ahu from mk3 to B3

One electrical gremlin remains and it's important - dash illumination.

I have power to the light switch rheostat, back from rheostat via circuit 58b to R/4 but no power from R/4 internally at the fuse box to D12, P/9, U1/14 or Q6.

Bentley says that R/4 connects inside the fuse box to those four but for some reason that connection isn't working.

I hate to go to the effort of replacing the fuse box at this point but it looks like I might have to.

Steve

Changing the fuse box isn't that hard just fiddly

But I can see where you are coming from

I had an issue with my T4 1z conversion that had no power to run the dash cluster, was a miss-match of different aged wiring loom sections so feeds didn't meet up with tracks in the fuse box

Probably nothing to do with your issues though

Rich.

My perfectly stock wiring occasionally causes the clock to reset when I'm starting the car... Way rather have your issue!

Steve Addy said:

One electrical gremlin remains and it's important - dash illumination.

I have power to the light switch rheostat, back from rheostat via circuit 58b to R/4 but no power from R/4 internally at the fuse box to D12, P/9, U1/14 or Q6.

Bentley says that R/4 connects inside the fuse box to those four but for some reason that connection isn't working.

I hate to go to the effort of replacing the fuse box at this point but it looks like I might have to.

Steve

Click to expand...

Why not run a wire from the rheostat to the cluster direct?

So I started today back where I left off, on illumination wiring. I finally got in and checked continuity between R4 and D12 and there wasn't a problem....hmmm.

Then I plugged in the two harnesses and I had dash lights, problem solved, or so I thought. But just out of curiosity I left the parking lights on while I reinstalled the fuse box and bam, lost them again. So rather than mess around with this for much longer, since I kind of assumed it was a fuse box issue, I headed to the JY to retrieve the fuse box from a 1998 Mk3 that I knew had just come in and looked to be unmolested.

After I got the old fuse box out I took a look at the connector ends....explains everything.





The first picture is of the connector for harness R, which was one of the two involved in the dash light issue. The second photo is of the connector for harness J, which I don't believe was giving me any problems....yet.

Anyway, new fuse box is in good shape and is installed completely without any loss of dash illumination. I'm actually glad this was found now rather than after the dashboard was completely installed and making the swap more difficult.

Just one more little issue left, and that has to do with why the dome light doesn't come on when the doors open...and yes, the switch is in the correct position.

Windex said:

Why not run a wire from the rheostat to the cluster direct?

Click to expand...

I had thought about that, bypassing the R/4-D/12 at the fuse box and just going directly to the downstream device, then I reviewed the wiring diagram and found that R/4 wasn't just sending power to the one other output on the fuse box but three additional ones, so repairing it really was kind of necessary.

Steve

Steve

Does the dome light work with any of the doors? My two front doors have bad switches and take a while to turn the light on or St least a little wiggle of the switch. The right rear works perfectly... I think the left rear is totally toast.

vanbcguy said:

Does the dome light work with any of the doors? My two front doors have bad switches and take a while to turn the light on or St least a little wiggle of the switch. The right rear works perfectly... I think the left rear is totally toast.

Click to expand...

None of them activate the front dome light.

It probably has something to do with my deletion of the passive belt system I fondly dubbed 'the strangler' so it's probably my fault.

Although I incorporated the B4 style belt system and the electrics I'm sure I either didn't hook up something (yet) or I missed something.

Steve

I spoke too soon, the right rear door activates the dome light and with a little work now the left rear door does as well. When I peeled back the rubber boots from the two front ones the screw heads fell out in my hand. I think both of the fronts are failing due to bad grounding.

I'm getting two replacements for the front and we'll see if that doesn't fix the situation.

At least now I know it's not related to something behind the dashboard so I think it would be ok to proceed with the dash install.

Steve

I've had issues with them in the past, and the driver's door has 2 wires to discreet terminals. I've successfully pulled it apart and cleaned the contacts before to get it working. I reattach with conductive paste since the screw grounds to the body.

Abacus said:

I've had issues with them in the past, and the driver's door has 2 wires to discreet terminals. I've successfully pulled it apart and cleaned the contacts before to get it working. I reattach with conductive paste since the screw grounds to the body.

Click to expand...

The mounting screws are so rotted that it's almost impossible to get them off without drilling part of the screw out. I removed the passenger side already and plan to do the same for the driver.

I bought a pair off my least favorite auction site, they're not OE but they should work for a while. For $6 shipped total for the pair if they fail in a year I won't be out much. Next time I'm at the JY with the B4's I'll see if I can't dig up a few in decent shape, but it wasn't worth driving the 70 miles round trip for a couple of door switches.

