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New problems with the 200t...
Hi,
Well, I'm back with some more news on my 200t. I have been out of
the list for perhaps 2 weeks or so. I've done some fiddling with the
200t and would like to make some sort of report and perhaps get more
help. This is a bit lengthy, sorry, at the end I mention the latest
problem.
Firstly, the overboosting thing still seems to be happening at times,
but that slow electronic boost gauge now doesn't show more than
1.2 bar where as it used to show up to 1.6 bar of boost a few weeks
back. The thing now seems to underboost a bit. Car feels dead at
times. My next test will be to route the manifold pressure line directly
into the WG so that boost won't be FV controlled above the stock 1.4
bar. (I think my FV has a duty cycle of 1 per 2 week period :) )
Next, my overheating problem is fixed. The car didn't so much as
overheat than run a little bit hot. Usually ran about 90-95 celcius is
moderate to hot weather. On Saturday I flushed the radiator and found
copious amounts of rubbish in it. Lots of flaky bits and dirt/corrosion.
The motor hasn't gone over the 87 celcius point yet, which is the
point at which the thermostat opens.
Next problem, my auxiliary water pump that had a small leak and
corrosion on it, is finally dead. A replacement will come from a VW
Microbus sometime in the future, perhaps even while I'm still in this
town.
On Saturday when doing the radiator I removed the injector cooling
shroud for easier access to the hoses. I looked at the top of the
intake manifold and there between the injectors is a small rubber pipe
that seems to run from the top curve of the manifold to the bottom or
into the block. This usually has 2 clamps holding it in place. However,
the upper clamp was missing so I had to put in a spare that I had. I
was hoping that that was the thing causing the whistling from the
motor when I was cruising, but alas it is not. Car still whistles.
PCV valve housing was replaced with a geniune Audi part. On replacement
I found that the hose running from the valve housing to the airbox
was so badly worn that it tore like tissue paper...literally. I replaced
that with some oil resistant tubing I got from the local hydraulic
and brake works. Damn thing is grey and doesn't match anything in the
engine bay. Had to cut it shorter than stock to prevent it folding on
itself when curved just like the stock one did. Any problems with
cutting that line shorter than normal? Also, I tried the suggestion of
building my own valve housing t-piece for the PCV, I went to the
hydraulic works and asked them for some pieces but they gave me a smug
"we can't do that as it is too small for us to handle".
Replaced the overflow return hose between the radiator and the overflow
tank as it was leaking, but did this about 2 weeks ago. Still need to
check coolant loss in the future.
Brakes are still completely shot. No money for repair as yet. Future
job still being sought.
Top side of turbo where water pipes enter is coated in oily substance.
Washed it off with some Cleen Green (which fizzed wonderfully and gives
me a great buzz when sprayed onto the hot turbo housing of the EM).
Felt under the IC-manifold hose (the Michellin man) and came up with
a thick bit of oil coating, it might be the hose is split. Could I
fit any straight piece of tubing with the same diameter in place of this
hose? I will probably get the hose from the same hydraulic works and it
will be for long-life oil holding at same high pressures (high = 20PSI).
Rear left door is still buggered. The locking system seems to be
messing around. I can fiddle with the lock knob to get different
effects. I unlock the car and the rear door will not open even though
the lock is in the up position. Reach in from the front and lightly
touch the lock knob until it clicks. Then the door will open. Close
all doors and engage central locking. All locks will go down. Go to
rear left door and pull on the handle and the door will open....with
the locking knob down! Not great for security. Close door and
reach in from front and push the knob down all the way and then up
all the way (or various combos of this) and then apply central
locking again. All locks. Unlock and then the rear door will no longer
open until I reach in a touch the knob again to make it click. Future
replacement of 2 rear doors is on the list.
Okay, enough said about problems previously experienced with my '90
200t. I now have a somewhat more serious thing happening. On Saturday
I flushed the radiator (lengthy for a first timer). I refilled and
followed the Haynes instructions to run the engine and watch the
level of the coolant. Things were heating up slowly so I put some gas
on to get a fairly fast idle, about 1500RPM. I raised this to about
1600RPM. The hood was open the windows were down and at that engine
speed I heard a knocking sound coming from the motor. Actually more
of a "clack". Went to the engine bay and revved the motor gently up to
the point the "clacking" began. To start with it seemed to come from
the entire left side of the motor. I've never heard knocking and
thought the motor was knocking. I thought I had put in rubbish fuel
the day before as I have switched to Shell instead of Caltex as the
local Caltex (about 200m away) had problems with water in the fuel
tanks. I also thought that having flushed the radiators rubbish over
the knock sensor might be messing the knock sensor up and the ECU
was not compensating. I closed up everything and parked the car. I took
it out later and there was none of the "clacking" when the motor was
cold. When it warmed up a slight bit the clacking returned, but is
only really audible when the hood is open. The clack seems to come
from the rear of the engine. I took it to my VW mech. He revs the
engine up and lets the RPM drop to idle again, the clack also grows and
drops. Hold it at 1600RPM or slightly over and the clack is clearly
audible. His diagnosis is that the big-end bearings are shot. I will
take the car to him to have the sump dropped and he will check to see
if it is the bearings. (He doesn't believe in complete diagnosis by
sound as the rest of the damn mechs in this town!).
Questions:
1. What sound will a faulty BE bearing make?
2. Can it affect performance? The idea here is that the
knock/clack is picked up by the knock sensor and the ECU
retards timing unneccesaril/incorrectly.
3. Agent cost for half BE bearing is US$12, total cost for
5 sets is about US$100, it has been suggested to use
KS bearings. Anyone replaced bearings with KS bearings?
They're pretty big in this country.
4. For cost reasons, is it a bad idea to just replace the
shot bearings or better just to cough up the credit card
and have all of them changed at the same time?
Or could all this be caused by a faulty valve or hydraulic
lifter/tappet?
Sorry for the long message, I do tend to blab too much at times (but
it's not like I'm doing any work here anyway!)
G.
--
"a thousand miles from here, there is another person smiling"
1990 Turbo (200t)
name : gerard van vught
tel : +27-57-912 2658 (w) / 082 923 9609 (cell)
url : http://homepages.acenet.co.za/gerard/
e-mail : gerard@poboxes.com / han.solo@galaxycorp.com
gerard@acenet.co.za / van_vught@frg.issi.co.za