Resolved 1G Check Engine Light Help

[mark 91 tsi]

I recently purchased a non running 91 TSI. I had it delivered today and started trouble shooting the system. Here is my novice question: can someone post a picture of your check engine light on? I am assuming mine is not coming on and I need to look at the ecu, but having never seen the car running I am not positive what symbol I should be looking for. Thanks for your help.

 

[steve]

It's #13 in this diagram. Kind of hard to miss because it says Check Engine.

 

[DSM1G90]

A "CEL" is about as bad as "the Blue Screen of Death" in the Windows World...

 

[mark 91 tsi]

Steve - Thanks for the image. I assumed it was a common symbol or the actual words, but wanted to make sure.

 

[SrKegler]

Thing to look for is to see if the boost guage moves to "0" when you turn the key on. If not the computer is dead.

 

[steve]

Right,
The bulb being burned out is only one possible cause of no CEL when you turn on the ignition. If the factory boost gauge doesn't more to 0 then the ECU's not running. High possibility of ECU damage but could also be a blown MPI fuse, blown Ignition fuse, problems with the ignition switch or wiring, etc.

 

[mark 91 tsi]

Thanks for the input everyone. I took the ECU out, opened it up and found a bad/leaking capacitor. The corrosion was so bad that it ate through a trace on the board. I jumpered the trace and replaced 2 capacitors. After that I put the ECU back in and it started right up.

 

[spooling hard]

Good to hear. A lot of people will meet the seller at an auto parts store to see if they can run the codes