RS2 - a new lease of life

[andy10v]

Cars can be so love hate, once you are driving it again it will all be worth it.

Keep at it.

[Ross]

Connector was on the wrong terminal. Now I get a nice heavy 'clunk' and the starter engages, but still not turning over. Gonna get the intake hosing on, battery is on charge, it shows 12v but then when the starter is engaged drops to 10v? Springs back up when i release the key...

[Avantus]

sounds like a battery that is too weak...

[Ross]

So it's not the battery... Pete came round with a battery, no better, so we hooked it up to the starter directly and when I cranked she fired up, ran for ~10s then killed it. So we know it'll run - just need to figure out why the start is engaging but not turning normally

The nail in the coffin was the 0.5l of oil that spewed out of the oil feed to the turbo in the time I was cranking it - took off the gasket and it's gonna have to be replaced. A real PITA as i had a new one... need to get another now and refit, guess it's going to be next week by the time I get one

[terrybullwon]

What are the engine earth straps like?

[irishs2]

Could the starter solenoid have bad internal contacts, sometimes I had to energise the solenoid a couple of times to clear the contacts and away it went again, this was only after it was idle for some time.

[Ross]

The Good:

The car started tonight (direct 12V to the battery again), ran it up to temperature and checked the fan kicks in etc. Pete bled the coolant whilst I kept the revs up between 2-3k and topped up PAS fluid etc. She sounded very tappety for the first 5 minutes but that soon quietened down, helped by some blips of the revs... oh and both our eyes are on fire thanks to all the oil that burned off


The bad:

Still can't start it off it's own battery. Oddly enough, it is getting 12V but as soon as you turn the key all the way it drops to 0 and nothing... I have no idea why. I am going to try another battery but this is really clutching at straws, I think an auto electrician is the next step, just don't have the spare time atm to keep fiddling!


The Ugly:

She runs nice and smooth holding at 2-3,000rpm but runs really lumpy at lower rpm. Idle is particularly rough with the engine stumbling alot. Lots of pops from the exhaust if I blip it slightly to 2-3,000rpm then back off the throttle. I need to pull codes, do a boost leak test, ideally verify all the sensors are plugged into the correct place.


I need to confirm she's safe to drive - she needs to be run in properly... Racked up ~15 mins on the drive at 2-3k rpm and now it's time to bed in the piston rings. Next time she starts I need to be straight out on the road really. I'm pretty much at the stage where I just want to hand over the keys and a blank cheque, in order to have everything sorted, shame MRC aren't closer to Swindon!

[Ruffiano]

Check your ground cable, i have had the same problem, the car turns on and lights up, soon as i go to crank it it dies. all i do is go and mess with the ground at the battery and it will start right up.

[s2_wot]

Could I suggest you double check the alternator wiring, something from deep down in my memory tells me it may be worth a look.

[Ross]

I had a bit of time to spend on the car again this weekend. The non-starting issue was solved by simply cleaning the spade on the 12V feed and reconnecting it. So she's under her own steam.

I spent most of the time on cosmetics, I just couldn't stand the rusted bumper grills and the bent grill making it awkward to open the bonnet sometimes.

First, I wire brushed them down to remove all the loose and peeling paint, and smooth down the rust. Following that I washed them with good ol' fairy liquid and warm water to remove any dirt and grease. After drying, they were treated to a 30 minute soaking in POR15 Metal Ready and rinsed and dried. Finally, I gave them 2 coats of grey primer. 24 hours later they all received 2 coats of gloss black and we'll see how long they last...





The grill is now back on the car - fortunately I found some new grill clips stashed in my collection, as a few came off in pretty bad shape I really need to sort my chipped fog lights and clean up the headlights to match!


How she looks now:

[Ross]

The next step is probably going to be later in the week - I need to get to the bottom of the rough running issues. She is idling poorly at ~ 600rpm, sounds like it's a couple of cylinders down! It also sounds like the exhaust is blowing at the same time - not sure it is, because at 2,000rpm+ it sounds fine and the engine runs sweet as a nut.

My intial thought was ignition - I purposely left all that alone, but it wouldn't make sense that it's 'cured' if you elevate the RPMs a little (or would it?) so I'll start with a boost leak test and VAGcom.

[Ross]

Slight update. I pulled codes tonight using an LED blink unit that has 4 wires on it.. found it in the RS2 glove box

I got 4444 after a minute of idle, so all clear, what was really odd though was as soon it completed the code the idle snapped to a steady 900rpm and she sat purring away like nothing was wrong I cut the engine after about another 30s, didn't try and start her again.

I'm guessing that was just coincidence, but what was instantly noticeable was the exhaust blowing badly from the decat pipes - it looks like the joints have come apart, probably when forcing the turbo onto the downpipe - could that be responsible for rough idling? Either way, it sounds like a good excuse to stick a sports cat in there and ditch the Y-piece sooner rather than later.

I'm not quite sure what to expect when I next start the car, but first I need to do a boost leak test to be sure, adjust the linkage so it goes into 2nd, get a semi decent seal on the decat pipes, and reassemble the bumper + lights so I can take it out on the road!

[pixsaudisex2]

Must be honest i was thinking since i had my rs2 that the idle is much more lumpy than my s2 ever was but thought it might be the cams..

[Ross]

I've been distracted a little further from the main issues on the car... I ordered a slimline ballast 5000K set of HID H1's from www.hids4u.co.uk - I little pricey compared to ebay specials, but I'd heard they are good quality and come with 2 year warranty.

If anyone else looks at these - try discount code 'STRATHY', got me 25% off, found it on a forum post dated 2009 and thought I'd give it a punt. I also fitted the matching 5000K LED side lights, the colour isn't a perfect match but it doesn't look yellow like the old bulbs, so I'm happy.

Fitting was rather simple - a quick trip to maplins for their cheapest soldering iron kit and some insulation tape had me set. The 12v power feed has a spade fitted so takes the original power feed; there is also a spade on the earth so I cut that off and stripped about 1cm of insulation off one of the earth wires, soldered it onto that and bound it up with insulation tape.

So far I've only fitted the passenger side light, I still need to find a place to mount the drivers side ballast, but it looks great with the freshly painted grill. Pics to come once I've got both 'eyes' in... only let-down now is the chipped fog lights, but they'll have to make do for now.

Next on the list is to stop procrastinating and sort out the blowing exhaust, adjust linkage, find out if it's the old coolant level sensor or the new MTFS that are giving me a warning light, boost leak test, and then start it again to see if it's still taking ~30s for the idles to steady and smooth out after starting.

Oh and the blowing exhaust will be solved properly later, by replacing the downpipe and Y-piece + decats with 3" and a sports cat... queue now for the RS2 stock downpipe and decat pipes

[s2_wot]

Hi Ross,
Good progress, you'll need those upgraded lights with all those extra ponies


Did you go for the 35w or the 55w kit? I've been thinking about a 55w 5000k setup myself. Nice find on the discount code too