Bloody problems!

[Scott 0]

Ok guys, need some help and inspiration here!

The car has started acting up....after cruising around 30 miles to work, or home this morning, it starts to slacken off when cruising at a steady speed and loses all engine power. If the clutch is dipped it will hunt at really low revs, occasionally revving itself a couple of times then cuts out completely.

If the throttle is pinned, it will accelerate hard, but wont rev if the throttle is opened gently or not enough, it will just splutter.

Weirdly - the induction hiss becomes very sharp and loud when it sits hunting - almost cutting out, then it dies. After a while, it will restart and run ok. EML is on, but no reader to get the codes out.

There was a bit of corrosion in the MAF plug, but after cleaning its just the same. Like I said, the oddest thing is the induction noise, its idling say, after the nonsense starts, at such low revs the counter wont display it, it will rev if the pedal is mashed, after a delay, but when its idling badly, the air filter starts to emit a loud hiss, then if it picks up for a bit (which it does a couple of times before cutting out) the noise drops to normal! Sounds like someone sucking the last of a mcdonalds milkshake when it does it, comes straight from the cone filter, not the engine, then goes quiet as it revs itself.

TPS???

Only started yesterday....I did hit a huge puddle in the dark 2 days ago, but it didnt even splutter when that happened, and now its snowing its started this crap!

Anyone else had this before I start fiddling with sensors? Still got 2 bloody nightshifts to do before I can take time to fix it but need a quick intro if I can get it, to not get stuck going to or from work....help!

I know all the usual obd stuff that can go wrong wi a car, but this may be something other VR owners have experienced? It has been decatted by the previous owner, and the O2 sensor is in the boot.....dangling from the removed cat...so the EML / CEL has been on and off because of that but it hasnt missed a beat till now.

Oh, and when this happens, it stinks of fuel (well a funny kind of fuelly / hot plastic smell) from the exhaust...and goes "brump brump brump brump" etc then revs itself twice and dies.

cheers

[Scott 0]

Ok, its the MAF.

Disconnect it, and it runs sweet as a peach except it wont idle.

Connect it, and it backfires down the exhaust after a few seconds, hunts, revs itself then splutters out and dies, wont rev unless the throttle is mashed, obviously only reading higher levels of airflow but nothing below a certain level, but overfuels like crazy. There was a split in the hose from the cam cover but thats fixed, still the same btw.

[CALICO 130]

try electrical contact cleaner on the maf and let it dry thoroughly otherwise a new maf might be in order

[Scott 0]

god i keep getting logged out here!!!!

yep, bought a new maf in ebay and a vag405 code scanner....

she must live again!

[Scott 0]

She's fixed.

The vag405 scanner picked up the MAF as being short-circuited, and then open circuited, what seems to have happened is water has gotten into the MAF electronics, shorted it out and caused the running problem. Next when i disconnected it the open circuit code was generated, so I reset the codes after having cleaned the original MAF and it runs perfectly now! Achieves 33.5mpg at 65-70mph, well chuffed.

The Autech VAG405 tool is the real hero, cos it seems the ecu refused to run any better unless it was cleared and reset. The battery removal clear had no effect on this, I tried it before getting the scanner.

Once cleared, the original MAF works perfectly now. I have the new one as a spare but its not necessary now.

BTW any premium vr6oc members who need a scan, diagnostic or reset etc are welcome to drop over to me for a freeb (have to arrange by pm tho as I work shifts). I have the 2x2 adaptor too so can diagnose obd1 and obd2 vag cars in depth, (all systems on obd2, engine only on obd1 - thats a limitation of obd1, not the scanner) and any non-vag car at obd2 level too.

I'm in east central Scotland of course - you'd have to come to mine unless your local and stuck, I dont mind dropping in to help within fife (cover the petrol if you're more than 10 miles from me) and will run a diagnostic scan and reset for other members wi problems.

If you don't have premium yet, get it! £15 a year is a bargain for the info contained in the premium members areas alone, and the banter isnt bad either.

[thegoth 5]

Good news mate.

I'll add you to the VAG-COM helpers list. You should be able to get ABS faults out of an OBD1 as well

[Scott 0]

nice one, I had a list of vag vehicles and the controllers you can access, but have had no response from the abs on my car, but that could be something i can change. Will look out the list and post it so everyone knows what can and cant be done on the mk3.

[Lukey. 381]

try some silicone dielectric grease on the contacts too, will seal out water as its a grease and encourage electrical conductivity as thats what it does, ive dielectric greased every MAF i had and it always improves things

[The Monk 50]

I used vasiline lol.

[Scott 0]

good idea actually, yeah. Will slap some round the connection box asap.