5ktq electrical issues update...

[Cody Forbes]

>
>
> You know, this *almost* sounds like a dead battery-no charge problem. The
> more electrical load you put on it, the worse things get.
>
> I think what I might try at this point is getting the engine to run
> properly with no other electrical draws on the system - even if it meant
> hooking up a known good, fully charged external battery to the car.
>
> It almost sounds like the firing order is off (slight misfire, worse as
you
> speed up) and has been so long enough so that all this continued
> troubleshooting has run down the battery, and on these cars, low batteries
> will give ALL sorts of weird problems.

I almost always top off the battery with the charger as soon as I finish a
test.

>
> This may be a case of can't see the forest for the trees - you DID check
> the firing order, right?
>

I didn't check the firing order, but since the engine runs great when the
electrical accessories are off I would think its ok.

> Cody, come and buy the 86 5KTQ I have sitting here . . . it does run, and
> I'll make you a deal . . .
>

Trust me if I had the money I most likely wouldn't hesitate to expand my
collection by another, but actually right now I'm broke for the most part.
Bad few weeks at the shop that got worse just this past Friday. As if the
deal with our ex-fabricator turned enemy (really long story, part of it
involves him screwing up a '03 A4TQ that we have to pay to fix) wasn't bad
enough, then this scam bull came (I tried to update you guys the other day
during the list outages, I'll resend that message in a few minutes), and now
the latest that happened yesterday. We had just finished a brake pad job on
a customers '02 996 Carrera, and while the tech was washing his hands so he
could take the car out to seat the pads the customer came in to the shop,
got in his car and proceded to back out of the shop without anybody telling
him his car was done. Of course the brakes hadn't yet been pumped up to get
pedal pressure so he proceded to back right smack dab into a rather pristine
911 Cabriolet when he realised he had no brakes. Of course according to him
it's our fault and he expects us to have to pay for the damages to his car
and the other. We of course expect him to pay for both cars, but more then
likely its going to end up in the middle and we are going to have to pay for
the Cabrio, which luckily only needs some buffing on the bumper and a trim
piece replaced. I'll tell you, it hit the fan last February and hasn't
stopped making a mess yet. Obviously the stress (and embarasment) of my own
main car not running isn't helping when combined with whats been going on. I
swear we could make a movie off this crap.

Is there any area out there in need of a good German auto shop? We are
seriously considering just closing down the place (thats been in business
since '79) and leaving to start fresh somewhere else.

Mike A. send me some info (pics if you got 'em) off list just in case
nothing gets destroyed next week and I actually make some money!

>
> Best Regards,
>
> Mike Arman
-Cody Forbes
Black Forest Racing
2x '86 5ktq
'87 5ktq
'88 80 4cyl