Ignition Control Module

[Lima]

I don't suppose anyone has one of these lying around they don't need, haha...

Ignition Control Module (part # 211905351D)



I'm having severe intermittent spark issues and, hopefully, this is the cause.

[h100vw]

I am sure you'll find one but make sure the rest of the wiring is good too.

Gavin

[Peter Jones]

Same as JD Camira Try your local wrecker. Quite a few cars used these, they're not VW specific.

Pete

[Lima]

Yeah, Mick and I have spent a bit of time with a multimeter, switching fuse boxes and a number of other things. The TCI/ignition control module is about the only thing we have left to try.

Only other thing it could be is the ignition switch, but we had a look at that today and it looked in good condition...

[Lima]

Same as JD Camira Try your local wrecker. Quite a few cars used these, they're not VW specific.

Pete

Cool, thanks for that tip.

[roccodingo]

Same as JD Camira Try your local wrecker. Quite a few cars used these, they're not VW specific.

Pete

SAAB, Audi, volvo.

[mikinoz]

Only other thing it could be is the ignition switch, but we had a look at that today and it looked in good condition...

Replacing the ignition switch may increase the speed of your wipers though.

Now I have my own issue with the car not winding the starter over fast enough, bump started it 5 times on the way home!

[dubai gti]

Replacing the ignition switch may increase the speed of your wipers though.

Now I have my own issue with the car not winding the starter over fast enough, bump started it 5 times on the way home!

try a Mk 1 diesel or Mk 3 starter and you'll never look back ! (i've got a diesel one on my high-comp. motor)

[dubai gti]

Here's an ignition module on UK ebay, currently @ 99p:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VW-GOLF-MK1-GTi-CABRIO-IGNITION-MODULE_W0QQitemZ160390267599QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM?hash=item25580142cf

[Lima]

Here's an ignition module on UK ebay, currently @ 99p:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VW-GOLF-MK1-GT...item25580142cf

Thanks, although the part numbers don't match.

[mikinoz]

try a Mk 1 diesel or Mk 3 starter and you'll never look back ! (i've got a diesel one on my high-comp. motor)

Not meaning to hijack but I fitted a known good starter from my old mki. Are you suggesting the high comp is the issue?

You had steve call around yet Liam?

[roccodingo]

Thanks, although the part numbers don't match.

*** 905 351, it will fit.

[Lima]

Thanks. I have it listed in my watched items. Hopefully I can find one sooner than that though.

[Lima]

You had steve call around yet Liam?

Not yet, should be able to meet up later today.

Fingers crossed.

[Lima]

I'm having severe intermittent spark issues and, hopefully, this is the cause.

Hmm, as it turns out I was able to borrow a module from Steve's Mk2 (same part number and all, bonus!)...

...anyway, it made no difference. I tried it a few times and the car showed no signs of starting. So I swapped it back for my original part.

Then, to cut a long story short, I got the car started and after a bit more persistence it began starting the best and strongest it has since I've owned the car.



Now for the long version (and it is long, sorry)...

Since getting the car I have experienced starting issues of varying degrees of frustration.

At first it seemed as though the fuel pump relay was faulty and after sourcing a new one the car started with some semblance of reliability, although it has never been 100% reliable.

There is/was also a bit of a knack required to starting the car and after a while I became confident I could work around the car's idiosyncrasies. So, while the car was difficult to start I was generally able to get going without too many dramas.

A couple of weeks ago I went for a drive and after about 5-10 minutes at the tacho needle went dead and the car just cut out completely. I was able to roll off the road into a side alley, so I was at least out of harm's way.

I tried starting the car again and it would kick into life about one in every two starts. However, when it did start the car would cut out and die within seconds of restarting, it just wouldn't idle.

Luckily I wasn't too far from where I live and I managed to get home by keeping the revs up manually.

Once I was home I tried starting the car again and, nothing. The times it would start I could no longer hold the revs up for any more than 10-15 seconds. The car would just cut out.

