Fuel Pump Relay question (Chris Hall)

[Jim Jordan]

Hi,

Message #6?.  If you remove the fuse/relay panel, you should be able to see
the solder traces on it.  Occasionally a trace will be cracked by flexion,
maybe even due to many, many temperature excursions.  The cracks are very
hard to see unless you use at least a 10X magnifying glass, unless, of
course, you're superdog.  The same is true of the small circuit board in the
FPR, the ECU, the cruise control box, etc.  The solder connections were
often bad.

You mentioned once that your FPR got hot, maybe even hot enough to produce a
cold solder joint that connects when cold and opens when hot.  Of course, if
you're using the jumper that ought not to happen.

Huw's idea of putting a bulb on the connections is a very good one, but
don't drive looking backwards and don't install the rear seat over it.... 

HTH.

Cheers!

Jim Jordan

>  -----Original Message-----
>  From: Alex Kowalski [mailto:akowalsk at comcast.net] 
>  Sent: Sunday, June 05, 2005 2:04 PM
>  To: quattro at audifans.com
>  Subject: Re: Fuel Pump Relay question (Chris Hall)
>  
>  Chris,
>  
>  It seems VERY odd to me.  I've read almost all the posts so 
>  far and this is beginning to sound more and more to me like 
>  something is wrong with the fuse/relay panel and/or 
>  connections thereto itself.   The panel can be removed and 
>  completely disconnected (it's not a fun day at the beach, 
>  but it's not impossibly difficult).  Maybe you could find a 
>  good donor and swap the whole thing out, but the fact that 
>  you can touch relays on the panel and make the car go Kaput 
>  is telling me that perhaps the panel itself has developed a 
>  fault -- it sounds very suspect to me.  I don't know what 
>  they look like internally or of the panels themselves can be 
>  taken apart, but in combination with the humidity and the 
>  stalling...it sounds like some kind of 
>  corrosion/intermittent electrical connection going on there.
>  
>  Good luck,
>  Alex Kowalski
>  '87 5KCSTQ
>  
>  
>  
>  > Date: Sun, 5 Jun 2005 11:36:22 -0500
>  > From: Chris Hall <badcomrade at gmail.com>
>  > Subject: Re: Fuel Pump Relay question
>  > To: Ed Kellock <ekellock at gmail.com>
>  > Cc: quattro at audifans.com
>  > Message-ID: <121ac73d0506050936310138af at mail.gmail.com>
>  > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>  > 
>  > Sitting here thinking somewhat logically... I have to 
>  wonder if maybe 
>  > I'm wrong about the lack of signal from the hall sender making the 
>  > tach drop to 0 like a rock.  Maybe I just have that wrong 
>  in my head 
>  > and I -think- that's what it does...  it's been so long 
>  since I played 
>  > with that stuff I could have it all wrong in my head, and 
>  I'll owe a 6 
>  > pack to everyone that's mentioned the hall sender that I've said 
>  > "nope, that's not it because..."  haha.
>  > 
>  > Also, that could explain why after changing the 
>  distributor cap and 
>  > rotor, the car ran perfectly fine for the whole week.  
>  Maybe the wires 
>  > under the dust cap shifted in to a position where they 
>  worked until 
>  > they slipped back in to their "let's make the car stall) position.
>  > 
>  > I'll have to double check what happens to the tach when the hall 
>  > sender plug (which I've shaken the HELL out of while the engine's
>  > running) is disconnected as the engine is running.
>  > 
>  > Still makes the whole "shaking the fusebox tray" seem odd though. 
>  > Then again, so does the fact that the last time I did it 
>  was the most 
>  > aggressive, and it wouldn't stall...
>  > 
>  
>