MOT failure, emissions, steering rack central gaiter 2.0L 8v

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:24 pm

Hi all,

Don't want to look like I'm leeching but would really appreciate a bit of advice.

My lovely new acquisition obviously thrives on attention. Did my best to check all the obvious potential MOT failures such as gaiters, bulbs, brakes etc etc and spent most of Sunday soldering up the hideous mess that once fed the rear light clusters and clearing out all the dried rust.

Quite enjoyable really. Simple stuff I know but satisfying to trace back what cable did what etc and put it all right.

Also had to reattach pretty much every trim panel in the cabin and boot apart from the door cards, including pulling seats and carpet out to find all the missing fixings!

But still she wants more! Didn't even see the steering rack gaiter but unfortunately MOT man did, and he didn't like what he saw.I guess my question is how much of a job is it to replace? I've done a search but not come up with anything much except a post from 2004 saying 'its only a couple of nuts and slipping the boot back on'. Anyone with first hand experience to share would be very helpful, including best place to source the part?

Emissions failure is something I should have done more to address before the test to be honest. Looks like a new Lambda has been fitted, and there were two second hand Idle control valves in the boot. It's this part of the test she's failed on, and I quote:

' Exhaust emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle excessive'

'Eexhaust emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits'

It's also very noticeable that she idles at about 1500 - 1800rpm, Other than that she does drive like a dream, no stuttering, flat spots, or other associated gayness. Not brilliant on principles of engine management and a search has failed to produce the info in a format that my feeble brain can assimilate.

Any help would be much appreciated so I can get her on the road and concentrate on far more important jobs like getting her gleaming again!

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 6:40 pm

mine can be a bit tempermental on emissions.
Check air filter. Make sure you connected that lambda sensor up correctly the little spade connector is a bit fiddly to get on you usually have to shove the rubber protector back a bit.

Also bung some of that engine emissions stuff in and take it for a good drive around before you take it back. See what it comes up with then. but have a go asap as you will only have so long before you MOT has to do a re-test..

If you wanted to you could also change dizzy cap and spark plugs, and clean out breather pipes to be on the safe side. other than that assume the o2 sensor wasnt new, or is goosed.

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 6:46 pm

you need to get that idle speed down, somethings not right. do you have the ecu temp sensor plugged in properly.? if you unplug it while running engine gets very upset.

could be isv, or air flow meter too. timing maybe. it depends on what whoever has had if before you has done. To me it sounds like they were having problems too and gave up on it.

Camped on the site Joined: Apr 28, 2006 Posts: 270

and the boot really is 2 bolts to remove and pout boot on, maybe go to a scrapyard, find a good 1, remove it then you will know how to do yours Very Happy

it is a bit awkward but definately do-able by anyone.

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 7:56 pm

very interesting re: steering rack boot. Mine been split for ages an always passed MOT. Think i'll have a bash at mine

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 8:06 pm

Take your point re idle speed Dez, something aint right. My uninformed plan of action was:

Double check Lambda connections, as the cables are spliced under the car.

Double check Idle control valve, maybe even attempt a clean.

Check the MAF is clean. (And air filter too now)

Check breathers etc.

Other than that I'm very open to suggestions. One other interesting although not necessarily relevant thing I've noticed is that although the engine shows no signs of overheating, the temp guage is very high.

Thanks for the reassurance on the steering rack BTW, a dry run sounds like a plan.

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 8:38 pm

if needs may i have just took an o2 sensor off mine. a few years old now, i just changed it as a matter of course. i could let you have that if you wanted one to try out to double check. nothing was particuarly wrong with it, but im sure its been in before i had my cylinder head sorted out because of burning oil, so i just changed it anyway for peace of mind. Its been in my wheelie bin mind you, i think i put it in a cardboard box, i'll check to see if its still ok or is covered in old dog food, tatie rinds, bin juice etc. Laughing

If you cover postage i can send it to you.. Wink

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 8:58 pm

That'a an astoundingly generous offer Dez, if it's salvageable I'd definitely like to take you up on that.

As for the steering rack boot, does anything need lubricating before I secure the new rubber?

