intermittant loss of power... any ideas?

[jenloe]

2.0 16v, 1990 GLI. Mods: Techtonics exhaust, Techtonics chip, K&N airfilter. Ignition all factory. 210k miles.

Symptoms: i'll be driving along, and it seems to go into 'fail safe' mode. Low on power, especially from idle, but it doesn't die. When I turn the motor off, it resets no issue. Seems to have some correlation to fuel richness.

Any thoughts?

Also - i read on a thread that it could be issue with Hall sender unit. What are the symptoms of a Hall sender unit failure? Ignition distributor failure? Coil failure?

I'm going to change the distributor and coil this weekend, but was curious as to what people thought.

JEnloe

[rysskii3]

2.0 16v, 1990 GLI. Mods: Techtonics exhaust, Techtonics chip, K&N airfilter. Ignition all factory. 210k miles.

Symptoms: i'll be driving along, and it seems to go into 'fail safe' mode. Low on power, especially from idle, but it doesn't die. When I turn the motor off, it resets no issue. Seems to have some correlation to fuel richness.

Any thoughts?

Also - i read on a thread that it could be issue with Hall sender unit. What are the symptoms of a Hall sender unit failure? Ignition distributor failure? Coil failure?

I'm going to change the distributor and coil this weekend, but was curious as to what people thought.

JEnloe

take off the DPR on the side of the fuel dist. and clean it with some alcohol. also, check to make sure the O2 is good, and if you are at it, double check all the connectors and clean them if you can.

[ellocolindo]

any chance you can read the codes with a scanner?

have you checked off the car all the intake track rubber boots?

[jenloe]

already cleaned/changed DPR; boots thoroughly checked....vacuum leak was coming from HVAC connections (long since fixed).

Will clean all the connectors, good idea - have you seen a listed of all that need to be cleaned anywhere?

[jenloe]

reading codes is on my list of things to do (no scanner, but can use the connectors around the shifter and an indicator light to do it)

[jenloe]

Codes are 2342 (OS system), 2144 (knock sensor II) and 2142 (knock sensor I). Odd, considering i replaced the oxygen sensor this year already.

Sounds like i need to check the wiring.

[jenloe]

Thoroughly cleaned all the connections i could find with electrical cleaner and changed the coil. Problem gone. Did both at same time, so i don't know which was it or if both worked together. In any case, cleaning the connectors is a really smart thing to do.

[scirocconaut]

As soon as I read the first post I was thinking coil after scrolling down I see I was right I'm pretty good at mental troubleshooting

It was the coil for sure as it goes bad it causes random power loss through misfiring,

you can tell by the electrical battery acid smell if it's bad or leaking when they leak they drip blackish/clear