Stopped by the PnP today and grabbed a few things. I was looking for a specific relay but didn't have any luck. It's the relay that allows for programmable intermittent wiper speeds.

Got an AEB throttle body to resell, some relay plugs, a relay, a new brake fluid reservoir cap, and a couple fender screws and bleeder valve caps.

I picked up a can of rustoleum flat black paint to spray my lower grilles, they're looking a little rough. Got some new stainless hardware for my fog lights and a couple paint brushes for when I do my calipers/carriers.

 

I forgot to mention that I ordered a "russian" dash cam. i drive my car as a make-shift taxi on friday/saturday nights through a ridesharing app called Sidecar. I've given over 750 rides in my car and had close to 1400 people ride in it over the last year. I've seen a lot of crazy **** like when a homeless guy tried to peg a guy on a moped with his shopping cart (while going 30mph.)

The camera will be good for liability purposes as well as entertainment. It can record up to 1080p (or 720p) with a 120 degree field of view. And it cost a whopping $50 shipped from China. Yay!

Unfortunately I had to order a new micro SD card to go with it. Got a Sandisk 32gb class 10 card for $25. Should allow me to record ~6 hours of video before it starts looping.

I got the G1W camera.



G1W | Dash Cam Talk

 

Oh glorious day!!! I do believe I found the source of my speedometer woes.

I started by checking continuity of the wire going from the VSS to the cluster, all was well. Next step was to check the connections within the cluster to see if the signal was passing from the blue plug to the yellow plug. I pulled out the cluster.

All looks fine and dandy...



Wait a minute..whats that?!?



Cheeky bastard!! Could that possibly be the pin for the VSS? Yes it is, T26/6, blue/white wire that goes out to the CC module and ECU.

Now, is it merely a coincidence that the green paint you see there is right next to my bent pin? That green paint is from the pick n pull when I pulled the cluster. The only thing I can imagine is that the paint pen slightly bent that pin. All was well for a number of months until the last time I pulled the cluster when I did my big rewire. It must have got shoved over when I plugged in the yellow plug last time.

I bent it back into place and made sure it was as straight as could be with a magnifying glass.

What I can't figure out is what pin it was shorted to. It was touching the opposite pin, #22. However I couldn't see pin 22 in the wiring diagram for the cluster processor. The wire is brown, so maybe it's just a ground.

I haven't driven the car yet since I've got the bumper off for realignment while I replace the fog light hardware. Tomorrow I'll give it a run and hope for the best. I cleared the vehicle speed signal implausible code tonight for hopefully the last time.

So after months of having the CEL on and a speedometer that worked 1% of the time, $100 in parts, at least 15 hours of diagnosis/labor, the fix took 5 minutes...

In other news, I pulled the lower grilles, sanded out all the rock chips and painted them. So far they look great, the color is a perfect match to OEM.

 

Congratulations on that discovery! It's always the worst trying to diagnose something like that. For me it was the 034 billet PCV valve sticking, causing my engine to have an inconsistent idle (think I threw more than $300 at that problem...).

Keep up the good work

 

Thanks. I just really hope that was the problem, don't see how it couldn't be though.

What kind of irregular idle were you getting?

 

The idle would float up and stay there for a little while, and sometimes it would be okay. I changed/checked almost everything attached to any vacuum sources, and swapping out the 034 billet PCV valve for an OEM one fixed the problem!

 

Like...driving along at 3k. Get off the gas, revs drop to say 1400 then slowly creep down to normal idle?

Because that is exactly what my car is doing now. I've got the billet check valve installed.

 

It's been a while, but that sounds pretty similar.

I know the PCV valve is a PITA to access, but if you've got the original plastic PCV valve it's worth the 30mins to throw in and try out. Or if you don't have it, find one from a pick-and-pull. I'll be curious to hear the results!

 

Bah, not that hard to get to since all the connections will be loose (not caked with grime.)

Today I restored my fog lights. I used a pneumatic right angle random orbit sander and went 60-80-120-220-320-600-1000-1500. I followed that up with the little sanding pads and compound from a Turtle Wax restoration kit I picked up for $8. All that was followed by the included base coat and sealant.

Before:





After:







The sealant is still drying, so hopefully they stay looking that clear once it dries.

 

I spoke too soon and now I'm paying for it. My speedometer still doesn't work. I'm truly at a loss now. I'm ready to set this car on fire.

The sensor is new, the magnetic ring is new. A cluster output test shows the speedometer making its full sweep.

I hooked up vag com and it showed 0 km/h for the speed. I switched the HVAC unit to display vehicle speed and it also shows 0 km/h.

I swapped ECUs with no change in readings.

I double checked and the speed sensor is indeed plugged in. (I unplugged it to check wire continuity. I only checked the signal wire, not the ground though...)

On a slightly different but kind of connected note..

I pulled the cruise control module to take a look at it, all the solder joints look fine. Also, my module doesn't have the "little red capacitors" as shown in some of the articles about fixing the module. If I can muster the mental energy I'll test the plug outputs tonight. Not that I think that will fix my speedometer woes, but should confirm that I need a new headlight switch (which I already have to replace since activating my left turn signal turns on the high beams. )