Rough Running, possible water entry

[Rick_1138 0]

Hi all,

well my car has started running a bit odd.

I got a misfire issue sorted last year with new plugs and leads, i tried a coil pack but it made the car worse so it seems okay, anyway i was at a dyno run the other day and the car ran well, even the test guy said for a 100k car it ran really well and sounded crisp, got 174 bhp at the flywheel!!

So i took it home and gave it a good wash as the weather is quite nice up here atm.

Anyway i was cleaning the crap from the engine bay using degreaser, and i rinsed it down using a very low setting hose, i.e. a tricjkle, i had covered the battery and main electrical points with plastic bags etc to protect them.

However the car is now running with a lumpy tickover, and has some hesitation throughout the revs, but mainly on a half throttle, i.e. sitting at 50 in traffic in 4th etc.

I thought i may have got water down the plug holes causing arcing, but i pulled them out and ran an air line into the plug holes to get ridd of any water on the plugs etc and checked the ledas, all seemed fine.

I wm wondering if some water may have got into the big plug that goes into the coil pack, i can't see any arcing, but i may have to pull off each connector in the car and spray some electrical contact cleaner.

has anyone else ever got water in their engine electrics and had rough running??

If so any ideas which connector may have caused it?

I was very careful when using the hose, and i never use a power washer in an engine bay, but it seems i have been unlucky.

I hope its only a short as i need a cluth and engine mountings for next months budget!!

[rigs 0]

Vagcom it. If there's a short somewhere or a sensor out it'll tell you.

[Rick_1138 0]

I don't have vag-com, i don't know anyone with vag com, i got the shareware version and it said nowt was wrong when i had the misfire, and all the tools you need to delve further are only in the full version.

So that was waste of an ebay purchase.

I appreciate Vag-com is usefuull but at some £200 to buy it, just to check one thing, is too much cash.

I am more looking to see if anyone has had probs with hesitation after getting water in somewhere,

I am not trying to sound rude or anything mate, but it does get a bit tiring when ever you ask someone something on this sitem, the usual response is "get it on vagcome" and all will be well, thats fine if you can do that.

[Ben Seabrook 4]

Mate- i think the only reason Rigs and several peeps will say try vagcom is because especially with issues like this the most common cause will be you have water in a sensor and rather than have tio test them all vagcom will usually find the answer - however if it has not then fine and there are a few other things to test.

So you have already cleaned and dried the plugs and the leads ? the other thing to try is the mass air flow meter as this was causing a lumoy idle on mine recently - again just spray some electrical contact cleaner in and let it try for a few mins before re connecting.

[Rick_1138 0]

Hi mate, thats the plan for this evening, basically unplug, clean and spray each one in a line, then see whats what.

I do have the shareware vagcome, and i could give it a go and see if there is any faults, but it usually comes up negativo!

As ever an electrical gremlin is always a pain to source.

oh does anyone know if the Vento\jetta Haynes manual is any good for giving directions for removing the clutch, as its always nice to have a few pics for reference, as i know you don't get a golf VR6 haynes manual.

Cheers again

[Roan 0]

When you scan the engine module in the shareware version of vag com, it should still show any fault codes. I have just ran vag com after my car started running a bit hesitantly, and it showed a faulty coolant sensor and fuel pump relay, both of which I'm in the process of changing (collecting parts today).

[Ben Seabrook 4]

oh does anyone know if the Vento\jetta Haynes manual is any good for giving directions for removing the clutch' date=' as its always nice to have a few pics for reference, as i know you don't get a golf VR6 haynes manual.

Cheers again

[/quote']

not sure about the vento one but there is a Bentley manual for the VR6 I believe

[Ben Seabrook 4]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VW-Golf-Mk3-Jetta-GTI-Cabrio-1993-99-New-Bentley-Manual_W0QQitemZ260365551840QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Books_NonFictionBooks_NonFictionBooks_SM?hash=item260365551840&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1683%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

here you go - bloody expensive though !!!

[Rick_1138 0]

eek, i remember the bentley one being advertised for my old corrado...twitch.

I am sure i saw a vento\jetta haynes manual in the local autosave, not sure if it covers VR6.

will have a look as they are about £20. If no, and the cars engine mounts last till next payday (2 weeks) i can get the bently one.

Are they any good, i.e. pictures with clear explanations??

[thegoth 5]

WD40 will be better for drying the connectors.

in a case like this even the shareware VAG-COM stands more of a chance of helping you spot the problem than it did for bad leads / plugs as they cannot cause a fault code.

