Blog Title: '97 TSi AWD Auto 2.4 Build Project
Project log following my 2.4 build.
First Start!
Posted 05-10-2011 at 05:12 PM by VETDRMS
Good news, it lives!
Now, it certainly was not without its drama but I am impressed with how well it did right off the bat.
Before the first start I turned the key on to finish setting up ECMLink and I hear a loud pop and saw a bunch of fluid shooting all over the car out of the engine bay.... the damn meth injection pump came on for some damn reason and blew a hole in the rubber vacuum cap I was covering the pipe with. I unhooked the sensor and turned the activation up all the way to keep it from happening again on first start.
So it's time for first start and we crank it over and the motor doesn't even make it over 1 full turn before it fires right up! Hold it at about 2000rpm and look for leaks and vary the revs from 1000-2500 or so while letting it get to operating temperature. Oil pressure went straight to 90psi cold and stayed around 65psi when warm at 2500rpm. It dropped to 15-20psi at idle when warm so that looks good. This is with straight 30w. The lifters were clattering their little hearts out for quite a while, and I still think there is some clatter so I might have to look into that. I then checked under the car for leaks and it all looked good other than the water/meth puddles.
I went to put the side covers on and noticed there was some oil, looked like it was coming down the front of the block.... Took a while to find it but the plug in the end of the head wasn't tight. It never leaked while priming the system but a little heat loosened it up, once that was tightened up there were no leaks and it was time to go for a drive!
The car actually drove really well and was responsive with only the basic VE map and standard speed density settings! It just wouldn't idle without dieing. I wanted to get 20 miles of varying load on it so off we went. The coolant temp went up a lot faster and higher than I had expected and it wanted to settle on 200-206F right off the bat. New motors run warm but that was too hot.
I then checked the new fan and it wasn't working. It turned out that the fuse had blown so I replaced it. However, the temps were still too high. The top hose was hot but the lower wasn't so it had to be the new thermostat not opening.
I drained the fluid and installed my old thermostat that used to keep the car at a constant 180F. Sure enough, with that in it took some time to get to 180F and stayed around there, going up to 186F with fans set to come on at 190F.
The fun wasn't qutie over. I was doing some 1st gear and 2nd gear pulls 2000-5000rpm and coasting to vary the load. Right now I am on wastegate pressure of 8psi but was only running 5-7 at part throttle. I went from 2000-5500 in first gear and got a nice big smoke show. I was about 2 blocks from home so I just darted back to the garage thinking it was a pretty minor leak. The smoke was constant but not real bad. I should have just pulled over right away. It has been non-stop thrashing on this for a week and I am exhuasted.
The oil pressure never dropped and was above 40psi on the way back to the garage, pulled in with it smoking and saw a trail of oil going down the driveway. S**t! The pressure guage take-off in between the oil filter housing and the oil feed line for the turbo had come loose and sprayed oil all over the place. So much for the clean motor! The bad part is I lost 1.75qts of oil. It should be fine as the pressure never dropped but its still scary.
After tightening that up and putting some more oil in it I put another 10 miles on it. It still smoked like a mother while it was burning all the oil off the downpipe's heat-wrap, but there were no leaks.
The motor sounds awesome, I can't wait to get turn it up. I got 20 miles on it and will be changing the oil tonight and will run it for the next 200 miles until the next change, when I will switch from the Brad Penn 30w break-in oil to Valvoline 20w-50 or similar. At 1000 miles I plan to switch to Brad Penn 20w50.
I first need to get it to idle and then get the tune dialed in. The trims aren't very far off but it is leaner than the AFRest at moderate load factors so I have some work to do before turning up the boost. I am very happy with how well the speed density worked out of the box though! The turbo sounds sick, even at light throttle it sounds like a jet taxing down the runway. The exhaust sound is 10x better than the old motor, its got a "crackle" and a "snap" to it now.
The transmission also feels great, shifts are firm and crisp and no sign of binding/slip. I installed an Alto 5-disc front clutch and replaced the end clutch as wells as the sun shell and kickdown band. I also modified the valve body a bit more. I am running John Deere Hy-Guard this time.
