1997 Audi 80 Cabriolet issues, Please Help

[80Quattro]

Quattro80, thanks for joining the thread and sharing advice. Grateful as ever.

1. I think my car has one of those old style DLC plugs for code reading? I didn't think they were as informative as the OBD's.

2. Yes, I'm going to have another go at the cluster pod tonight. Made it worse than it already was last night, such a temperamental thing.

3. I'm pretty sure switches are fine as they are illuminating but should really check it with multi-meter.

4.Ah right, well I was really hoping that fixing the driver side window would fix the roof and boot lid issues or let me get into the boot at the very least!

5. Yes, I am struggling to get boot lid open with my key. It's actually very frustrating. The guy who sold me the car opened it in front of my eyes and showed me how to do it. I didn't take too much notice of what he was showing me as it all looked very straight forward, didn't realize there was some special way of doing it

6. Engine is up to temperature. Yesterday I left it on idle for a while waiting for the temp gauge to move. After much waiting, the radiator fans turned on so that tells me the sensors are fine and it's the actually gauge that's malfunctioning. Oil temp always seems to stay on minimum and oil pressure always stays on maximum, haven't done any long journeys yet so will need to see.

1. It gives you enough info to be worth checking.

3. Sounds like you have power then, you can try a different switch, but I think it'll be the motor.

5. To unlock, turn to the right and hold it there, then push the button in, hopefully it'll open. The central locking would only lock my boot due to the boot wiring loom issue and it felt like I was fighting the lock to get it to the unlock position with the key. Once the looms were repaired, there was very little resistance

6. I missed the obvious here, but if the oil pressure is going off the scale with the engine off then you need a new sender, which it sounds like you do. Having driven a few of these Audi, the oil temp gauge moves less than you'd expect until the engine is under sustained load. Mine moves off the stop when driving around town, but not a lot more. If it's never moving at all then it sounds like you need to investigate.

[Shyam]

1. It gives you enough info to be worth checking.

3. Sounds like you have power then, you can try a different switch, but I think it'll be the motor.

5. To unlock, turn to the right and hold it there, then push the button in, hopefully it'll open. The central locking would only lock my boot due to the boot wiring loom issue and it felt like I was fighting the lock to get it to the unlock position with the key. Once the looms were repaired, there was very little resistance

6. I missed the obvious here, but if the oil pressure is going off the scale with the engine off then you need a new sender, which it sounds like you do. Having driven a few of these Audi, the oil temp gauge moves less than you'd expect until the engine is under sustained load. Mine moves off the stop when driving around town, but not a lot more. If it's never moving at all then it sounds like you need to investigate.

Okay, I'm going to take a look on ebay to find a reader. Presume I'll have to buy DLC cable separately as most of them come with the OBD connectors.

Quattro80, you were right initially. The oil pressure goes off the scale when the engine is on but I will need to check between when battery is turned on as opposed to when engine is running.

The boot is a nightmare, I followed Grillage's instructions as shown on his youtube video and still couldn't manage to to open the boot. I did hear clicking noises when having a play with the latches though. Gonna have another look at this later today.

[Shyam]

Okay guys, so just an update of the goings on this weekend.

I changed the Spark Plugs, Oil, Oil Filter and Air Filter as planned (not got around to doing the fuel filter yet). I carried out a compression test whilst plugs were out and was making a balanced 220-225 psi in every pot which isn't bad at all. (Engine has done 115k miles) After giving it the service, miss fire issues had been resolved. I had taken it for a spin afterwards and the power increase was evident. Amazing how much difference an all round service can make.

I had then planned to attend to the window/roof/getting the boot lid open the following day. Next day comes...I drive the car to gym in the morning, pump some iron, sweat my balls out in the sauna n steam rooms, then get back into the car to come back home. On the way home literally on the final road up to my house, I notice no power steering! Absolutely devastated. So I get the car home, open the hood and have a look, check the hydraulic fluid levels. Fluid is on maximum level, however it did look a bit dirty and mucky. The fluid also looked red, but the cap says 'mineral hydraulic fluid only' which I thought was a ''green'' fluid, and synthetic being ''red''. could this be the reason for power steering failure?

