TheWeedEater

Good day everyone,

I am new to the site, but have been following some post since I have bought my 1991 Audi 80 Quattro 2.3L FI SOHC 5cyl last Febuary and you guys already helped me move forward with the fixing of my baby but yesterday I have passed the point where I need to ask for help.

So when I bought the car:
-Instrument cluster-
No lights except for the clock.
Speedometer, RPM gaugeswhere working but no lights.

- Middle console - cigarette lighter - Glove box - Window controls
No lights except for the heated seat on passenger side and window control on driver side.

-Trunk-
No light.

-Rear license plate light-
No light

Posts I have read related to the above:

http://www.audi-forums.com/audi-80-9...ination-2.html

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/classic...rd-lights.html

http://www.audifans.net/modules.php?...wtopic&t=15995

I have also found some others but can not remember all of them.

Yesterday, I finally had some time and decided to look into the trunk wiring...
Trunk open , no light, moved the wires on the left side by hinge and voila! Light :) So I went ahead and sliced open the insulation to discover all the cut/ broken wires (see att 1).
Only 2 wires out of 5 were still in one piece with insulation cracked. I say 5 cause there were 6 but one of them is thin black one with fiber in it, probably for water drainage.

I cut the remaining 2 and had nothing on the Instrument cluster working, no gauges, nothing. Normal, all wires are disconnected and taped individually and all together so no worries.
After a 10 minutes trip to my in laws (better work space), I moved along cutting, soldering, heat shrinking, insulating, remounting and voila! was proud and happy I would get the lights on the dashboard... By the way, I had the battery disconnected , + and -.
Still no lights, no gauges, nothing! Even the clock light that worked before doesn't work anymore! It was late and called it a day. Took the car out of the barn. 30 minutes later, went to start the car, battery dead!

It seems that the battery is draining somewhere... I had to jump the car to start it and it dies on its own. I am guessing I have a short somewhere.

The previous owner bypassed the light beam relay and connected directly to the battery which I am not sure would be the cause of my problem now that all my wires are connected the "original way" but when I turned them on, the car idle speed lowered (as too much power drained from battery/ alternator) and the car died.

Could it be the battery being bad? If so, how could it affect the Instrument Cluster?
Now that all my "trunk wires" are connected properly, what could make it not work at all anymore when I at least had the gauges work before the fix?

I have checked all the fuses and they are all good.

I will today remove the Instrument cluster and check the voltage control to see if dead.
Look over the wiring I did yesterday and see if I messed up but I quadruple checked so it is unlikely.

It also may not be related to this wiring but since I have bought the car, it has ran very strangely. It is almost like I am driving with the hand brake on until i get to 2500 RPM on all gears. It is not very responsive. I hear once in a while a buzzing by the fuel tank, on the passenger side and wonder if the fuel pump is not failing (there is one in the trunk as well as under the car right?)
Adding to the weird noises, I have had a repeated clicking noise from the driver side after a 30 ish minute drive. after a while, it stops. I think it is a relay going bad or engaging on and off but not working right.

Either way, I apologies for the long post but I am in a desperate situation as my baby is my daily driver and I kind of need to get to work ;)

I appreciate any kind of help and would be extremely grateful to have your thoughts on these issues.

Thank you and hope one of you will come to my rescue.

CRAZY_RUSSIAN

i hate to say this, but you may have mixed up the wires in the harness, i would double check before moving on to anything else

TheWeedEater

Thank you for your quick reply and advice. I will check again. I hope I made a mistake!
I will keep updating and will take pictures while working on it.

TheWeedEater

Hey,
Sorry about not replying sooner but the week end passed very quick working on the car and the week has started crazy busy.

SO I have the car running and all lights working (except the ones that are fried).

How I fixed the issue.

Before anything else, I disconnected the headlights from the battery (as the previous owner had them connected to get direct voltage).
I rechecked all the fuses and 3 were blown... so I replaced them. I jumped the car and it started just fine, with lights on the instrument cluster and everywhere i never did have lights.

This, as I had already suspected made me double check the headlights. Without the headlights being connected to the battery I was still getting 12.37 Volts on the relay that the guy had placed between the battery and the headlights... That was it!
Since the previous owner never checked the wires in the trunk, he was not getting power from it but was still using the switch on the steering wheel console. I fixed the wires and now my problem was getting 2 power sources going to the same relays and clashing in the middle.
I think I actually am lucky I didn't burn anything in the car other than the fuses.

So I cut all the wires that he had added and reconnected the headlights the way they originally were and everything is as fine as the headlights can give (they are kind of crappy not very bright... nothing new

I am ordering some LEDs to redo all the lights in the car and will surely enjoy some time doing this fun project.

As far as perfs, it did not do anything beside getting the car started better, faster (as soon as I turn the key in without hitting the gas pedal).

Still feels like I am driving with the handbrake and not really getting any juice until I get to about 2500 RPM

Any thoughts? Transmission, clutch adjustments?
I know it could be anytihng but I am not sure if any of you has had teh same issue with your Audis and that is the reason why I am asking.

In any case, I thank you again for your thoughts and support.

Audicted

Try pulling the fault codes. Here is a procedure from 20V.org:

VAG 1115
This is a little tool that the dealer mechanics use to read the fault codes from your computer. It's designed to work with the early '90 model cars, but it should work for the the late '90 and all '91 models too. I don't know what the dealer would charge you for the little 1115, if they even sell those things. It's easier to just build one yourself! There are two options:

Insert a bulb into the "Check Engine" light in the instrument cluster. Only California market cars had this bulb installed, but all cars are wired for it. When this bulb is installed, it can be used to flash the ECU fault codes. All you need to trigger the fault code output is two pieces of wire connected to the A1 and B1 slots in the driver's footwell. As an added bonus, it will flash whenever a fault code is registered, telling you it's time to pull the codes.
Basically, the VAG 1115 is just a light-emitting diode (LED) with a built-in resistor. You can buy a similar diode at any place like Radio Shack, or you can use a regular LED and a 0.25W 330 ohm resistor as pictured at right. Instead of alligator clips, you'll need to use something that will fit in the diagnostic connectors in the driver's footwell (very small spade connectors or just bare stiff wire).

TheWeedEater

Thanks mate, I have just pulled the procedure and the pics of the tool. Pretty cool!
I will try to find some time to look into it this week end if not sooner and will keep you guys updated because I am certain to get some interesting codes and bring up issues that I will need help with.

Thanks a bunch again!