[V8] Car stalled - code 2111

[Dave Saad]

That "enterprising" member would be me.  Perhaps another word would  
be "cheapskate" or even "unemployed collage student" but whatever the  
name, the ABS sensor does seem to work. I have two installed since  
both of the original sensors were flaky when heated up. I drive this  
car so little now that I don't have good  long term test data - but  
it sure looks good so far.  It starts easy, and revs high.

And Fred - you can test your sensors pretty easy once you get them  
off the car.  Just put an ohm meter on the two signal wires and you  
should read about 1K ohm. Heat the sensor up with a hot air gun (hair  
dryer might work) and watch the ohm meter. If it begins to rise  
rapidly and then finally opens op (infinite resistance) then you have  
a bad sensor.  It really looks like a design issue with these  
things.  They are all guaranteed to fail at some point.  My suspicion  
is that the repeated heat cycles eventually break the very fine  
copper wire coil winding due to thermal expansion/contraction.  The  
wire itself is about 0.002" diameter - so it does not take much to  
break it.

I have learned a little about these sensors in recent days too - this  
is still a common problem on newer motors (VAG brands anyway) but the  
new sensors have a permanent magnet mounted behind the coil core - I  
guess to make it more sensitive but there again, either the heat  
weakens the magnet or the wires still crack. Near as I can tell, the  
problem is the magnet weakening.  The one sensor I had to play with  
did not open up, but did fail in the car with the code equivalent to  
2111.

Dave


On Oct 20, 2008, at 4:43 PM, kneale at knitknacks.com wrote:

> Yup, the ECU needs a signal from the engine speed (RPM) sensor to keep
> operating the engine.  Subject to flaky behavior when overheated.   
> A dash
> of cold water would have done the same thing as your time allowing
> cooldown, if you could get it past the exhaust spaghetti to cool  
> down the
> sensor.  Very commonly reported that the other one will fail soon  
> after
> the first.  Be aware the other one is NLA, but they're identical  
> except
> the RPM one has gray connectors, so you can put some black tape on the
> second one.  I have one V8 running with a 5K car's sensor in place  
> of the
> black one because that was cheaper.  You just have to be careful  
> the extra
> long wire is kept away from the exhaust.
>
> One enterprising audifans member has installed an ABS sensor in  
> place of
> one or both of these things.
>
>
>>
>>
>> Hi Gang -
>>
>> My trusty beast left me stranded for the first time in over ten  
>> years the
>> other day.  Died at a traffic light a couple of miles from home.  It
>> restarted and then died while under way about 30 yards down the  
>> road.  I
>> rolled into a parking lot on a side street and did some impromptu
>> diagnosing
>> to no avail.  Luckily there was a sandwich shop right there and I  
>> walked
>> home eating my lunch.
>>
>> By the time I got my truck, borrowed a friends dolly, and got back  
>> to the
>> car - guess what?  That's right, the V8 started right up.  So I  
>> drove it
>> straight home and then walked back to get the truck (no sandwich this
>> time).
>>
>> Pulled code 2111.  Does a faulty RPM sensor fit these symptoms?   
>> Isn't
>> there
>> another sensor right there next to the RPM sensor?  Should I  
>> change that
>> one
>> while I'm there?
>>
>> TIA!
>> Fred
>> '90 V8
>>
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>
>
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