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Hello world,
I have very recently become the proud owner of a 4000s quattro! I towed it back today and got it in the yard, taking to time to snap a few majestic pictures as you can see below. I've been looking for an old Audi for a LONG time, so I'm super excited to finally have one. it is tornado red in color, and ha plenty of dings and scratches all over it. i love it already, I spent several hours just sitting in it earlier today! Tomorrow I'm going to start tackling the laundry list of problems that are wrong with it (It wouldn't be an old Audi if it ran properly, right?). I got some inspiration from Rogviler's posts about the restorations and such, so I think I'll be updating this thread a little bit if I do anything interesting or have some helpful breakthroughs with the fixes. I'll go ahead and list the biggest problems that I'll be working on, if y'all have any recommendations or fixes let me know!
Problem #1: The engine runs, but it's in pretty rough shape. It cranks, and idles well enough, but applying any throttle will choke the engine at about 1100-1200 rpm's. it can't seem to get past this barrier. If you flutter the pedal just right, it looks like you get a nice backfire back into the intake boot. I don't know what that might mean. From what I've been able to read in the forums, it is most likely one of the following:
- Vacuum leaks (Literally everywhere, kms)
- That big flap thing in he fuel distributor being clogged because the last guy ran crude oil through the fuel lines
- clogged injectors that are squirting a stream instead of a mist into the cylinders
- The curse of black magic from a disgruntled East German gypsy that can only be quenched with a blood sacrifice
Fingers crossed it's the gypsy curse, that will be the easiest problem to fix.
Problem #2: That gosh-dang engine light is on. What is my car even trying to tell me? From what I can tell these cars are so basic they can't even tell whats wrong, just that something IS wrong. Is shrapnel about to explode out of the hood? I wish my car could speak to me, even if it was German.
Problem #3: The sunroof is stuck. I read in a different post that I need to hose it down with lube to get it moving again. Any ideas?
Let me know what you guys think! I'm pretty pumped to get it ship shape again! Sorry for the obnoxious horizontal pictures, I need to figure out how to take square pictures.
Hey guys, I've been working on the car some, and I've been able to make some (limited) progress:
I decided to get cracking on the non-functioning windows (The only one that actually worked was the passenger's rear window). I began with the drivers window. Whenever i click the window switch, I could hear the motor clicking, so I decided to take the motor out and see what was going on. I found this:
Apparently the wire got seized up and broke, and this locked the motor up. After I got everything apart, I took a while to work the motor free and lubed the crap out of it. It runs great now!
So now I'm gonna try replacing that broken wire. From what I could see its supposed to make a loop around the window? I tried to take the passanger's side loose since its wire is still in tact so that I could get an idea of what its supposed to look like, but I cant get the dang cable out! Its stuck on this center bar here:
Any suggestions how to get a non-broken motor/cable assembly out? I'll need to get this one out anyways to work on the motor, and its driving me crazy not being able to get the cable out. Besides that, I haven't been able to make much progress elsewhere. When i squeeze the gas, the car cant get past 1000 rpms. But when I flutter it, it gets stuck at 3000 rpms. Odd, right? I also pulled all the plugs, and found that three of them were the expected gray color, but two were darker and wet looking. Would this suggest lack of combustion in those two cylinders? I have my suspicion that the timing may be off, but I have no idea how to time a car like this yet. I pulled the wires to those wet plugs while the car was idling and it didnt change at all! I also held my hand over the exhaust and it felt like a pulse of exhaust instead of a stream, which would suggest non-combustion again. I ordered some new plugs and wires, hopefully that will help. I also noticed that I hear a loud buzzing noise coming from around this plug when the ignition switch is on:
Not the WOT switch, I'm talking about that plug next to the intake boot. what is that? and why could it be buzzing?
I also found this plugged line coming from the intake manifold. What is it supposed to go to?
Could this be causing issues?
I needed a confidence booster so I decided to strip the rust off the timing belt cover and repaint it. That made me feel good.
Let me know what you guys think! I'm hoping that I can figure out this engine problem soon. I really want to get this car running again. Cheers.
Well....
