Frankendiesel
Veteran Member
Back in Action!
I took Frankendiesel for a spin tonight; first time in almost a year! I struggled most of the afternoon with the silly brakes of all things. As you may recall, I had to splice two brake lines after one section corroded through. But after doing just that, I could not get the system to bleed at all.
I read in the Haynes manual for the van that if you have ABS and you need to bleed the lines, you are to have it towed to an authorized repair shop that has a DRB II scan tool. Unbelievable. So anyway, I'm going to ask my Mopar Mechanic buddy tomorrow if he has said tool. Here's hoping. What I believe happend is the ABS pump accumulators drained through the line while I had it cut apart for surgery. I believe the pump needs to cycle its valves in order to get the air through the lines. Anyone confirm or deny that theory? The brakes still function somewhat, but the pedal drops to the floor for anything but light braking.
Another bug bit me tonight - fuel supply issues. After about 2 minutes of driving, the engine will stall and you have to hit the electric in-tank pump to get the fuel back up. I remember now that whenever I drove it last year, I had to run the electric pump all the time or the IP would starve. I'll probably just wire the pump's relay to a switched ignition wire. And for those who have kept track of this saga, you may recall my statement about wanting to disable the pump becuase of an explosion threat. Well, my friend who convinced me of that last year said tonight as we were kicking the tires, he changed his mind; let it run.
Boost - it does indeed appear to be regulating. I have no tach yet, so I'll have to guestimate here that around 4 grand, the boost hits 17 psi, then jumps back down to about 10 or below as RPM's increase. Does this sound right? I was anticipating the boost to stay regulated at a set pressure as the RPM's climbed. I must say, it did pull this hunk of iron pretty well up to when boost started to fade.
Timing - I timed it after the joyride tonight. It was a bit retarded, so I tweaked it to just above the magic line in VCDS. It might be just me, but it seemed to quiet down just a scosh after that as well. One thing I did notice tonight was that the accel pedal did not register 0% at rest. It registered 7.8% and the TDI Timing window flagged me that the engine was not at idle (the engine speed register was approx 1,100 RPM's). As some may recall, I am using a MKIV pedal as it was far cheaper and more readily available. I may have to put a resistor in series with the wiper to get that down to 0%. More experiments to follow.
A parting shot:
I got the emblem off a Benz in the Boneyard last year. Thought it looked kinda nice right there.
I took Frankendiesel for a spin tonight; first time in almost a year! I struggled most of the afternoon with the silly brakes of all things. As you may recall, I had to splice two brake lines after one section corroded through. But after doing just that, I could not get the system to bleed at all.
I read in the Haynes manual for the van that if you have ABS and you need to bleed the lines, you are to have it towed to an authorized repair shop that has a DRB II scan tool. Unbelievable. So anyway, I'm going to ask my Mopar Mechanic buddy tomorrow if he has said tool. Here's hoping. What I believe happend is the ABS pump accumulators drained through the line while I had it cut apart for surgery. I believe the pump needs to cycle its valves in order to get the air through the lines. Anyone confirm or deny that theory? The brakes still function somewhat, but the pedal drops to the floor for anything but light braking. Another bug bit me tonight - fuel supply issues. After about 2 minutes of driving, the engine will stall and you have to hit the electric in-tank pump to get the fuel back up. I remember now that whenever I drove it last year, I had to run the electric pump all the time or the IP would starve. I'll probably just wire the pump's relay to a switched ignition wire. And for those who have kept track of this saga, you may recall my statement about wanting to disable the pump becuase of an explosion threat. Well, my friend who convinced me of that last year said tonight as we were kicking the tires, he changed his mind; let it run.
Boost - it does indeed appear to be regulating. I have no tach yet, so I'll have to guestimate here that around 4 grand, the boost hits 17 psi, then jumps back down to about 10 or below as RPM's increase. Does this sound right? I was anticipating the boost to stay regulated at a set pressure as the RPM's climbed. I must say, it did pull this hunk of iron pretty well up to when boost started to fade.
Timing - I timed it after the joyride tonight. It was a bit retarded, so I tweaked it to just above the magic line in VCDS. It might be just me, but it seemed to quiet down just a scosh after that as well. One thing I did notice tonight was that the accel pedal did not register 0% at rest. It registered 7.8% and the TDI Timing window flagged me that the engine was not at idle (the engine speed register was approx 1,100 RPM's). As some may recall, I am using a MKIV pedal as it was far cheaper and more readily available. I may have to put a resistor in series with the wiper to get that down to 0%. More experiments to follow.
A parting shot:
I got the emblem off a Benz in the Boneyard last year. Thought it looked kinda nice right there.
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