Anyone ever have an F5 switch fail?
What were the symptoms?
How did you diagnose it?
Here's what I've got:
intermittent crank/ no start
intermittent no "wait to start" light
Started the day before the ice storm, when we got about six inches of snow, that then got rained on, making four inches of slush (before temps dropped and froze everything to the trees and power lines)
Anyway, I'm coming home from my buddy's after watching Daytona, and the slushie is so bad I can hardly drive in it, and I'm roosting big tidal waves of slop off to the sides.
Engine is cutting in/out, seemingly with bumps. Until I pull up to a stop light and it kills altogether, and won't restart. I flip the key off and back on to check for a WTS light, and there is none. I get out, check the #30 fuse, looks good. Put it back in, flip the key again, the WTS light is on, let it time out, crank it, and it fires up.
That evening, I have to take the wife to work, and it hiccups on me once more, but catches itself.
The next morning, power is out, so I go to back the truck out of the barn to start the generator and run to fill the water barrel. No WTS light. I flip the key a couple times, it comes back by itself. I put another PCM power relay in the PDC just to say I did. Flip the key, no WTS light. Cycle the key three or four times, it comes back on, I notice the display on the F5 chip is blank, so I yank the lead out of the back of the chip, and throw the switch & lead up on the dash.
I told you about having to get a power inverter to de-ice the stock tanks. While I'm hooking that up (which I'd like suggestions on where to permanently mount, by the way), I wiggle check and tighten all the battery connections, and the bolt holding the connector to the PCM.
For the rest of the day, I have no problems.
I thought "maybe I should check the IDM" because they can be prone to water intrusion, but more on that in a second...
So anyway, then diesel fuel has gone up a dollar a gallon in a week, so I've been driving the Beetle.
Friday night, I come home, and I hear this screaming noise from the barn. I mean, it's LOUD. I can hear it 100 feet away at the house. I walk out to the barn, the power inverter is shrieking, the dome lights are on dim and won't shut off.
Yep, I'd failed to shut the inverter off and had got in a door for something and left it ajar when the power came back on, and it whacked the batteries. I put the charger on trickle, slam the doors, the dome lights go out, I shut the inverter off, all the noises stop. And I go back to the house.
Sunday, I pulled the charger off and drop the hood.
Today, I had to fill gas cans, return a battery core, was going to Home Depot for a couple things, and get a new radio antenna for the Bug..
Had a WTS light, but crank/no start, no smoke. Didn't think much of it, the truck hasn't been run in a week, and it hasn't been plugged in, and it's been fairly chilly at night. Hooked the battery charger back up, plugged the block heater in, went in the house. For a couple of hours. Come back out, hit the key, have a WTS light, crank it and it fires right off. I think, "great, I gotta put glow plugs in it, too."
I get about a mile down the road, realize it's in stock tune, I could have sworn it was in 80econo when I ripped the lead out of the chip. But the batteries did go dead.. so again, I don't think much of it.
Anyhow, I forgot my wallet, so I have to go back to the house.
When I get here, my ADD kicks in and I decide to hook the F5 switch real quick.
OK. pay attention to this..
I tried to plug the lead back in the PCM. (and yes, I had my keys in my pocket when I did it). I can't seen to get the right angle of the dangle, and before I can get it back on the chip, I've bent a couple of pins.
So I pull the ECM out, take the case apart, pull the chip off. Straighten the pins, put the cable on, put the chip back on the ECM, and put the ECM back together. Put the ECM back in the truck, and route the cable from the PCM out, and put the F5 back on.
Flip the key, blank F5 display, truck runs..
I wiggle the F5 switch, the display flickers for a second, the engine stumbles, the display goes blank again, the engine recovers.
Now, remember also this.. did anyone besides Dennis catch what was going on here?
In January, I had a problem with my ESOF not shifting into low, and not coming back out of high to 2WD. I fought that bitch for a week, before I realized my wiring diagram set does not match the component locator. Nothing matches the component locator. Two different component locators, plus the repair article are giving me three different locations for the 4WD relays.
At one point, I had the GEM, out of the dash, the dash out of the truck, and of course anything that's hooked to the dash (ie., the F5 switch) unplugged.
When I put it back together, I had moved the F5 so it was more under the headlight switch, rather than behind the steering wheel, where it could be accessed a little easier. Well, let me tell you what happened..
I'm not sure, but I think the pull pocket of the door nailed it, because when I was having all this trouble with the chip during the ice storm and I yanked the lead, I noticed the connector on the back of the switch wasn't square with the case, it was noticeably crooked. Without thinking, I tweaked it back.
That's when this all started.
Any thoughts?
Yes, I have called Jody and James at the Tennessee office, but neither have returned my call yet (this afternoon).