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 9:13 pm

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 9:20 pm

Fnarr! OK, I see now what I did there, wasn't intentionally humorous I'm afraid

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 9:24 pm

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 9:27 pm

I think, somehow, we have our "quote of the week" Laughing

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 9:28 pm

Just got it out my bin and yes it looks ok. nothing on it as i had lobbed it in the box. PM me and i'll post it out to you, paypal about £2.00 or £2.50 should cover it i think.

Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 7:30 pm

Still head scratching here! I did notice something rather unexpected today, and so yet again I'm in danger of exposing my newbie credentials to all and sundry.

On the other hand this may be a Eureka moment for someone out there with more knowledge than me.

Arseing around as you do, I idly unscrewed the oil filler cap whilst the engine was running, and immediately noticed some considerable positive pressure. Then as I removed the cap entirely, the engine spluttered and died. Did a rerun but this time shoved the cap back on as the engine was dying and she immediately picked up and carried on running.

Is this normal behaviour? Don't recall previous cars I've had behaving like this but would really appreciate an informed opinion

Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 8:23 pm

Used to do that on mine too. doesnt now though, but i've got an older rocker cover on there. so dunno if that's anything to do with it.

Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 8:28 pm

Right, I was thinking along the lines of blocked breather pipe here. Why would releasing the pressure kill the engine?

Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 1:59 am

You could be on to something there - taking off the oil filler cap should make the engine stutter a bit but never have I seen it conk out completely - Question

Posted: Sat Mar 13, 2010 11:41 am

Really got to grips with the car yesterday. Finally got my hands in the swarfega about 2.30 this morning!

At one point yesterday afternoon I had 53 tabs open trying to glean information, but nothing really replicated my symptoms exactly, so following all the help and advice given so far, I disassembled and cleaned all the breathers and air box first.

Nothing much to report there, the only gunk removed was in the mushroom shaped valve (?) at the back of the cam cover. tried pulling various plugs off whilst the engine was running but nothing really altered the running of the engine except undoing the oil filler cap.

Started undoing the throttle for cleaning etc and when I took the TPS off from under the butterfly housing It began to become clear why my goose may be cooked.

It had very obviously been butchered in the past. every single retaining clip on the cover had been broken, and a good 30-40% of the sides of the cover were broken off. Every attempt to remove the cover failed and I soon realised that what remained of it had been superglued back on.

I reassembled everything anyway, and when running again I still couldn't influence the running of the engine by disconnecting plugs anywhere.

I took the Lambda out, which removed very easily to reveal twisted joins (not even taped joins) inside the long plastic sheath which contains the three wires. I soldered all this up and put heatshrink on the ends but still nothing changed.

I remembered reading on here of the importance of the heater circuit on the probe so opened up the fuse box to check. No fuses blown but I did notice that next to red block marked 'Motor/Motoren' (thanks for the translation boys!) were two empty slots.

I mulled over the significance of this, but the legend on the fuse box doesn't really help when it comes down to this last row of fuses. There's lots of stuff marked for Diesels and Cabrios, but as there's so many completely empty spaces It's all a bit confusing. By this time I figured I didn't have much to lose so put fuses of what I think were the correct rating in the holes and gingerly started the engine.

Blimey, what a difference! The engine now ran at tick over just beautifully apart from a very slight hunt. However, as soon as I touched the throttle she started running like a loony. Revs all over the place, even on occasion uncontrollably rising revs to the point where I had to turn the key to kill the engine.

Further arseing about showed that if the throttle was applied with an absolutely featherlight touch, the engine responded well and fell back to a nice tickover speed, although she did still hunt a bit. Also pulling plugs now made a big difference, particularly the ISV. However pulling the TPS plug didn't.

So, my uneducated conclusion is that I have brought the engine management system back to life by replacing these two fuses, and I can now see the major problems I've got. I'm guessing prior to that I've been looking at an engine in 'LImp Home' mode.

Am I right? If so am I also right to suspect the Throttle Position Sensor? Please bear in mind this is the first time in err 30 years (ouch, am I really that old?) of motoring I've ever got so intimate with my engine before.

Feel like I've learnt a lot but still very wary of making judgements that may be based on my huge and impressive lack of experience.

Stupid thing is I really quite enjoyed myself last night, what a saddo!

Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2010 10:07 pm

Well, fruitless search of local scrappies for steering rack gaiter has eventually led me to Vindis, Bedford's main dealer.

