[urq] Strange ECU Behavior

[Ed Kellock]

One of my prep projects for West UPG was to install the glove box and
ECU for the first time since I've owned the car.  While I was
troubleshooting a no-start shortly after I bought it, I removed the
plastic cover form the ECU plug and it stayed that way until last
week.  Once I replaced the cover, when I got the plug snapped securely
into place on the ECU, there was no ignition.  I removed the cover and
voila ignition.  In the end, I carefully replaced the cover making
sure to not compress the wires under it by pulling gently on each as I
snugged the cover down with the screw.  Once afterward I was able to
get the car to stall by tugging and wiggling on the wires.  I think it
was a black wire that joins another at the plug.  Anyway, I bolted it
all back together and haven't had a hiccup since, knock on wood.

Another time when the ignition cut out, I wiggled wires at the coil. 
Pretty high tech, eh?

Ed

On Mon, 13 Sep 2004 19:33:53 -0400, Frank de Kat <fdekat at sentex.net> wrote:
> 
> I had a similar (though not as 'fatal')  situation.
> 
> The situation seems to have stopped once I securely mounted the ECU to the
> end of the glove box, and made sure the ECU connector was on tight..
> 
> (Previous owner had it mounted with only one bolt). Large bumps could set
> off the condition too..
> 
> Regards,
> 
> -Frank de Kat-
> 
> At 12:54 PM 9/13/04, you wrote:
> 
> >Message: 9
> >Date: Mon, 13 Sep 2004 12:54:39 EDT
> >From: DGraber460 at aol.com
> >Subject: [urq] Strange behavior- ECU/ignition?
> >To: quattro at audifans.com, urq at audifans.com
> >Message-ID: <7d.582cd19f.2e772acf at aol.com>
> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
> >
> >I have over the years had my car (83 URQ) on rare occassion behave very
> >strange with no clue as to why.
> >What happens is out of the blue, driving down the hiway at 60-70, the tach
> >will suddenly to drop to zero and bounce up & down as it comes on and  off
> >line. The car then backfires violently at the same time. It starts with once
> >every 15-20 seconds and becomes more and more frequent until the car finally
> >stops altogether. Switching the car off, and restarting (rebooting the
> >computer)
> >and all seems fine.
> >It has only happened 4-5 times over the years, but did it twice yesterday  as
> >I was returning from the West Coast UPG in the middle of Utah, and western
> >Colorado (miles from anywhere). It is not heat related, and pedal input &
> >jiggling the ignition switch have no effect. Is there anything in the ECU
> >maps,
> >programs, or electronics that could cause such a thing?
> >This has me totally stumped!
> >It will go months or years between episodes- although yesterday it was 3
> >hours and 240 miles apart.
> >
> >Dennis
> >Denver
> 
> 
> 
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