I'm just happy to have found the problem at this point, if I can get the driver one off without destroying it I'll see about pulling it apart and cleaning it up.

Remembered a few other electrical things I still need to do. The first is patching in the B4 seatbelt warning relay and wiring into the B3 and the other is just rewiring the fuel pump / sender connector to sender only for the diesel.

Steve

Those are on the list of things I grab when I visit and probably have a few around if you want some sent out.

Steve Addy said:

Remembered a few other electrical things I still need to do. The first is patching in the B4 seatbelt warning relay

Steve

Click to expand...

Do you have wiring diagram for that? I can't seem to find it. I want to wire one into the Toyota truck I am converting

Abacus said:

Those are on the list of things I grab when I visit and probably have a few around if you want some sent out.

Click to expand...

Thanks Abacus, I appreciate the offer. I think I might end up paying a visit to the JY to see if I can salvage a few of these. i noticed that the replacement switches that are out there have a slightly different shape on the bottom, hopefully I can salvage a few switches and screws from one of the B4's.

Rockwell said:

Do you have wiring diagram for that? I can't seem to find it. I want to wire one into the Toyota truck I am converting

Click to expand...

I have it, from the electronic parts catalog, it'll take me a little while to get it into a graphic that I can post up.

Since you're wiring it into a non-VW vehicle I'm not too sure how it'll work for you since it works with the door switches, seat belt switch and some other doodads too.

Steve

Went to the JY (where I worked) to see if I could find some door latch switches and mounting screws. In the last month they've gotten rid of three of the B4 sedans so I decided it might be a good idea to scavenge as many as I could (within reason). I also needed a couple boots too so it made sense to make the drive and the weather here has been super (mid-70's) so it was a good day.

Replaced three of the switches on the car, including the boots since mine were kind of dried out. Ends up the front switches are different from the rear and the ones I bought online are for the rear only so those wouldn't have worked anyway. Also, the switches for the B3 are slightly different from the B4 ones and the boots are too. The only one I didn't replace was the right rear, that still worked, where the screw was entirely messed up.



Also made the trek to Lowes to check out this pseudo-dynamat product that I've seen people talk about online. I don't think it has the heft of some of the thicker dynamat products but it should do a good job for what I want.



Steve

So the electrical stuff is all finished, or so I thought. I installed the dash today, it went pretty well and I think I have the majority of the wiring routed properly.

HVAC ducting in place and basically just trying to get all the dash inserts cleaned and fitted. I thought I'd purchased all new vent inserts with the replacement dash but apparently I only got a new center section. I might have to go back to the JY for the left and right vent pods, the originals are not in very good shape.

Also noticed after I got the hvac stuff installed that the speaker connection to the radio seems like it won't make it to the radio so I might have to go back and reroute that if I can get it out. And something I forgot to do was repair the cut power connection to the roof antenna that I assume the prior owner did when they did a 'custom' radio install. The problem here is that I can barely reach it so patching in a replacement piece might be a bit tricky.



Steve

Undid the wrongly routed radio wiring and antenna wire. Now I can patch in a lead for the antenna amplifier power and move on. Also got all the dash inserts cleaned up and more bits installed.



Driver pod installed. I still need to get a T4 EV/Caravelle/Transporter fog light switch to replace the original B3 but as of now it's all installed and connected.



Dash should be completely finished tomorrow, which will be great.

Steve

Looks really nice Steve,nice and clean, when I did my truck I didn't know a lot about the wiring, still don't but it's one thing I now enjoy doing

vw_nut said:

Looks really nice Steve,nice and clean, when I did my truck I didn't know a lot about the wiring, still don't but it's one thing I now enjoy doing

Click to expand...

I'm naturally slow on some things, and wiring is something I don't want to have to go back later and try to fix.

I see projects around my area that have stopped and been left unfinished for years (some forever) because of electrical problems that were never fully and satisfactorily dealt with. I do not like a badly wired car, it's just a recipe for disaster later on. That's why I've been spending a lot of time on this part of it.

There's only one part of electrical system stuff that I didn't get fully functional, and that's the key in ignition / lights on buzzer. Because this car is a blending of Mk3 / B4 and B3 wiring the connections that trigger that buzzer aren't all there, I didn't replace harness K, L or M with comparable B4 stuff.

Steve

Not much new going on, I've been doing winter yard cleaning and some garage cleaning since I ***** every time I trip on something.