Also noticed that there was a lot of slack on a belt that drives the power steering and water pump. However when I took a look from underneath, I saw another belt that's driving the power steering, so the slack on the belt in front is normal I assume? Anyways any further input on this matter would be much appreciated.

I think the most cost effective method will be to flush out the fluid, replace it with mineral hydraulic fluid. If that doesn't work then I will go ahead and replace the pump. Turning into a bit of a money pit!

Long story short, I spent most of this weekend getting the motor to run sweetly, which it does now! However I have no power steering and don't have the motivation to attend to the other issues before I get this car in good running order. Unfortunately on Sundays, most shops close early so I could not get any hydraulic fluid. I spent rest of the day lying on my bed looking up at the ceiling asking ''Why did I buy a lemon?!''

[veneto rs2]

Power steering fluid....

There's a lot of people still saying that red or green mineral or synthetic does'nt make any difference...

the system it's supposed to have mineral oil in it and synthetic or different oil from the original stuff gets your pump seals or steering rack or both nackered soon or later.

if the cap it's green and there're instructions on the reservoir to fill ONLY with mineral oil there should be a reason i believe!

Another bad news for you it's that the ADR cabriolets are running the tandem pas pump for the brake accumulator )aka bomb) and the pump it's costy....

[Bowie69]

Convert to vacuum servo... and get a pump from error404 on here to run the PAS, mine has been perfect for ages now, not leaked a drop

Oh, and yes, green G004000 or whatever is equivalent now.

[ljh61]

Hydraulic fluid

Veneto is right.
You must use the green hydraulic fluid as supplied by VW/Audi.
I drove my V6 cab to the South of France 3 years ago and the brake warning light came on. These cars have a central hydraulics system which works both the power steering and the brake servo. The fluid level had dropped and the helpful Renault garage manager topped it up with red fluid. Mistake.
On the way back the hydraulic pump started leaking. Not too bad on the autoroute in a straight line as regards steering but you don't want to lose the brake servo! I stopped at VW in Bordeaux and must have bought their entire stock of green hydraulic oil to keep me topped up on the return journey to UK.
WhenI got back the pump was knackered but a replacement from eBay was cheap enough.
Lesson learned (don't trust French garage with a non French car). I now carry a can of green stuff in the boot.

[newsh]

You want this stuff
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/162396530646

Normally the pumps leak like crazy but still work.
Is the belt definitely tight enough?
Are you checking the level correctly?
Normally you'd get a groaning noise from the pump if the fluid level was low though.
And a beep from the dash.

[Shyam]

Guys, thanks for the great response yet again. It gives me motivation to keep my head high and carry on.

Power steering fluid....

There's a lot of people still saying that red or green mineral or synthetic does'nt make any difference...

the system it's supposed to have mineral oil in it and synthetic or different oil from the original stuff gets your pump seals or steering rack or both nackered soon or later.

if the cap it's green and there're instructions on the reservoir to fill ONLY with mineral oil there should be a reason i believe!

Another bad news for you it's that the ADR cabriolets are running the tandem pas pump for the brake accumulator )aka bomb) and the pump it's costy....

Veneto_RS2; Yes that was my thoughts. Will any mineral hydraulic fluid work or does it need to be the audi stuff? About cost, this is the last thing I want to hear haha, I may pick one up from breaker and give refurbishment.

Convert to vacuum servo... and get a pump from error404 on here to run the PAS, mine has been perfect for ages now, not leaked a drop

Oh, and yes, green G004000 or whatever is equivalent now.

Bowie69; I'm very interested to hear more about converting to vacuum servo. What work is involved? Can you provide step by step instruction (Obviously not bolt by bolt, just an overview of what needs to be done). error404, I presume this is another S2forum user?

