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Let Car Idling For 7 Hours

Chogokin

Chogokin

Autocross Champion
Location
So Cal
Car(s)
GTI Sport | Audi A3
Ton said:
Well. It was fun. I hope everyone had a blast, I know I sure did. I vow to eliminate all tomfoolery from my life and get my shit together. No more extended idling.

For posterity and for anyone who has a similar problem, the solution:

2 underhood relays were toasted. Relay "644" and "645." The resistors inside are supposed to be 560 ohms. Mine measured unstable in the 50-70 range. I replaced the relays and the car runs. I put back the old relays and it doesn't. So I'm quite sure it is the relays. I was thinking of asking Scotty but he would just tell me VWs are endless money pits (as they age) and laugh at me.

Relays were 50 something each at the stealer. I could have found the them cheaper but I couldn't wait for delivery.

Thanks and good day.
Click to expand...

What led you to checking the relays?
 
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Ton

Go Kart Newbie
Location
U.S.
Chogokin said:
What led you to checking the relays?
Click to expand...
I've been watching South Main Auto Repair and was thankfully in the correct mindset. The moment I came upon the idling car I thought, "great, what's going to be screwed." I smelled hot stuff. Not total burning. But definitely hot. The hood was very warm. So I worried about affected or melted parts. I drove off slowly and went for about 20 minutes. It smelled better when I got back.

Next morning when it wouldn't start I went through the basics. It appeared there was no spark OR fuel. There was fuel in the rail under pressure so I was thinking that the Injectors weren't being commanded. There was also the p0657 code actuator supply voltage A code. Someone mentioned this could mean a voltage problem.

So I was really wedded to heat damaging something. I was worried it was the ECU but being able to get some OBD11 data, I was hopeful it wasn't. So I'm thinking it's a power issue in the form of fuse, relay, wire, connector.

Being generally lazy and hoping for a quick fix, I went at fuses first. No dice. I started pulling relays to test and then stopped for the night. Before bed I was poking around the web to see what each relay does. I found this gem.


Now I'm extremely hopeful. This morning I tested the relays and found two dead. Replaced and boom. All good.

Now I'm writing a personal thanks to the man in that YouTube video and Jesus himself. I appeared to have dodged an expensive bullet
 
Chogokin

Chogokin

Autocross Champion
Location
So Cal
Car(s)
GTI Sport | Audi A3
That's a great bit of detective work. I had a Corrado that had a bucking issue at low speeds. It turned out to be the fuel pump relay. It took forever to get to that point.
 
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hans611

hans611

Lost
Location
Miami
Car(s)
'16 Golf R 6MT
Does anyone have a theory as to why the relays broke because of the car idling for a few hours? they are in the fuse box and shouldn't get any hotter than the rest of the components....

My mother once left her 428i with the N20 (similar motor to ours) idling for like 4-5h and nothing happened to it, I would think nothing should happen... specially outside at a chilly 45 degrees, not in the middle of summer in Miami as it happened to the BMW....

That youtube channel has helped me before too lol
 
nok513

nok513

Autocross Champion
Location
Orange County, NY
Car(s)
2020 VW GTI S
Ton said:
We got back from the store. I was going to swing inside, feed the dogs lunch then go to Autozone. I got a phone call and completely spaced on the fact that it was running. 7pm I decide to finally go to Autozone.
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Happens to the best of us. I left my car "on", not running, because I had my VAGCOM running with my laptop. It was taking a while for the FW to download/install so I went upstairs and got caught up with work. Came down a few hours later and it just so happened I went to throw out a bottle into the recycling bin and saw the car with hood open, DRL's on. Totally forgot about it, but luckily I had my battery tender on it.
 
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Ton

Go Kart Newbie
Location
U.S.
hans611 said:
Does anyone have a theory as to why the relays broke because of the car idling for a few hours? they are in the fuse box and shouldn't get any hotter than the rest of the components....

My mother once left her 428i with the N20 (similar motor to ours) idling for like 4-5h and nothing happened to it, I would think nothing should happen... specially outside at a chilly 45 degrees, not in the middle of summer in Miami as it happened to the BMW....

That youtube channel has helped me before too lol
Click to expand...
These relays have resitors in them as part of the circuit for various reasons. Resitors don't like heat in general.The car is also 8 years old. In the best circumstances resitors will lose tolerance over time. I just cooked them.

It's interesting to note that there's two relays with the same resitor. Both of them failed. The relays would click. But with the resitors failed the circuit is incorrect.

The other relays were okay. But they were about 15% off value. The resitors in them are supposed to be 1% tolerance. Who knows though. Probably doesn't matter, maybe they were always like this. I'm sure Volkswagen isn't using military grade components for relays made in Portugal.
 
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