Now, it certainly was not without its drama but I am impressed with how well it did right off the bat.
Before the first start I turned the key on to finish setting up ECMLink and I hear a loud pop and saw a bunch of fluid shooting all over the car out of the engine bay.... the damn meth injection pump came on for some damn reason and blew a hole in the rubber vacuum cap I was covering the pipe with. I unhooked the sensor and turned the activation up all the way to keep it from happening again on first start.
So it's time for first start and we crank it over and the motor doesn't even make it over 1 full turn before it fires right up! Hold it at about 2000rpm and look for leaks and vary the revs from 1000-2500 or so while letting it get to operating temperature. Oil pressure went straight to 90psi cold and stayed around 65psi when warm at 2500rpm. It dropped to 15-20psi at idle when warm so that looks good. This is with straight 30w. The lifters were clattering their little hearts out for quite a while, and I still think there is some clatter so I might have to look into that. I then checked under the car for leaks and it all looked good other than the water/meth puddles.
I went to put the side covers on and noticed there was some oil, looked like it was coming down the front of the block.... Took a while to find it but the plug in the end of the head wasn't tight. It never leaked while priming the system but a little heat loosened it up, once that was tightened up there were no leaks and it was time to go for a drive!
The car actually drove really well and was responsive with only the basic VE map and standard speed density settings! It just wouldn't idle without dieing. I wanted to get 20 miles of varying load on it so off we went. The coolant temp went up a lot faster and higher than I had expected and it wanted to settle on 200-206F right off the bat. New motors run warm but that was too hot.
I then checked the new fan and it wasn't working. It turned out that the fuse had blown so I replaced it. However, the temps were still too high. The top hose was hot but the lower wasn't so it had to be the new thermostat not opening.
I drained the fluid and installed my old thermostat that used to keep the car at a constant 180F. Sure enough, with that in it took some time to get to 180F and stayed around there, going up to 186F with fans set to come on at 190F.
The fun wasn't qutie over. I was doing some 1st gear and 2nd gear pulls 2000-5000rpm and coasting to vary the load. Right now I am on wastegate pressure of 8psi but was only running 5-7 at part throttle. I went from 2000-5500 in first gear and got a nice big smoke show. I was about 2 blocks from home so I just darted back to the garage thinking it was a pretty minor leak. The smoke was constant but not real bad. I should have just pulled over right away. It has been non-stop thrashing on this for a week and I am exhuasted.
The oil pressure never dropped and was above 40psi on the way back to the garage, pulled in with it smoking and saw a trail of oil going down the driveway. S**t! The pressure guage take-off in between the oil filter housing and the oil feed line for the turbo had come loose and sprayed oil all over the place. So much for the clean motor! The bad part is I lost 1.75qts of oil. It should be fine as the pressure never dropped but its still scary.
After tightening that up and putting some more oil in it I put another 10 miles on it. It still smoked like a mother while it was burning all the oil off the downpipe's heat-wrap, but there were no leaks.
The motor sounds awesome, I can't wait to get turn it up. I got 20 miles on it and will be changing the oil tonight and will run it for the next 200 miles until the next change, when I will switch from the Brad Penn 30w break-in oil to Valvoline 20w-50 or similar. At 1000 miles I plan to switch to Brad Penn 20w50.
I first need to get it to idle and then get the tune dialed in. The trims aren't very far off but it is leaner than the AFRest at moderate load factors so I have some work to do before turning up the boost. I am very happy with how well the speed density worked out of the box though! The turbo sounds sick, even at light throttle it sounds like a jet taxing down the runway. The exhaust sound is 10x better than the old motor, its got a "crackle" and a "snap" to it now.
The transmission also feels great, shifts are firm and crisp and no sign of binding/slip. I installed an Alto 5-disc front clutch and replaced the end clutch as wells as the sun shell and kickdown band. I also modified the valve body a bit more.
I am running John Deere Hy-Guard this time.Total Comments 0