I had sent more time today, so I had a little one-on-one time with the old girl. She's getting up there, that's for sure. I decided to check the timing. The camshaft pull was off by about 10°, and the dizzy was also misaligned. I lined everything back up to factory spec, and the car cranked up but still wouldn't get over 1000 rpm's.
While I was at it I drained the coolant, it was clean as a whistle.
I've been thinking... There are only so many things that could be going on:
1) FUEL PUMP (Dun dun duuuuuuuuh! <Horrific lightning flashes>)
2) (This is what I'm leaning towards right now) the CIS system isn't function properly. Maybe the injectors to a few cylinders are clogged? That would explain the pulsatimg exhaust due to lack of combustion. Maybe the metering thing isn't giving fuel appropriately?
3) Fuel pump relay is bad? Idk I need to try jumping it.
4) Vacuum leaks? I wouldn't think so, all of the hoses seem pretty good. Unless the CIS system is way more wensetive than I realize.
What do you guys think? I'm gonna see if I can clean the injectors tomorrow after work, what would be the best way to do that? Soak them in paint thinner?
Maybe I'll also check some vacuums and see if ziptying some joints improves response. Lord be with me.
Hey guys,
So today I had the chance to do a little MFI work. I removed my intake boot, and its SHOT:
Looks like someone tried to patch this broken branch with caulk. Well, its one for now. I'm gonna have to find a new one.
On a different note, I managed to remove the MFI unit from the car to get a better look at it. Firstly, I noticed this hole between the CIS unit and the boot. should that be there?
After wrenching the MFI unit out, I took a look at the fuel distribution flap thingy. It looks pretty good, but it doesn't move back and forth freely. I can open it, but I have to return it with a light push. Is this normal?
Should I try and free this up a little better? I guess I need to take the rest of it apart and check out other things going on with it. I've read a few posts where people move the flap manually while the car is cranked, is that a good idea? I've uploaded a video of my car idling and revving, I'll link it below. Let me know what you guys think. Cheers.
Sounds like mine that sat for 5-6 years. Been slowly going through it and I started driving it to work but then it got worse. I'll let you know if I find the big culprit.
The metering flap should close by itself via gravity and especially if there's fuel pressure in the system. One thing that gets gunked up is the metering rod that rides up and down on the flap. Spraying carb cleaner on it and working it a bit usually frees it up.
Everything looks pretty normal. That buzzing sound is normal. The hole in the metering head is normal and is where you adjust the mixture if you have the means to measure the CO. Otherwise I would leave it alone as probably your biggest issue is just that the car sat and has some things gunked up and rotted. Especially if there was ethanol in it, that stuff doesn't last a year.
Just don't get discouraged. You're on the right track finding little victories.
Hey Rog, thank for the reply. I ordered a new boot today from some Israeli black market dealer, only cost me the deed to my house. But its brand new and looks like a dream, so I'm excited to see how well it fits! I also went ahead and ordered some new injector O-rings, because I'm pretty sure there's a leak around them. For the heck of it I also ordered the Haynes manual, it was only $10. I really need to clean the injectors, I'm quite sure two of them are just straight peeing into the cylinders, I just haven't figured out what to soak them in yet. Work went till about 9pm tonight so nothing got done on the Quattro today. Hopefully tomorrow will be better!
Hey I love that guy and his videos. Yeah that's exactly what I would like to do. I have some time today, maybe I can start in on them after I spruce up the CIS unit.
Hey guys,
I had some more time today so I dissembled the CIS unit a little bit, just enough to look around. The metering rod is moving pretty freely, it moves up and down with gravity. However, the metering flap seems to be pretty still. It won't move unless I give it a tap. If i hold it upside down and shake it a lot it will fall down, but otherwise it doesn't move. Is that too stiff? I tried wiping a little oil around the thick rod that the flap rotates on, but it didn't help at all. It looks like if I take the snap rings out of the side of the rod I could slide it out to clean it, but I would have to unbolt the counterweight on the back of the flap first. Is that a good idea? I don't want to tear this thing down that far if I can help it, but I'm not sure how else to free up that flap. Any suggestions? I feel like that flap being stiff could definitely be messing with things. Thanks.
06-09-2018, 07:17 PM
New Audi 4000 owner! Restoration thread
