Fun with code pulling ('89 90) - long and boring

[Huw Powell]

Having realized that this whole stored code thing might actually be of
benefit to me in terms of seeing if my 90Q is running right and stuff, I
started doing some playing today.

OK, the other day I did, too, but reading the codes after turning off
the engine just shows you what 4-4-4-4 looks like.  Nifty.

So today its like 85 degreeeees out and I'm tired of the sometimes
sluggishness the car has, the long cranks back when it was brutal this
winter, and the stumbly sort of thing it would do after shifting when
accelerating hard from a cold start.

So I come in from a run to the local mall, I mean recycling center
(picked up an oak kitchen cabinet and some old Genesis speakers), and
leave the engine running.  Pop hood, hop out, open fuse box, jam spare
fuse in to the fuel pump/jetronic relay.  Struggle to pull it out.  Memo
to self: wire a little switch to the those underdash sockets this decade.

Hop into car and wait.  Interminably.  All I'm getting is the 1.5 second
or so on/off cycle of the engine light.  (Did I mention I installed the
check engine light bulb last time I decided to play with this feature?).
  So I get out and rough up my knuckles some more reinserting and
removing the fuse (life is hard).

This time I get a code.  2-1-3-2.  I redid the fuse thingie, but we'll
ignore the later codes, since as Phil used to say, you fix the first
one, then retest, as any others may be caused by the first fault.

Go inside.  2132 is not on Mr. Mockry's site.  But it's in my Bentley -
"California only," by the way.  It says - no signal.  The fuel and
ignition ECu's aren't connected to each other, or the car, or something
like that.  Check wiring and ECUs.

Well, since I have a spare ignition ECU lying around, either from
another '89 90Q or a 91 80Q, I'll swap it in (since it's easy to get to).

Out with the screw, off with the kick panel, and chuck the zip-loc
baggie and zip ties that were installed to protect this ECU when it was
replaced due to water damage, before I owned it, with one I sold the
shop from an '87.5 Coupe.

Hmm, different part numbers... heck, let's try it anyway.

The car starts... I go out to beat on it a bit on the nearby highway and
the swamp road.  Seems to run ok at least (I'd love to say it snapped my
neck back with newfound power, but this was just an ECU, not a
turbocharger...).  Redlined it or so a few times, pulled it hard in a
few gears, and returned to the parking lot with no tickets, and no
injured (but miffed looking) pedestrians out for their evening black fly
strolls.

Check the codes (memo to self - do that little switch installation this
weekend).  This time they are a happy 4-4-4-4.  Hmmmm.

A little test drive just now also seemed, well, a bit "different."  The
highway cold hard pull for just a moment, say one rev, hesitated at the
1-2 shift, then smoothed out and pulled.  3 and 4 were very happy to be
engaged and grabbed their share of the fabulous 0-60 time like they
always sometimes used to.

It also *seems* to start a little more eagerly.

So it might not be the knock sensor, or carboned up valves/pistons, or
nasty old age.  It might have just been the wrong computer messing with
my timing. It might just be the warm weather.  We'll see how this goes
over the next few days.

--
Huw Powell

http://www.humanspeakers.com/audi

http://www.humanthoughts.org/