What were the symptoms?
How did you diagnose it?
Here's what I've got:
intermittent crank/ no start
intermittent no "wait to start" light
Started the day before the ice storm, when we got about six inches of snow, that then got rained on, making four inches of slush (before temps dropped and froze everything to the trees and power lines)
Anyway, I'm coming home from my buddy's after watching Daytona, and the slushie is so bad I can hardly drive in it, and I'm roosting big tidal waves of slop off to the sides.
Engine is cutting in/out, seemingly with bumps. Until I pull up to a stop light and it kills altogether, and won't restart. I flip the key off and back on to check for a WTS light, and there is none. I get out, check the #30 fuse, looks good. Put it back in, flip the key again, the WTS light is on, let it time out, crank it, and it fires up.
That evening, I have to take the wife to work, and it hiccups on me once more, but catches itself.
The next morning, power is out, so I go to back the truck out of the barn to start the generator and run to fill the water barrel. No WTS light. I flip the key a couple times, it comes back by itself. I put another PCM power relay in the PDC just to say I did. Flip the key, no WTS light. Cycle the key three or four times, it comes back on, I notice the display on the F5 chip is blank, so I yank the lead out of the back of the chip, and throw the switch & lead up on the dash.
I told you about having to get a power inverter to de-ice the stock tanks. While I'm hooking that up (which I'd like suggestions on where to permanently mount, by the way), I wiggle check and tighten all the battery connections, and the bolt holding the connector to the PCM.
For the rest of the day, I have no problems.
I thought "maybe I should check the IDM" because they can be prone to water intrusion, but more on that in a second...
So anyway, then diesel fuel has gone up a dollar a gallon in a week, so I've been driving the Beetle.
Friday night, I come home, and I hear this screaming noise from the barn. I mean, it's LOUD. I can hear it 100 feet away at the house. I walk out to the barn, the power inverter is shrieking, the dome lights are on dim and won't shut off.
Yep, I'd failed to shut the inverter off and had got in a door for something and left it ajar when the power came back on, and it whacked the batteries. I put the charger on trickle, slam the doors, the dome lights go out, I shut the inverter off, all the noises stop. And I go back to the house.
Sunday, I pulled the charger off and drop the hood.
Today, I had to fill gas cans, return a battery core, was going to Home Depot for a couple things, and get a new radio antenna for the Bug..
Had a WTS light, but crank/no start, no smoke. Didn't think much of it, the truck hasn't been run in a week, and it hasn't been plugged in, and it's been fairly chilly at night. Hooked the battery charger back up, plugged the block heater in, went in the house. For a couple of hours. Come back out, hit the key, have a WTS light, crank it and it fires right off. I think, "great, I gotta put glow plugs in it, too."
I get about a mile down the road, realize it's in stock tune, I could have sworn it was in 80econo when I ripped the lead out of the chip. But the batteries did go dead.. so again, I don't think much of it.
Anyhow, I forgot my wallet, so I have to go back to the house.
When I get here, my ADD kicks in and I decide to hook the F5 switch real quick.
OK. pay attention to this..
I tried to plug the lead back in the PCM. (and yes, I had my keys in my pocket when I did it). I can't seen to get the right angle of the dangle, and before I can get it back on the chip, I've bent a couple of pins.
So I pull the ECM out, take the case apart, pull the chip off. Straighten the pins, put the cable on, put the chip back on the ECM, and put the ECM back together. Put the ECM back in the truck, and route the cable from the PCM out, and put the F5 back on.
Flip the key, blank F5 display, truck runs..
I wiggle the F5 switch, the display flickers for a second, the engine stumbles, the display goes blank again, the engine recovers.
Now, remember also this.. did anyone besides Dennis catch what was going on here?
In January, I had a problem with my ESOF not shifting into low, and not coming back out of high to 2WD. I fought that bitch for a week, before I realized my wiring diagram set does not match the component locator. Nothing matches the component locator. Two different component locators, plus the repair article are giving me three different locations for the 4WD relays.
At one point, I had the GEM, out of the dash, the dash out of the truck, and of course anything that's hooked to the dash (ie., the F5 switch) unplugged.
When I put it back together, I had moved the F5 so it was more under the headlight switch, rather than behind the steering wheel, where it could be accessed a little easier. Well, let me tell you what happened..
I'm not sure, but I think the pull pocket of the door nailed it, because when I was having all this trouble with the chip during the ice storm and I yanked the lead, I noticed the connector on the back of the switch wasn't square with the case, it was noticeably crooked. Without thinking, I tweaked it back.
That's when this all started.
Any thoughts?
Yes, I have called Jody and James at the Tennessee office, but neither have returned my call yet (this afternoon).