GSF don't stock it, but suggested CAS who do, but don't carry them on the shelf. cost would be three and a bit quid plus a tenner for carriage from their supplier.

Called Vindis on a whim and a very nice man there offered me the boot, plus fixing kit of associated clips and seals for £13.50 inc VAT.

Should be in stock tomorrow so all that's left now is for me to get out and get under! At the risk of exposing myself to further ridicule, should I lubricate the exposed rack before I cover it with the new boot, and if so what with?

Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 9:34 pm

I once had to work on my track rods off the car, you probably do not need to sepeate them from the carrier bracket, but you probably need to seperate the bracket from the rack end.
to do this position the steering so that you can access the top nuts looking down the side of the battery tray, need long extension(s) to get a socket on them. Then position steering so that the bolts themselves can be unscrewed from underneath.
I guess you shouldn't lube the rack, the seals are fussy about the correct Hyd mineral oil being used, smearing grease/oil on the rack could be detrimental, and the wiper seal will scrape it off first time the rack moves through it's range anyway?

You may find that Passats/golfs with the 2E engine also use the same TPS?

Good luck with it!

Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 9:47 pm

Hey Scotty,

Think you might have posted in the wrong topic. I'd move it over for you if only I knew how!

Posted: Sun Mar 28, 2010 7:02 pm

MOT now passed I'm delighted to say!

Many many thanks to all those who took the time to post on the site, both as a direct reply to my post and also previous posts on the subject of emissions as I have pillaged these unmercifully in the quest for knowledge.

As a cautionary note MOT man said although HC emissions now excellent, the car was very much borderline on CO due he thinks to the cat doing next to nothing. His diagnosis was that damage to the cat was probably caused by long term overfuelling as a consequence of the fuses having been pulled from the ECU for a period of time, plus quite possibly whatever fault caused the owner at the time to disable the Engine Management in the first place.

Total cost of MOT pass £13 for steering gaiter, £25 for TPS, £60 excess for new screen, untold hours spent on this forum and even more hours with head stuck in bonnet. Happy days!

Honourable mention must go out to Dez, many many thanks mate for all your help.

Posted: Sun Mar 28, 2010 9:32 pm

Glad it helped you out matey. Many of us on here are more than happy to help a fellow enthusiast.

Posted: Sun Mar 28, 2010 11:24 pm

Nice one !!!!!

Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 4:07 pm

LOL! I was trying to advise on what is involved in getting to the steering rack gaiter. At least you got there with or without my input! Happy Days.

Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 7:07 pm

Whoops! Sorry Scotty, just goes to show how far up my rissole my head was at the time mate!

To be fair mate I did scan your post but for some idiotic reason I thought it applied more to the post that was above mine at the time. It was very helpful to have a bit more info than I had found up until that point.

To be fair it is a very simple job complicated only by the hideous contortions you have to go through to reach the damned thing! At one point I was kneeling on the block just to get a socket on.

Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 9:27 pm

Sorry Greg you have nothing to apologise for, I failed miserably in conveying the meaning of my post.
I think the info was ok but with hindsight, was meaningless until you have seen/done the job. And yes it is not too hard a job but could they find a more awkward place to tuck it away?!
Hope you can start enjoying your car.
Cool

Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 11:24 pm

Enjoying it? I'm loving it thanks Scotty! Already my daily driver and all sparkly and sexy after a good few hours graft on Sunday. Still a long way off from how I want her but she's already starting to look very spruce, especially with all the rain we've just had beading up all over the bonnet. Ah, such simple pleasures!

Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 9:47 pm

Greg is a proper AudiNut...
Your knackered now pal. You will spend silly amounts of time loving your audi now.
I have to agree it's so nice to work on. My brother has just got his mitts on a Focus. Terrible to get access to. You have to remove loads of parts just to get to what you want to get access to. Mind you I do have to admit they are quite nice to drive.. No road feeling tho, not a scratch compared to older cars. Razz

Comfy, but common, comfort for the masses. Rolling Eyes

Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 9:49 pm

Just to add, my coupe is my daily driver, and it's just about hit 130k Very Happy

And I trust it will continue to be my daily driver for years to come.
Not many cars you can say that about.