hello Audi fans

I have a audi 80 1.9e '88, and i am having a little problem lately, when the RPM meter cross the 2800 rpm the engine management system failure lamp turns on and the car lose on power it looks like the engine power is cut in half, i have to turn off the car and turn it on again to make the lamp turn off and car works ok then till i again push the pedal crossing 2800 rpms, did anybody had that problem and how did they fixed it, or any body else have any suggestion how can i check what that turned on lamp means, or how to fix it.

Thanx in advance to any body who can help me.

 

My first guess would be one of 4 things. In order of statistical probability:

1) Clogged or worn catalytic converter (if you have one, which I'm 99% sure you do), which won't do it's job well enough for your O2 sensor's liking. Higher RPM's blow a lot of crap past the converter, setting off the sensor warning.

2) A worn distributor cap & rotor could be shaking & breaking contact at higher RPMs, causing the spark plugs to fire off-time. My '89 VW Fox (Polo) used to do that when it was in need of new spark plug wires, too.

3) You have a clogged fuel injector or fuel filter, causing a change in spray pattern or fuel starvation at higher RPM's.

4) You have a small animal or its remains clogging your air filter or intake, causing air starvation at higher RPM's.

Remember... with these older cars, it's all about FUEL, AIR, SPARK. You just need to test each of those three things and eliminate what functions properly.

But I admit, I've never worked on one of these specifically.

 

my bigger question is, why is the engine loosing power when the lamp is on. today i tooked off the plus from the battery for one hour, and when i placed it back, the car works perfect, without any lamp on. is there any method to check the board computer for that error that is shownig.
the thing is that in my country we do not have experts, they need to make a general service for the engine till they fix the problem, i had an opel kadett before that had such an electric problem, and the needed 6 month till the changed all the electric parts with new ones, it was a cost of 500 euro, to fix my car.

 

because your ECU puts the car in to limp mode, if you havent done this in the last 40-60k miles, replace spark plugs/wires/distribute cap and rotor, fuel filter.
then we can go from there, without knowing the maintenance that was performed, its hard to do diag

 

"my bigger question is, why is the engine loosing power when the lamp is on."

I'm sincerely hoping that my interpretation of this question is incorrect. It sounds like you're asking if the Check Engine Light itself is causing a short.

This is ABSOLUTELY an issue located between your ECU and the plugs. The ECU is sensing a problem in voltage somewhere along the line. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, here, but I seem to remember that people used to run NGK "BPR6ES" plugs in this engine. What usually happens is that the contact point on the rotor for one of your plugs starts to file a bit. It shortens the length of exposure the plug gets to voltage.

Problem is, your ignition coil is still trying to do its job of boosting the voltage it receives from the distributor. Normally, this isn't a big deal... The plug just won't fire, and the voltage dissipates. But at higher RPM's, the voltage doesn't have time to dissipate, because there's another load of energy being sent by the distributor. This is accentuated by this car using a combination of a high-voltage ignition coil and a RESISTOR-EQUIPPED spark plug (this is why the R is in RED above). This setup starts acting like more of a capacitor (think of a camera flash charging, then "pop!" the light fires when you snap the photo) when it encounters distributor wear issues.

Your car is trying to keep this doomsday scenario from happening, because it knows that the amount of voltage about to be dumped to ground will fry any number of circuits controlling its vital systems. So the ECU basically halves your ignition timing fire frequency in order to let the car get you home, but still alow the car to survive.

Your car is trying to tell you something. I realize that its akin to Old Yeller telling you that Timmy is trapped down in a well. You obviously don't speak dog... But do yourself a favor, would ya? This dog you know as your car is basically yanking at your pants and trying to pull you somewhere. PLEASE LISTEN TO IT.

 

that error that is showing?"

I think there may be. That you have discovered a method by which:

a.) to perhaps clear the diagnostic trouble code (DTC) from the memory;
b.) thus in turn extinguishing the light; and
c.) returns the car to running normally; indicates to me that:

d.) code pulling can also be done successfully.

The link below describes "code pulling" methods for various years including your vintage. Yours may not be a North-American vehicle, however the <i>method</i> may be the same.

http://www.diakom.ru/CARS2/pribor/cs...l/vw_blink.pdf

WRT what Loud & Crazy have said above, they are not wrong in stressing the need to check the more obvious things often overlooked or denied as possible causes.

Perhaps another possibility. Your vehicle may simply have some old/bad/contaminated/improper fuel which might cause knocking which, sensed by the knock-sensors (I believe you do have these) and the ignition is being retarded, until you correct the situation; or erase the fault memory.

Here is a link (from a larger also very helpful site) to a trouble-shooting guide that applies to your vehicle, it does not directly address your issue, but it will help you eliminate other things that may be contributing and require your attention:

http://www.humanspeakers.com/audi/tuning-cise.htm

You may in fact be going into "limp mode" when the power loss occurs and the Check Engine Light (CEL) (it is perhaps not as helpful to call it the "engine management system failure lamp", as the engine management may be doing exactly what it should and has indeed <i>not</i> failed) is simply indicating a problem elsewhere exists and that pulling the codes might be helpful as to why, not because of the light at all.

Taking the pulled code(s) to the Audi factory repair manual's trouble-shooting list would be the next step where "possible causes" can be read.

Hope this helps.

 

First of all it has past a long time, but work and etc kills the free time. second, thanks to every one who gave their ideas for my problem.
since the last reply to my thread i have been driving my car to services, and reading the net about my problem. all services i have driven my car had told me that the problem is the mass air sensor with the fuel distribution head, but as my logic works, it can not bee that cause when i push the gas pedal to the end on idle the lights never comes on, just when driving. so it must be something electrical not fuel error. and what is wierd non of them didnt tried to test my car, they said: ou that light, K-head is faulty as they call the mass air sensor.
i have found on net a system to pull the error code through pump relay but with no success the check engine light never blinks.
so my question is, if enybody knows, cause i found in the net that some audi 80 has two plugs some where under the dashboard, but i can not find where exactly. if any one can give me an idea how to search for those plugs i would be very appriciated.

I drive an audi 80 1.9E, 1988.

thanks in advanced
akatech

 

i dont know if this applies to your car, but thats how its done with a B4 http://12v.org/maintenance/dtc.php
also, i think they are correct!

 

Not too familiar with the 1.9e engine, but your problem reminds me of when the knock sensors went bad on both of my prior Coupe quattros. CEL, cut in power, resets with ignition cycle. Next time it happens as you are driving, press in the clutch, turn off the ignition then turn it back on and let out the clutch to restart the engine. Does it go away?

 

I agree with your thought. I did a long time search and I found how to diagnose check engine light. Pulled out the code and the answer was the knock sensor. Found it, bought it, changed it and now the car is as new. And all that for 30 euros. In service talled me that I should spend at least 250 euro. Best regard.