I left the car for a few days and came back to it. I managed to start it up within a few goes and the car idled for a few minutes before it cut out. Once again after this point I couldn't get the car to fire. Aaaarrrgh!!!

On boxing day Mick and I looked over the car starting with the fuse box. Everything looked mostly in order, we just tidied things up and replaced the near burnt out #8 pin from the A loom which plugs into the back of the fuse box. Once that was all done the car fired up within a couple of starts. Hey presto, we thought, that dodgy wire (which is connected to the fuel pump relay) looked to be the problem.

So, I went for a quick spin around the block and came back and let the car idle for a bit. After 10 minutes or so the car cut out again. This time, though, it just wouldn't fire back into life. Not even any signs of life.

We ran a multimeter over the coil (all good), checked the dissy (all looked okay) and heaps of other things and there were no obvious signs as to why the car wouldn't kick over.

I can't recall the exact order of things, but I do know we checked for spark and it seemed okay. However, when checking to make sure the injectors were getting fuel there was no joy.

We fiddled around with a few things and checked for spark and fuel to the injectors again. Haha, this time there was no spark but heaps of fuel.

We had already been faffing about for a few hours so we called it a day.

The next day we tried a fuel pump relay mod, which we hoped would solve some issues ... we were sadly mistaken.

I have acquired a couple of old fuse boxes, so we thought maybe there is a gremlin in the fuse box in my car, so we swapped everything over to a new donor fuse box and... made no difference. So we then swapped everything back to the original fuse box in the hope that plugging everything back might prove fruitful... no.

The fuel pump was firing into life so we again checked for spark and found there was nothing doing. Call it a day and try to find an alternate ignition module to test was going to be our next plan of attack. We pushed the car back into the garage and, for sh*&ts and giggles I thought I'd try her one more time. It fired up immediately (no struggling into life like it normally does), but it also cut out about 2 seconds later. I tried starting the car a few more times and there wasn't even any sign it would come to life.

Now, full circle, back to trying Steve's ignition control module. As I said this didn't work but because I am a glutton for punishment I just kept trying to kick the car over. After a few goes, for some inexplicable reason, the car started. It idled beautifully without intervention from me for about a minute. I tried blipping the throttle a bit and as soon as I pressed on the pedal the car died on me.

So, I tried firing up again and while it did cut out a few times the car was at least showing good signs of wanting to start. It probably only took 3-4 attempts before the car started and idled, again without intervention. It was running really smoothly actually.

All these starting attempts were giving the battery a bit of a beating as you can imagine so I thought I'll just let the car idle for as long as it can. After about 5 minutes I blipped the throttle and the car settled back to idle nice and gently, just as you would normally expect. Over ten minutes had passed and I was called in for dinner so I switched the car off...

...it would have been 30 minutes or so later when I came back to the car and it fired up sweeter than it ever has while I've owned it. I let it idle again for a few more minutes. Then I thought I'll go and get some fuel, so I turned off the car and went to get my phone, house keys etc. Came back to the car and, again, it started with total reliability. I was bit nervous the car might cut out on me crossing an intersection or something like that but I made the 3km trip to the servo with no problems. Filled up the car, got back in and she started straight away and I got home with no dramas.

Since then, at varying time intervals, I have started the car about 5-6 times. The first couple of times the car started no worries. The next time, about 90 minutes later, I needed to give a tiny squirt on the gas pedal and then the car settled into a nice idle just like before. I let it run for a bit, switched it off and it started a minute or so later with no probs. I let the car sit for another 5 minutes or so and, again, she fired up with great confidence.

So, that leaves the question, why is this car so consistent at being inconsistent with starting up? Yesterday, except for that tiny flutter, the car showed zero signs of starting up. Today, after plenty of failed attempts, for no apparent reason the car began to start reliably??? Apart from swapping over the ignition module nothing else had changed from yesterday.

There must be an electrical gremlin in there somewhere, the most obvious place is the ignition barrel I guess, but if anyone else has been patient enough to read this post and can come up with a theory I would love to hear it.

Cheers
Liam