Did get a text from a friend earlier in the week that prompted me to run to Omaha. This was seen at the Omaha U-pull, not my favorite place, they're kind of spendy on some stuff and the new 'environmental fee' that gets tacked on to everything you buy is kind of a trick employed just to be able to advertise a lower price but then get you at the counter when you pay.



1992 Sedan, which based on the brochure should have the black interior (if you can really call it that).

In 1990 you couldn't get (at least in the US) a dark interior with Alpine white but my grey interior was really dirty and it would have required a professional cleaning to really undo the damage. The problem was that my wagon had cold climate package and I didn't want to lose the seat heaters! When this 92 sedan showed up I made my friend in Omaha go back to see if it too had the cold climate package, and when he responded that it did it was time to unpack the car (to make room) and make a quick trip over to get it.

I needed all the upper door cards and the seats but unfortunately someone had already destroyed the passenger front door card so I'm still on the lookout for that one too.





The Omaha interior is pretty clean but it will still need to have some touch up cleaning done on the driver seat and in the back where it looks like someone climbed in with dirty boots, but it's much better than mine. I will though have to transfer over the upholstery from the lower sedan rear seats to the wagon seat bases since the two are different and I'd prefer to keep the wagon rear seat bases intact since they allow for fold flat operation and the sedan seats do not.

I was reluctant to go Thursday since it was already after noon when I left but the alternative was Friday and the reality of making the trip with the coming snow, which arrived and dumped 5-7" on the ground.

Steve

Hey what are you doing for engine mounts? Your car was a 16V originally, right?

Sent from my XT1097 using Tapatalk

vanbcguy said:

Hey what are you doing for engine mounts? Your car was a 16V originally, right?

Sent from my XT1097 using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Yep originally 16v. Guess I never talked about that here, or at least with any pictures.

I swapped out the front cross-member with one from a B4 TDI and the engine sub-frame with one from a B3 VR powered car so I could use native TDI motor mounts.

This also lets me use the lower radiator support from the VR and the larger cooling system as well as all the AC components to go to R134A.

Steve

Gotcha. I have factory AAZ diesel mounts so I was planning on sticking with the existing setup, though obviously with fresh mounts. The AAZ used the 16V style setup rather than the VR style. Was just wondering if you were going for something up rated.

Sent from my XT1097 using Tapatalk

vanbcguy said:

Gotcha. I have factory AAZ diesel mounts so I was planning on sticking with the existing setup, though obviously with fresh mounts. The AAZ used the 16V style setup rather than the VR style. Was just wondering if you were going for something up rated.

Sent from my XT1097 using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

At this point I'm not going for anything stiffer, at least not on the two sub-frame mounts since that sub-frame bolts directly to the cabin. I might consider a stiffer front mount at some point since that cross-member has rubber cushions where it bolts to the frame.

Did the AAZ use a hydro mounting for the passenger rear mount? I don't believe it did IIRC but there is one that could be used, it comes from the late GTI 1.8 16v cars, part number 535199262 but it might require use of the large mounting bracket from the same engine, I just don't remember on that.

Back when I first started I was trying to not have to replace all the sub-frame and cross-member stuff because I was worried that anything out there in my locale as a replacement would be in similar if not worse condition. In the end I found a sub-frame that was much better and that same car provided a really decent rear beam axle as well.

If I hadn't been able to get any better components I was going to see about using the 1.8 16v passenger hydro mount along with the front hydro mount from the 1.6D/TD. In the end it was unnecessary but in your case since that car is spotless going that route makes sense.

This is what it looks like, I have a suspicion that it was used on the G60 cars, I've seen it referenced for Corrado too.



Steve

AAZ has the bonded rubber rear mount and the hydraulic front mount. Right now my car shakes pretty good so I think the factory mounts are toast (I mean they ARE 23 years old). From what I've been able to dig up from partsbase I believe the 9A came with the hydro rear mount in the same bracket so I probably can go that route.

I have the proper AHU hydraulic mount in my Mk3 right now, it should be the same as what goes in yours. I went with a full set of IDParts brand new mounts when I installed the engine but they were way too soggy for my power level. IDParts is selling a plain rubber mount rather than the hydro one for the rear engine mount - I ended up getting a new factory hydro one locally which felt much better. However I was still experiencing excessive engine movements so I went with a BFI stage 0.5 front mount. I found that to be waaaaay too stiff so when a set of BFI stealth mounts popped up on CL I grabbed them and put the front one in. That seems to be a good compromise.

Sent from my XT1097 using Tapatalk

vanbcguy said:

AAZ has the bonded rubber rear mount and the hydraulic front mount. Right now my car shakes pretty good so I think the factory mounts are toast (I mean they ARE 23 years old). From what I've been able to dig up from partsbase I believe the 9A came with the hydro rear mount in the same bracket so I probably can go that route.

