First, do no harm?

ubercrap · Post by **ubercrap** » Fri Nov 25, 2005 4:39 pm

OK, here is a little story for you! Wednesday evening, I pulled all of the injectors on the wagon and put new seals on. I also replaced all of the short pieces of fuel line connecting the injectors to the fuel ring, as several were original and snapped like dry twigs! These things were definitely the source of the raw gasoline smell inside the car as this is no longer a problem. However, Thursday, when I was pulling away from the shop, the car didn't seem to have as much power as it should and was running rough. I stopped a couple of blocks later, and found a vacuum hose that I must have pulled loose and didn't see. I thought this maybe was the source of the problem, so I drove off, but the car was still down on power, and felt like it maybe wasn't running on all cylinders. I was already late meeting my family for Thanksgiving, so I kept driving for about 15 minutes. I decided to stop and re-check everything again. I made sure all of the plugs were on tight, and everything else was connected. Everything looked fine, so I drove all the way to my parents' house, but the car still didn't seem like it was running quite right. I borrowed a vehicle, and left the car there. Today, I came back and looked at everything and all seemed to look fine. I thought maybe I had disturbed some fragile wiring to the injectors, so I tried unplugging each one and starting the car to see if it ran differently, which it definitely seemed to, so I think all the injectors are firing. I checked the flap on the AFM and it moves freely. If I revved the engine a bit, it smoothed out, but at lower RPM's it was very rough. I put everything back together again, and decided I would just put in on the trailer and take it back home so that I could work on it there. This time, car started, but was running terribly, with so little power that it could barely drive up onto the trailer- much worse than it was just a little earlier when I was trying to figure if I could find anything wrong or when I was driving it. So, what do you guys think? It seems like it has to be something I did. Or does it? Maybe it is something unrelated and coincidental? My best guess is that I messed up some wiring somewhere, maybe going to the plug that connects to the AFM? The first time I put everything back together, the last thing I was going to do was reconnect that plug, but realized that it was caught it behind the airbox when I was reattaching it, so it seems like this is a possibility. Hopefully no major damage has been done, but hey, that's life.

dphdo · Post by **dphdo** » Fri Nov 25, 2005 5:44 pm

Greetings! Something that comes to mind for me is something I've done myself, did you hit the distributor an knock the timing off? Also, are any of the fuel ines kinked? Especially the intake one on the right side of the engine - if that gets kinked, there will be decreased pressure to the injectors. Just a couple of thoughts!

SMILES
Dale

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Nov 25, 2005 8:19 pm

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll check these for sure!

ubercrap · Post by **ubercrap** » Fri Nov 25, 2005 9:25 pm

Whoops, that was me

I was at my parents' house when I posted. Hey, now that I think of it, I remember when I was pulling the airbox out to access the injectors down there, I believe I got one of the clips caught on a plug wire. I did make sure that the plug wires were all secure, but it certainly could have turned the distributor maybe... It does have the symptoms of the timing being off for sure...Tomorrow I'll check it out- it would be great if it was something this simple!

ubercrap · Post by **ubercrap** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 10:58 am

Well, I checked the distributor and it was solid as a rock and timing was OK. No kinks in any fuel lines that I can see. Hey, with L-Jet, one DOES NOT hear the pump run for a few seconds when you turn the key on, correct? I don't hear the pump running. With D-Jet and K-Jet, when you turn the key on, the pump runs for a few seconds. I guess I need to start from the beginning- check fuel pressure, spark, valves, etc....

ubercrap · Post by **ubercrap** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 11:48 am

Aha, I think I've found it! Broken wires near where I was working! Currently investigating- will report back...

ubercrap · Post by **ubercrap** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 2:15 pm

Looks like these are the "pre-resistors" on the wiring diagram posted type4.org? Doesn't look like it would be very easy to hook these wires back up? Anybody have an extra one of these things lying around?

