AreExSeven

I've started it up before, but it only ran for 2 mins or so. I had a vacuum leak for a while causing it to die, then I found out my radiator leaked once I fixed that. Well, now its all fixed and I let it sit there and idle.

It was going for about 15 mins, when all the warning lights came on, and its started to buzz. So I killed it. I waited for it to cool down and found the coolant was low (had sucked some into the engine once thermostat opened). I filled that back up, started her up and she ran again for about 10 mins. This time the lights came on, but no buzzer. Then they kept coming on and off like every 30 seconds. All of em were on, including hatch, door, ebrake, etc (all of which I knew were closed and off, expect ebrake). Anyone have any idea whats causing it to do this?

Its having trouble with the idle too. First time I started it up today, it kept going back and forth between about 750 and 2000. Now it seems to be calming down a little bit, but is still going from between about 1100 and 1500 (which seems kinda high). Is this just the engine breaking in and gaining compression?

Other thing is, I have a Koyo Radiator, and Perma Cool fan, which I turned on before I even started the engine. The stock temp guage is showing temps between about 1/3 of the way and 1/2 of the way up. Is this a safe temp?

Thanks guys!

Scott 89t2

all the lights comming on is a alternator warning... is your belt tight? all the wires are right?

89-91's run at 1/2 way

AreExSeven

Ok, good to hear about the 1/2

Well, I have a dual belt pulley on there. Heres the thing though. 6 months ago, when the car went down, I was in the process of putting a new alt on there. I ordered the one, and they gave it to me, but it was an N/A alt (I knew because the connector was pointing up instead of to the side, so it hit the IC). So I went back and told em and they told me all they could get was the N/A ones for some reason So I modified it to fit in my car so I would at least have something until I got a real one. Well it is still that same alt in there now, could that be the cause of my problem? (probably)

Rpeck

Thats a general statement.

What range thermostat did you buy? when I went to get a thermo they had; 165 180 & 195? (or somthing like that) degrees all for my car. I went for the middle one. Plus with a aftermarket radaitor it should automaticlly run somewhat cooler. So i think your running temp will be based on your thermostat selection more than anything. My S4 has not gone over 1/3 .. infact closer to 1/4 in the first 700 ish miles I have put on it. Just be carefull, i'm not sure about how S5's work .. Scott maybee right .. but in all the break in procedures I have read they say do NOT let them get over 1/2 during any part of the breakin.

Scott 89t2

the S5 sit in the middle.. they suck. my aftermarket one can go from 160 - 220 and the stock gauge still sits in the middle...

S4 sit at 1/4 or so.

Rpeck

Ahh, i gotcha. Your saying the guage sucks... it's not engine temp related? right.

Scott 89t2

ya... it sits at C when it's cold. and slowly moves up to the middle as it warms I hear it starts to move towards the H around 250 LOL...

Cheers!

if its at H you are F***ed

hypntyz7

He is right. The s4 gauges are somewhat reliable and are sorta linear and accurate in the midrange anyway. When climbing a large hill you can actually watch it rise, and when you descend on the other sid eyou can watch it fall.

Rumor has it that the dealerships had problems with people bringing in new s4 7's complaining of running warm when it was just the gauge being accurate as described above. So in 89 they redesigned it to be less accurate on purpose...the s5 gauge has 3 positions. Cold(bottom), normal(1/2 exactly), and rebuild(H).

The warning lights signal a voltage problem, get a dmm out and monitor what's going on. Sometimes if a car sits for an extended period of time, youll have some electrical gremlins when you go back to it, namely the idiot cluster and CPU, but this is more on s4's than anything.

The hunting idle is normal for a fresh rebuild unless it got new housings. You can usually get them to stay fairly steady around 1000-1200 the first few days, but dont expect them to be very strong or very smooth at all. A bit of hard starting can be normal too. The more it runs, the better it'll get. Expect big improvements by 1500 miles. Dont bother getting your idle and TPS perfect right now; if you do, youll be adjusting and readjusting many times during breakin. Just get it running acceptably, drive the **** out of it, and closer to 1500 miles do readjustments, you should only need to do it once or twice then. OTherwise youll adjust everyday, as compression rises everyday for a while.

AreExSeven

Ok, so my temp is safe and my idle is ok for now.

Back to the voltage. I do have a alternator from an N/A in there that I modified to fit. Does the N/A alt have a lower output than the TII which would cause this problem?

hypntyz7

I think as far as stock, the t2 might have 10 more amps, or it might not, either way I wouldnt worry about it. I have a s5 NA alt. on my s4 t2 ands it puts out roughly 14.5vdc at all times with all accessories on. You're totally safe there, provided it is hooked up properly and is charging. Get out a digital voltmeter and do some checking. COuld be a bad connection or bad ground anywhere on the car tool..battery cables, terminals, or starter power or engine block ground.

AreExSeven

Ok.

So to test it I would put the DMM on the arm coming from the alt and the negative terminal?

hypntyz7

Id do many tests in the car. Start at the battery when not running, should be 12-13vdc. Start the car and watch, should rise to 13vdc+ at least. Then check at the atlernator output, to see if there is any voltage drop between the alternator and battery(less than .2vdc is acceptable). Same test for starter power supply, and ohm out the main engine ground(by the starter) as well, should see les than 1 ohm between battery negative and engine ground. IF there are many voltage drops/resistance spikes, then clean those connections or get new terminals/cables. A complete charging system overhaul can be done for less then 50 bucks, my car used to never go over 12.7vdc now it never drops below 13.8 under heavy electrical load.

IF youre getting and keeping full voltage in those places all the time, then you have a wiring problem(inside car most likely) or more likely a cpu problem.

AreExSeven

Ok, I'll try that out tomorrow

AreExSeven

Sorry to bring this one back from the dead but I did those tests:

Battery when off is 12.5 or so VDC
When car is on, battery is 13.5 VDC
Alt to battery (neg terminal) is about 13.75 (more than just battery?)
Starter ground to Negative terminal 0 Ohms Resitance (can that be right?)
My multimeter can't reach from the starter power wire all the way to the batt, so I'm just guessing that one would be no problem, since the rest are fine.

All these tests were done with the elctric fan OFF (didn't wanna chop up my little fingers in there)
Any other suggestions?

hypntyz7

Its prolly a cpu or idiot cluster problem then, and not an actual charging problem.