.

 

I plugged the two connectors A and E back into the fuse board, and instead of trying to poke about with the multimeter in the back of the fuseboard I went straight to testing as above, from red/black4mm at ignition to the T2h connector in the engine bay. Results, I got a buzz and 0.5 ohms reading, which was nice!

So then I put all of the fuseboard stuff back into it's holder, and while I was upside down and in the footwell I cleaned up the earth connectors next to it.

 

Reconnected the wire to the ignition switch, with some temporary connector blocks, and connected the naughty red wire that goes over the firewall so that the block T2h now connects to the starter as it should.

 

The following 6 seconds might not be much of a visual spectacle but the soundtrack makes me very happy indeed.

 

 

 

It hasn't started this well since I can't remember. Over the space of about an hour it started it 4 or 5 times and each time it fired up first turn of the key. Including when up to temp.

Obviously given everything I've been through this year I'm not going to say it's sorted, and it's going to take a while for me to become confident it won't let me down, but it's a good start!

 

 

While I was getting to know my fuse box and electrical gubbins I noticed that I had random ceramic fuses including a melted/blown one for the rear window demister, which would explain why it stopped working recently.

 

 

so I got a new set and replaced them all with the correct ampage. I like the colour coding idea.

 

 

It was suggested that with all the cranking that there was probably fuel in the oil so I had a smell and it had a definite whiff of petrol.  Couldn't find any 10W40 mineral oil locally so I added a couple of litres I had left from last time and filtered the oil I took out through some old pants and put it back in. The oil didn't separate so couldn't have been much petrol in the oil, and a bit of pouring to and fro between containers and the fuelly smell was almost gone. I replaced the oil, and has repeatedly started first turn of the key since sorting it.

 

 

Went for a drive on new year's eve. Nice end to the year. Looking forward to 2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[garethj]

The soldered wire close to the ignition key is mine

 

From what I remember there was a high resistance somewhere and the answers I was getting from the forum's message board were less and less helpful.  I'm sure they're well meaning but there were loads of people who could post "follow the Haynes manual" and only about two who could actually interpret that what I was finding wasn't in the manual.

 

Rather than trying to find where the break was in the wire, I ran a new one (can't remember if I doubled it up to increase the current carrying capacity) from the switch to the connector block.  I also had to replace the wiring from the starter motor / alternator because that was toasted and I couldn't get any further than "replace the wiring" before looking anywhere else.

[inconsistant]

Sorry Ian, Andy, Gareth, such a big update I had to do it in two bits, hopefully second bit answered your suggestions.

 

I went to Brooklands on Jan 1st. This was a big milestone for me, because it was Jan 1st last year on the way home from Brooklands that all my woes started.

 

 

 

 

 

Even better than last year, and last year was excellent. Apparently 1500 old/interesting cars turned up and they ran out of room for them all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And best of all I got there and back with no dramas other than the drivers wiper blade disintegrating and flying off on the M25 in heavy rain. Main thing was that the car started, at 7.30am, covered in thick ice, which I'm proud to say I used a cassette box to scrape off.

[inconsistant]

The soldered wire close to the ignition key is mine

 

I didn't want to say, but I had my suspicions what with all the starting problems you were having!

 

The reason why I went to so much bother rather than just reconnect the 4mm red/black at the ignition switch and hope for the best was that I knew the red wire bypass would have been done for a reason and I wanted to understand why.

 

I resistance tested every bit of the ignition circuit (details above if you can be arsed reading/understanding) and each section had low resistance, so I couldn't really work out why the red wire was there.

 

I'm suspicious of the Ignition Module as the reason why it's misfiring and not running right. A bent pin on the IM connector was the reason why I was getting a weak spark stopping it firing after I did the head gasket. Maybe a combination of that and the crushed TTS to CSV wire that I discovered was part of your starting problems? 

 

Anyway, listen to me, pretending that I know what I'm talking about...

[garethj]

Dunno.  I remember doing a couple of the tests for the cold start valve and it worked fine.

 

I'm carrying across some knowledge from the old Bosch K Jetronic fitted to aircooled VWs and early V12 Jaguars, but I don't think it's needed as much as a choke on a regular car.  On a car with carburettor, the carb sits on top of a long inlet manifold and if the engine is cold the fuel-air mix from the carb condensates against the inside of the manifold, this makes the fuel stick to it and only air get into the inlet valves.  That's the lean running (or not starting) you need a choke for.

 

With injected cars the injectors are stuffed right into the cylinder head, the fuel-air mixture has hardly got anywhere to go and condensate so it will usually start without the cold start valve, it just might run a bit lumpy for a minute or two.  This valve had definitely stopped working on my old VW 412 LE so a couple of turns of the ignition key (not starting, just to make the pump run for a few seconds) made sure that there was plenty of fuel in the lines and right up against the injector, ready to go as soon as you turn the key to Start.  That was only needed in very cold weather so I reckon you'd hardly notice it working or not in most of the weather you get dahn sarf.

 

Pleased it's running better now!

[danthecapriman]

So glad you've managed to crack this.

It sounds like it was an absolute shit to figure out. Auto electrics are awful to try and fault find, I hate them!

 

One thing I did spot in your pics, the pic of the 8 fuses (one blown) there looks like a red wire that has split insulation, with copper showing through.

Obvious I know, but check them and replace or tape up the damaged bits. Could be a cause of trouble later on if they start getting damp inside or the exposed wire touches the body or other wires etc.

I found loads of old, brittle and split wires on my Granada which is a similar age.

[3VOM]

IMG_7878.JPG

I don't like the look of the red loop under the fuse box (bottom centre ish). It looks like it is kinked and the insulation is missing, like someone put a scotchlock on it at some point and removed it later.

Edited to say Dan beat me to it.

[dollywobbler]

Most of what you posted was interpreted by my feeble brain as the sort of noise the teacher makes in Charlie Brown. However, well done for battling away! Glad it's sorted. Hopefully.

[beko1987]

Wow, that looked in depth, but hopefully a satisfying result and you can actually drive it without worrying if it will start again/run at all!

[loserone]

Excellent news! When's the raffle?

[Asimo]

10/10 for persistance.

 

Those VAG style "current flow" circuit diagrams are awful, especially when they are reproduced in Haynes manuals. I have done electronic fault finding all my working life and never found any other circuit drawings as unhelpful as these.

 

The only K-Jetronic car I have had (Audi 100) also had a problem with the cold start valve not being actuated.

I considered putting in a manual "start enrich" switch, It is only a crude auxiliary injector after all. I never bothered because it always fired eventually and ran fine once started.

[Dave_Q]

Has anyone sent this man a medal yet?

 

Top work, am full of admiration for anyone who can tackle something that is clearly out of their comfort zone initially and come out a winner.

[320touring]

Tip top effort! Free to help with the CX next weekend?

[Jim Bell]

I would have set fire to it. You're to be commended for seeing it through.

[Jimmycrackcorn]

I've always had a soft spot for one of these but I've probably missed the boat on getting one I can afford now.