I have the proper AHU hydraulic mount in my Mk3 right now, it should be the same as what goes in yours. I went with a full set of IDParts brand new mounts when I installed the engine but they were way too soggy for my power level. IDParts is selling a plain rubber mount rather than the hydro one for the rear engine mount - I ended up getting a new factory hydro one locally which felt much better. However I was still experiencing excessive engine movements so I went with a BFI stage 0.5 front mount. I found that to be waaaaay too stiff so when a set of BFI stealth mounts popped up on CL I grabbed them and put the front one in. That seems to be a good compromise.

Sent from my XT1097 using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Good to know, I've been doing some research on what some mount options might be so I'll add this to the stack of stuff.

My 9A didn't come with the rear hydro mount but it was also an AT car too which might have made a difference. I know it does on the trans mount anyway. I don't remember what the front mount was originally.

I don't believe that the VR cars came with a rear passenger hydro mount, that might be the one the IDparts is selling as the rear rubber version.

I know next year the Mk3 will probably get new mounts as part of a general front overhaul (leaks + suspension etc). I don't want anything with any more give than it already has but I don't want cabin vibrations at idle either, same goes for the B3V.

Steve

Well I'm kind of back at it, but not as much as I should be.

I've had problems this winter with insomnia, some rather bad experiences and I've been working through some changes that I think would maybe help with the situation. So far seems to be helping but it also means I'm more irritable which isn't so good. I've basically given up all my habits and beverages that I enjoy in an attempt to resolve this situation...we'll see how it goes.

Further, there's no heating system in my garage so in the past I've used kerosene but I'm trying to not be exposed to that as much so work has slowed down some.

I have managed to keep my running schedule going even with temps dipping down into the single digits so that I'm happy about...for now.

At any rate I've finally cleaned a fairly large area of the garage and extracted the engine / trans back out to do the 6 speed conversion install. I'll be trying to get this done in short order although it really makes little difference, the Polo box and misc shifter parts I need won't be shipped from ECS Tuning until the first of Feb so I got 10+ more days before that stuff is on the way.

It's nice to have so much space cleaned up now and so much junk packed up and tossed out. Lots more cleaning and tossing to go but getting there.

Steve

Transmission work is done (I hope) and everything is back in the car. I'm still lacking some shifter parts, for the box and for the shift tower itself, but hopefully I'll have that ironed out shortly.

The shifter box stuff (for Polo) is coming from ECS tuning and for some reason it isn't shipping until February 1st. Seems odd that it had to be ordered a month in advance...kind of irritating actually.

I also need to get hold of either 1) audi TT short shifter or 2) comparable aftermarket unit. Which one yet I actually haven't decided. Also need to come up with a pyro gauge too and a place to mount it.

At least now I can start to get the front end reassembled and ready to go. Looking forward to the first startup on this, I'll try and remember to take the vid camera over with me so I can capture the event.

This project is taking way too long....

Steve


New stuff installed


All buttoned up


All back in the car!

Looking good. I have the Audi short shifter in mine and love it, but I did not see a huge difference over TDIDaveNH's B4 without it. Windex had to heat and bend the integrated shifter weight slightly to get it to clear the OEM intercooler piping, so be prepared for that if you're not using a FMIC.

Abacus said:

Looking good. I have the Audi short shifter in mine and love it, but I did not see a huge difference over TDIDaveNH's B4 without it. Windex had to heat and bend the integrated shifter weight slightly to get it to clear the OEM intercooler piping, so be prepared for that if you're not using a FMIC.

Click to expand...

Hey Mark
I'm really not sure there's any benefit to the Audi short shifter. The measured distance between the original Mk4 pivot and attachment is 5cm, I think the TT distance is actually further than that.

My plan is to retain the Mk4 shifter arm at this point. I had thought about just cutting off the weight since there's a debate about the effectiveness of the weight, but I might bend it if that's what will allow it to clear.

If the TT (or aftermarket) short shift solutions can't match the Mk4 I see no reason to buy them, and so far the measurements I've seen are longer than Mk4. The only one I've seen that is less than 50mm is the aftermarket solutions, which I'm not sure I want to invest in at this point.

Steve

More progress:

Replaced forward motor mount - old one was just a little squished.
Pulleys reinstalled, PS pump reinstalled.
New HB installed
Got the timing setup and locked down (for now).
Finishing up making wiring connections.



Getting close to test run...

Steve