Veneto is right.
You must use the green hydraulic fluid as supplied by VW/Audi.
I drove my V6 cab to the South of France 3 years ago and the brake warning light came on. These cars have a central hydraulics system which works both the power steering and the brake servo. The fluid level had dropped and the helpful Renault garage manager topped it up with red fluid. Mistake.
On the way back the hydraulic pump started leaking. Not too bad on the autoroute in a straight line as regards steering but you don't want to lose the brake servo! I stopped at VW in Bordeaux and must have bought their entire stock of green hydraulic oil to keep me topped up on the return journey to UK.
WhenI got back the pump was knackered but a replacement from eBay was cheap enough.
Lesson learned (don't trust French garage with a non French car). I now carry a can of green stuff in the boot.

ljh61; So it must be the audi/vw mineral hydraulic fluid supplied by them? That takes care of my first question to Veneto. Is there no equivalent fluid that is fit for purpose at all? I had no idea that hydraulic fluid is shared with both brake masterservo and PAS pump. I imagine it will take more work to flush system from current fluid then? If the fluid is synthetic, would it affect brake system? or just PAS Pump? And if PAS pump is damaged, can it affect the brake servo/network? Sorry to hear of your misfortune in France. It's funny you mention it that because I had planed to do the same trip to the south of France in the Audi with my missus at the end of next month. In a way, it's good thing that this problem surfaced sooner. haha

You want this stuff
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/162396530646

Normally the pumps leak like crazy but still work.
Is the belt definitely tight enough?
Are you checking the level correctly?
Normally you'd get a groaning noise from the pump if the fluid level was low though.
And a beep from the dash.

Newish; Thanks for linking me to fluid fella. Yes I noticed that my pump was completely soaked all over with hydraulic fluid. I thought that this was the end of line for it really. Yes I'm pretty sure I checked the levels correctly, I wasn't on a slope as such. Theres no noise coming from the pump or beeping from the dash.

Has anyone replaced the PAS pump before? Is it a difficult job? Can you tell me if there is anything I need to keep in mind/watch out for when doing this job?

[Bowie69]

Servo conversion here: http://www.s2forum.com/forum/showpos...&postcount=200

Sorry, no pics as per post, but pretty easy to work from that, or do a search. Some bits are specific to a 20V (making space), suspect you will have more room that I did.

Error404 is this guy, send him a PM : ) http://www.s2forum.com/forum/member.php?u=4880

PAS pump, while access is tight, is an easy job, just make sure you get the sealing washers in the right place.

You can use LHM, which is citreon mineral fluid as well, much better than ATF! But I would still flush it out once I got my hands on some proper Audi/VW G004000.

[ljh61]

Hydraulic fluid

Shyam, keep your spirits up. These Cabrios are beautifully made cars but with well known weaknesses that have become apparent with ageing. You will end up with a great tourer for your hols.
I wouldn't personally try and change to vacuum servo, I' d stick with getting everything working as nature (Audi) intended.
My own cabrio is the 2.6 v6 which has a central hydraulics system for the power steering and brake SERVO. The brake circuit itself is of course a separate system with it's own brake fluid reservoir.
When the fluid dropped in the hydraulic reservoir I got an audible ping from the dash plus the brake lamp warning. This was at Biaritz and was topped up with the wrong red fluid. That worked OK for the next few hundred kilometres into Spain and back but then the hydraulic pump started to leak badly. The lack of servo made the brakes incredibly hard work. I finally twigged that I should have used the correct green fluid and kept topping up with that until I got home.
The hydraulic pump was u/s and not repairable so I got a second hand replacement. By this time there can have been no trace of red fluid left. Apart from the pump no further damage was apparent.
I realise your 1.8 car may have some different components but the central hydraulics principle will be the same. Hope this helps.

[Mikes2]

the fluid you need is CHF11S.

several brands are available

[newsh]

Changing to vac servo is a big project
Replacing the pump is easy

[Bowie69]

I think it took me 3 hours to complete(!)

[newsh]

I think it took me 3 hours to complete(!)

Sourcing the parts, understanding the conversion, getting the servo to fit, ok maybe on an S2 more stuff to move like the fuel lines...

[Bowie69]

Well I agree on that, but even if I added up everything, no way would I break 5 hours. I'm not a pro mechanic or anything... The detail on how to it is in the link I posted above, the servo should fit straight up.

I'd hope being a 1.8 cab there'd be a bit more room in the bay as well.

I went for it given that if one part was failing, then another was probably not far off, and in my case it wasn't clear which part was failing, so staring at £1000 bill or ~£250 it was an easy decision. The problem with the pumps is that they are notoriously bad quality when 'reconned' by large firms (degreased, squirted with black paint and shipped out), and generally start leaking very soon after. Second hand ones are a lottery of course.