84 Jetta 1.6td build question on performance

[1life2live]

mine is not that long maybe 3" at the most so i think only the tip is in the manifold. that could be why its not reading as well but then again its pointed right at one of the cylinders so it should be getting hit directly with heat from that cylinder. I dont know what else to do to test it im sure its not getting hot enough to worry about right now because i havnt cranked the fuel up and im not blowing any black smoke so i guess i shouldnt be that worried until then.

[1life2live]

also what gauge are you using? I bought a vdo gauge from jegs for 80 bucks figured it should be fine since vdo is a pretty good gauge company.

[zukgod1]

I don't think you have enough of the probe in the stream.
I think you need 1/2 the probe in the stream at a min.

I'm using Autometer Ultralite II's.

[1life2live]

great guess i need to find a longer probe or cut down the bung so it will allow it to thread in further. im going to check and see if i can just buy a longer probe

[1life2live]

well day 2 of driving since i put everything back together and the car seems to be running fine with the exception that its a little hard to start if its not plugged in or already warm. When i went to leave work yesterday and today it struggled to stay running after i let the glow plugs run their full cycle. Im thinking i might not have the pump set perfect yet and may need to advance it? (move the pump towards the head) a little more. IF you pull the cold start lever it runs but shutters a little for about the first 15-20 seconds and then smooths out and then after about a minute you can take it off and it idles fine. Once its warm it starts fine and runs good and there is no smoke out of the exhaust under load. whats everyone think? I want to make sure the timings right before i mess with the boost pin and install my Lowes boost controller i made.

[AudiVWguy]

15-20 seconds of crappy running sounds like the cylinders don't have any heat absorbed into them yet to allow for proper combustion.

[1life2live]

true but i know all the glow plugs are working because i tested them when i had the ip off. and it seems as though there getting power because they will light for a shorter period of time when the car is warm. i just thought maybe the ip timing was still slightly off.

[zukgod1]

It could be a tad retarded. Can always try advancing it a bit to see if that helps.

[1life2live]

So i went home today and advanced the timing just a little and then went ahead and turned the fuel screw in one half turn and wow what a difference. When i first started the car it idled a little high so i turned the idle down and then took it for a drive. It idles much smoother and seems to have a little more power and does start easier. Ill see tommorow if it sarts any easier. It does smoke a little at WOT but the egt reading is still good. Next step is to install my boost controller

[zukgod1]

It does smoke a little at WOT but the egt reading is still good. Next step is to install my boost controller

Next step should be to get the prob placed better.

Sure would suck to melt a piston because you were getting a incorrect reading no?

I'm not hammering on ya just need to stress the importance of a good EGT reading especially when you are playing with the fuel screw and boost levels.


Oh ya, seems you have the hard starting figured out.Give us an update after a few cold starts.

[1life2live]

yea im going to put a call into vdo about the probe position and how far in the manifold it is. i found longer probes and i think i may buy one of those. My only concern is that the probe could be touching the wall of the manifold and throwing the gauge off that way. dont know if thats possible i guess at worst it would just have a slower cool down time shown on the gauge

[zukgod1]

i guess at worst it would just have a slower cool down time shown on the gauge

No, at worst you will have an inaccurate reading and damage your engine.

If it's not reading correctly which I suspect it is not you are never going to know what is really going on. Cool down will mean nada if you melt it down.

Can you snap a pic of it's current placement? Maybe I'm not picturing it correctly in my mind which is not hard for me to do.

[1life2live]

ZUKGOD1, i will try o take a picture of it tommorow. it is on the back side of the manifold with the wire end of the probe pointing at the firewall the tip should be directly inline with the exhaust poet on the head of the cylinder 2nd one in from the tranny side.

On another note i pulled the pan today and put in my new high volume oil pump and also installed a cam cover under the valve cover to keep the oil from going directly into the breather. Both were very easy to do and was worth it. The oil pressure is around 90lbs cold and somewhere around 25 to 30lbs warm. I also installed my manual boost controller and turned the diaphram in the lda so that the dot on the diaphram is directly across from the notch on the pump. I set the boost to 18lbs and the thing runs great what a difference a couple extra punds makes. I didnt do any long pulls as im still not sure about my egt gauge. i am going to pull it out tommorow and measure it and if i can get a longer one i will order it monday.

[zukgod1]

Sounds like your getting it together nicely..

Yes please post up a pic of the probe. One with the probe in place and one of the probe it's self would be good if ya can.

[1life2live]

Here are two pictures of the egt probe installed and the third picture is the probe itself off of jegs website. It is the exact one that i have in the car. I talked to someone at jegs and they said the probe only has to be in the manifold 1/4" and i think i have that much in there but still dont think its accuratly reading. I did tack weld the bung on with the probe in place and im wondering if that may have screwed up the probe. Jegs tech said if it is not reading accuratly that they would replace it and i think i might call them and have them do that