Unreliable bag of shite!

[Julesprivate]

No not the Chim, that's been completely faultless as an every day driver and I love it to pieces!

Driving home tonight in my wifes TT Roadter 225, I went to accelerate around a cyclist when suddenly the car lost power.

It felt like a massive missfire and potentially dropped to 2 or 3 cylinders, the MIL light came on and the car refused to pull.

I was literally only a few hundred yards from home so I limped onto the drive and plugged in the VCDS. The car just about idles but with a really heavy knocking noise coming from the engine.... My initial thought was the timing belt had jumped a few teeth, but the belt, water pump and tensioner was only done 5000 miles ago.

VCDS showed this:
1 Fault Found:
17939 - Camshaft Timing Adjustment
P1531 - 35-10 - Open Circuit - Intermittent
Readiness: 0110 0101

Reading the wiki this pointed me towards the N205 Valve.

I've tested the resistance (16.5 Ohm) and it is in range. I have 12V across the 2 pins on cranking and 12V on pin 1 with the ignition on.

I can't test the connectivity between pin 2 and the ECM without a breakout box (can I?) so I am now at a bit of a dead end.

I'm really only posting this here (1) To vent (2) On the off chance that another Chim owner is also unlucky enough to own an Audi and can point me int he right direction and (3) To highlight the irony that is the myth of unreliable TVRs!

[Pursyluv]

We got rid of the wife's 225 TT Coupe after the Lambda sensors failed, the indicators packed up and the final straw was the window drop mechanism failing.

£1,700 in 18 months, no thanks.

[Wacky Racer]

Julesprivate said:

VCDS showed this:
1 Fault Found:
17939 - Camshaft Timing Adjustment
P1531 - 35-10 - Open Circuit - Intermittent
Readiness: 0110 0101

Reading the wiki this pointed me towards the N205 Valve.

I've tested the resistance (16.5 Ohm) and it is in range. I have 12V across the 2 pins on cranking and 12V on pin 1 with the ignition on.

I can't test the connectivity between pin 2 and the ECM without a breakout box (can I?) so I am now at a bit of a dead end.

Modern cars.....

In the good old days you turned the dizzy by hand until the engine speeded up a bit and tightened the bolt.

[Julesprivate]

Wacky Racer said:

Modern cars.....

In the good old days you turned the dizzy by hand until the engine speeded up a bit and tightened the bolt.

LOL - Yeah I HATE modern cars. I spend more time with the laptop connected to the Audi than I do tinkering with the Chim!

[Loach1]

It looks like a common cause of that fault is the ECU relay. Sorry, I don't have a Bentley manual for the Audi, but I believe you will find it in the drivers footwell. It may have some dry joints that just need to be re-flowed. HTH.

David

[QBee]

Vorskin durch technik = you won't be willywaving in that thing for a while

[Goaty Bill]

The most common fault on the GF's was coils.
I say "was" because all have been replaced now.
It did exactly what you have described (4 times).
Lesson learned - when one fails - replace them all, because you soon will anyway.

The 1.8 225 is a damned fine euro-(roundish)box if you ask me.
It's greatest downside is you just know other people are thinking "I bet he thinks he is cool driving that car", when you know Fing well you are not, but wearing a sign around your neck saying "I'm NOT cool for driving this car, and I KNOW it" isn't really an option.

Anyway, I called the RAC, they diagnosed it in about 2 minutes.
They invariably have one or two on board because so many cars have that basic engine.
About 37 pounds if memory serves, and inflation hasn't hit too hard.

Good luck.

[Chilliman]

Goaty Bill drives an Audi TT

[neiljohnson]

They have a timing chain that links the two cams at the gearbox end of the head, if the tensioner fails it will give you the symptoms & fault codes you describe

[edo]

Goaty Bill said:

The most common fault on the GF's was coils.
I say "was" because all have been replaced now.
It did exactly what you have described (4 times).
Lesson learned - when one fails - replace them all, because you soon will anyway.

The 1.8 225 is a damned fine euro-(roundish)box if you ask me.
It's greatest downside is you just know other people are thinking "I bet he thinks he is cool driving that car", when you know Fing well you are not, but wearing a sign around your neck saying "I'm NOT cool for driving this car, and I KNOW it" isn't really an option.

Anyway, I called the RAC, they diagnosed it in about 2 minutes.
They invariably have one or two on board because so many cars have that basic engine.
About 37 pounds if memory serves, and inflation hasn't hit too hard.

Good luck.

Same with the one I had.

[Julesprivate]

Thanks guys

Of all the options mentiomed I suspect the camchain tensioner having failed or the N205 valve not getting the signal to adjust the timing but the other suggestions are excellent too

It'd be LOVELY to think it was a coil pack but TBH this "feels" like realy bad valve timing (i.e. no compression)but that's purely based on how it sounds at the exhaust end and how gutless it is.

I've got the latest version of VCDS (I'd say it's essential if you own an Audi!) and it "says" the coil packs are OK (but I may swap them around to see if anything changes.

I'll also check out the fuses and relays but I think they just feed the votages to the plug and it's the ECM that switched them

THANKS AGAIN!

[Julesprivate]

TVR to the rescue

I've added Jude to my Chim insurance and she's just left for work in that. Now I'll spend my time worrying about her driving my baby but at least she's mobile again.

You gotta love the reputation we have for being unreliable, the S1 we have and the Chimaera have both been 100% reliable and great fun to drive.

I think I may have a look at the classifieds and see if there is a T350 going that I can get her, she's always quite fancied one!

[Sardonicus]

Julesprivate said:

No not the Chim, that's been completely faultless as an every day driver and I love it to pieces!

Driving home tonight in my wifes TT Roadter 225, I went to accelerate around a cyclist when suddenly the car lost power.

It felt like a massive missfire and potentially dropped to 2 or 3 cylinders, the MIL light came on and the car refused to pull.

I was literally only a few hundred yards from home so I limped onto the drive and plugged in the VCDS. The car just about idles but with a really heavy knocking noise coming from the engine.... My initial thought was the timing belt had jumped a few teeth, but the belt, water pump and tensioner was only done 5000 miles ago.

VCDS showed this:
1 Fault Found:
17939 - Camshaft Timing Adjustment
P1531 - 35-10 - Open Circuit - Intermittent
Readiness: 0110 0101

Reading the wiki this pointed me towards the N205 Valve.

I've tested the resistance (16.5 Ohm) and it is in range. I have 12V across the 2 pins on cranking and 12V on pin 1 with the ignition on.

I can't test the connectivity between pin 2 and the ECM without a breakout box (can I?) so I am now at a bit of a dead end.

I'm really only posting this here (1) To vent (2) On the off chance that another Chim owner is also unlucky enough to own an Audi and can point me int he right direction and (3) To highlight the irony that is the myth of unreliable TVRs!

Yep modern tech I wouldn't mind so much its when the customer presumes the scanner does all the hard work you then have to explain that what it displays is not infallible my trade has changed greatly in the last 15 years and not for the better IMO.

Edited by Sardonicus on Wednesday 1st May 12:44

[BlackpoolRock]

QBee said:

Vorskin durch technik = you won't be willywaving in that thing for a while