hoodsy · Post by **hoodsy** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 10:20 pm

hey uber I have a 412 here that was coverted to carbs , but some of the old fuel injection stuff was left behind, I have never worked on an L -jet but that part your looking for looks like one of the pieces that was left behind in the car. Does it screw to the side of the engine compartmentif so I may have the part and you are welcome to it. I will be at my garage tomorrow so I will have a look at it and if it looks like what you have there I will pull it and try to get a part# or at least post a pic.

vwbill · Post by **vwbill** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 1:17 am

So that is the series resistor that looks like the hot side of the injectors? What does the other plug look like and what are the wire numbers? Does that drop the injector voltage down? It looks like a balast resistor type thing.... So then does that mean the injectors are hot with juice and then they are grounded on by the control unit?? Looks like you could rewire it but if the output should all be the same shouldnt you check that the resistor parts are equal? Didnt you pull test the injectors? Weird she would run but it looks like just one wire or injector shouldnt have been firing? Good luck! I havent had a L-jet in a while but it was very reliable for me. bill

ubercrap · Post by **ubercrap** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 11:39 am

hoodsy, that sounds great! The part does indeed screw to the driver side of the engine compartment. The part that I have has a VW part number of 022906079 and a Bosch part number of 0 280 159 001.

vwbill, I am not terribly familiar with L-Jet yet, so I don't know exactly why this resistor pack is necessary, but it does have to do with the injectors. I was stupid, and I was only testing to see if the wiring to the injectors made a difference, I didn't actually pull the injectors out to see if they were actually squirting fuel, d'oh! If I had, I probably would have found out that that a couple weren't firing. I did try to reconnect the wires, and got one to hold, albeit with a shorter wire. I made a mess of the other one, and I figure any difference in wire length, resistance, connection, etc... is probably undesirable?

dphdo · Post by **dphdo** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 6:23 pm

Hey Uber! I'm glad you found the problem! I've had a couple of those darn things break on me. However, if I may be so bold, I would recomend biting the bullet and buying a new unit. My experience is that used ones are fragile as well - they always break on me. It wasn't until I got a new one did my life improve. Anyway, thake that for what it's worth. By the way, there is a fuel injector testor on ebay now that I think highly of. I bought one about a year ago, and it works really well to see if electricity is getting to the injectors without messing up the terminals (I'm NOT the one selling it by the way).

SMILES
Dale

ubercrap · Post by **ubercrap** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 7:30 pm

Hey, thanks for the tips! These resistor packs are still available? I wouldn't have guessed it! The connection of the wires to the resistors is very fragile indeed. I just managed to reconnect the wires in a very rigged up manner, plugged it in, started the car, and it seems to run fine now! I haven't had a chance to test drive it yet, but I think it will be fine. I am not confident that the connections will stay together at all, of course, so getting another one is a top priority! I'll take a gander at the fuel tester on ebay, which one is it exactly? I just looked and there seems to be quite a few different setups?

hoodsy · Post by **hoodsy** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 7:46 pm

HI uber well I went over to my garage today and good news I have the part. I pulled it off all the wires are still conected but it is really dirty so I will try and clean it up before I send it to you that is if you still want it. if you do just let me know where to send it.

ubercrap · Post by **ubercrap** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 7:56 pm

Sweet, I'll PM you. Can't hurt to have a spare.

Holy crap! I just looked and this thing is $94.74 new on the BusDepot.com?!

Damn you Bosch!

Is it still the same crappy attachment for the wires? It better not be!

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 7:30 am

Yeah...I had a sticker shock weekend myself. The fuel pump on my daily driver, digifant cabriolet is howling. Time to replace.
The best I have found...is like $265 for that stinky little digifant pump....and thats not even Bosch

. But......I did find a brand new Bosch CIS 1989 model type fuel pump....in the box.....for $185...

. I'm thinking that with a hair bit of checking and tuning...it would be worthwhile to install that in its place.

Those resistor packs look like they are fusion welded ground braids...kinda like what you find on the breaker plate in the dizzy.
Generally they are solid...but succumb to vibration with age...just like the breaker plate.
Iwould think that stabilizing them with a layer of high temp epoxy could be the ticket. Ray