Fuel system diagnostic help.

[M. Oesterwinter]

I replaced the cap and rotor.  I was just at the store to buy a spark plug
socket.  I will hopefully replace the plugs tonight.  I can't hear the
fuel pump.  It is located in the gas tank, right?

- Marcus

On Fri, 22 Dec 2000, Bill Rowe wrote:

> wouldn't suspect fuel pump yet.  is the fuel pump noisy?  check the
> distributor cap, rotor, and plugs first and tell me what you find.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: quattro-admin at audifans.com [mailto:quattro-admin at audifans.com]On
> Behalf Of M. Oesterwinter
> Sent: Friday, December 22, 2000 10:31 AM
> To: quattro at audifans.com
> Subject: Fuel system diagnostic help.
> 
> 
> I have an odd problem that I can not figure out.  It's '87 5000
> Turbo Quattro.  Here is an explanation of how it came about:
> 
> About to go on a long road trim (250 miles each way), so I do an oil
> change and do other little maintenance things.  After a bit of driving, I
> touch the ignition cables, and the forward most one feels pretty hot.  I
> figure its getting some extra resistance, so I go to my '85 turbo and pull
> out one of the ignitional cables (just in case) and take it along.
> 
> Now I start on the road trip.  20 miles down, the car does a little
> sputter/jerking once I get into the mid range RPMs.  So I stop and
> switch out the plug cable.  It seems that the cables twist off at the
> metal socket, so that is how I was able to get it in and out of the
> loom.  I hit the road again and have not one problem averaging about 80-85
> MPH the rest of the way there.
> 
> A couple of days later, we take a trip from there that is about 70 miles
> away.  I am late, so I average about 90 MPH on the way there, but on the
> way back, I was following people at 60 or so, and this is where I start
> having real problems.
> 
> It started out that whenever I went over about 4K RPMs, it would sputter,
> and I would loose power.  I pulled over, and found a hose that had
> collapsed (not knowing when it had happened).  We tried as best we could
> to get it open.  If I were to rev the engine, I could not tell if there
> were any problems over the 4K RPM mark.  So we continued on, trying to
> keep it under 4K.  But, this mark soon started to drift down.  I tried my
> best to keep up with the cars that I was following, but I was having a
> hard time.  About 20 miles later, I wasn't able to pass 2K RPMs.  So, we
> pulled over and left the car there.  The next day, I got a ride to my car,
> and it seemed to run fine as is most of the way back.  I stopped by a
> parts store, and picked up a hose to replace the one that was bad.  I also
> picked up a fuel filter.  Going back from the parts store, I think that
> once again, I started to experience the sputtering problems.
> 
> Finally, got back and replaced the fuel filter and hose, and then drove
> around, trying to get the temp up by driving harder than usual.  It seemed
> to be fine, so I headed back.  Then later, I drove the car again, and once
> again experienced the problems.
> 
> I am being an optimist now, and thinking, "Oh, it's probably just a few
> air bubbles that hadn't escaped the fuel filter yet."  So when it comes
> time to head home, I think that I will do fine.  Odly enough, I made it
> the first two hours just fine.  Then the problems started again.  Once
> again a little sputtering/jerking at about 4000 RPMs (or mabey a little
> more) started.  That mark slowly went down over the coarse of about 40
> minutes, until I had to pull over.  I pulled over, and the car died.
> 
> I tried to start it again, and had problems.  When I was able to start it,
> I had to keep it reved or it would die.  So I turned it off, and sat there
> for about ten or twenty minutes.  Then tried again.  I couldn't tell
> anything by reving it, so I started to go.  It seemed to do okay for a
> short while.  (Once again having the 4K RPM cap.)  A little while longer,
> and I had to pull over again.
> 
> I looked at the ignition cable that I had replaced.  I actually unscrewed
> it from the metal socket.  It seems that it didn't have a very good
> contact because the insulation material was melting.  I cut the end of the
> cable off to expose some bare wire, and I tried as best as I could to
> screw it back in there.  At this point, the car did fairly well again for
> a while longer (I don't recall if I had the 4K cap, but I don't think
> so.)  Then it started to have problems again.  I pulled over and looked at
> the cable.  It was once again melted.  I cut it off again, and from here
> was able to drive all the way home.
> 
> Now, I am not very good with cars.  I have no clue why it would have had
> such extreme problems if just one cylinder was not firing.  I think I even
> disconnected the plug altogether and didn't have the problems that I was
> having, so I am very confused why replacing and cutting the wire had
> helped so much.  Not only that, but I replaced the entire wire set in the
> mean time, and I am still having problems.  After about 10 minutes of
> driving, it starts to sputter and jerk.
> 
> Now, the only thing that comes to mind as potentially being the problem is
> the fuel pump.  What do you guys think?  Any advise would be very much
> appreciated.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> - Marcus
> 
> 
> 
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