[rigs 0]

There aren't *that* many things vagcom doesn't pick up on. If the ecu has a chance in hell of being able to spot something wrong then vagcom (even the shareware version - thats all I use) will most likely pick it up.

"The sparks a bit weak" its got no chance with.

"Wire X is shorted to wire Y cos its full of water" the ecu has a decent chance with.

The shareware version lists all fault codes and gives you measuring blocks readings up to block 25... which covers all the majors sensors anyway.

[Rick_1138 0]

i will plug in the vag-com when i get home, main issue is the laptops battery has packed up and gone, so it needs to be plugged in to work....so there are about 40 cables needed to get it all working fine,,,bloddy garage wiring.

ah well.

seems its an evening of me, lappy, wd-40 and a cloth.

I spose its why we run older cars.

[Rick_1138 0]

Right, Vag-Com'd the car last night, no fault codes found.

Went over all the connectors in the engine that could have got wet etc, took them off sprayed on some WD40 and looked for any corrosion or burns etc.

Ran the car, seemed marginally better, but the car still has problems with hesitation.

sitting at say 45 in 5th on a constant throttle, i.e. sitting at the same speed) the car sputs and starts and flutters about, like someone is flicking the light switch on and off very quickly but only every now and then.

I also noticed that when in 3rd or 4th say, and accelerate the car is 'fluffy' and i get pops\bangs coming from the exhaust, which was a worry.

I know this could be the coil-pack, but i bought a used one odff of ebay for £25 off of a Ford Galaxy (same part number) and it made the car run like a bag of spanners.

I have changed the plugs, new leads (VW ones) and had an oil change. The car was running well until i cleaned the engine bay, which makes me suspicious that its water somewhere creating a short, but i can't for the life of me see where.

The only other thing that is odd, is that the temp reading sits at about 45-50'C, it has done this since i had the car, as the oil temp gets up to working temperature, and the car gets to 90'C on the gauge when at standstill\traffic for a while, but on the move the temp sits in the white bit at the start of the gauge at about a 1/4 of the way up.

On Vag-com the reading matches the gauge.

I know this could be a faulty sensor inside the cooling system (the bkue connector i think??)

I am away to change the clutch and engine mountings next week or so, so i can take the thermometer out and see if its goosed, that may also be an issue.

I hope its not the coil pack, as i really don't want to have to shell out £100 to find out that it isn't that, as i am looking to sellt he car in a month or 2 and thats a lot of cash to spend for a car you aren't keeping, if i knew that would fix it though, i would get the new coil pack.

Ho hum...

The fluffy engine firing is doing my head in though, i am worried the engine may get damaged. The only other thing i can think is that after the dyno run the plugs may have been fouled what with being revved quite a bit, so may whip them out and see if there is any oil etc on them.

[rigs 0]

Try and borrow a coil pack from another known working car. They only take 5 minutes to swap...

Low coolant temp when on the move but normal when sat still is probably your thermostat being stuck wide open - get a new one (v cheap and an easyish change)

[Rick_1138 0]

I am going to swap my coil pack for the one i got on ebay (still in the garage, see if the odd hesitation is still apparent even if the coil makes the car run a bit rough, as that may show the car is hesitatnt because of a faulty MAF or something similar.

If not i will try and see if anyone local has a VR6, as its a bit hard when you live 16 miles from town.

Any aberdonian VR6 owers going about??

[Rick_1138 0]

She is fixed!!!!! yay.

The long and short of it:

Bought new coil pack off ebay (brand new) changed parts, car runs like dream!

However also changed over the course of the weekend, new clutch, new engine mounts all round, new plugs, new oil filter and oil change, new leads from VW.

So hopefully all is well, my temp gauge now reads fine (old thermometer worked but was so easy to push open, it seemed to open as soon as system had pressure!

Just need to get a new bulb for the instrument panel as only my rev counter gets ligt shone on it....need to scour the scrap yards!

Cheers to all for the advice, in the end it was the coil pack, but if it hadn't been and i was £90 down and still struggling i would have cried.

Although the car cutting out and not starting on the first replacement coil on the way to work didn't help, so when the brand new coil appeared when i got home that evening, it made my day.

The only slight cloud in this is that the holes of 2 corners of the new coilpack don't align exactly so i can only bolt in 3 screw, but it is solid and doesn't seem to affect the running, its an issue i am willing to live with.