# Need Help: Aba 2.0 OBD1 into a 1992 Cabriolet -Wiring Gurus come in.



## boostin05blacksti (Oct 31, 2008)

Hey guys Ive had it up to my head with the car and almost ready to throw in the towel. I've done many hours serching and asking people for help only to come up with to many answers and what seems like more headache. Heres the deal I got the car and wanted to swap, I talked to a local guy that was down for the project and suggest I do a merge of the stock harness and the ABA OBD1 engine harness. He did the wiring and spliced it all together and the car ran, but not well enough. We worked hard at figuring out the problem. I bought many new/used parts trying to fix the car and stop the problem. Here is a list of the parts/ things we tried so far:
Distribitor
Cap
Rotor
Wires
plugs
maf
o2 sensor
tested the coil
tested the alternator
many new plugs/sensor
water pump
all new gaskets
isv
cleaned isv
ecu
that just what is off the top of my head. Ill update with more as I think of it.
After trying many different things and the car still hestating and stalling out when it wants. Car is very unpredictable. Runs great sometimes other time just stalls and stalls and stalls. It runs really rough it seems like. I am relative new to vw and am still in the learning process. So I am trying to be as descriptive as I can.
So after all that I have decided to just go with what many people have said before which is to re-wire the whole car with a obd1 harness from an aba car. So I found one for sale and bought it. I got it in the mail yeasterday and got a chance to look at it tonight and match it up to my buddies car which is an aba obd1 car also. It donst seem to look the same to me and wanted to know whats the easiest way to tell if what I paid for is what I got...I can get pictures of anything please just let me know. I did take some pictures of what I think only obd1 cars have that obd2 cars do not, which is the isv valve right to the right of the intake manifold. My buddies car has 2 wires going to it which are one black/white strip and the other is solid white. I do not see this connector in my harness I just got.








There is this 3 plug connector that I can not identifiy








Another thing I noticed is that the main circle plug that going onto the side of the motor that connects the isv, injectors and 4 grounds to the block. The wires going into it have little numbers and the numbers 1,2,7 where blank. The harness I got has the numbers 1,4,7 blank. Heres some pictures:








Heres some stuff I couldnt match up and have no clue what it is.
















Heres a plug that I hope I dont need because its all messed up.
















Basically im out to figure out if the harness I bought is from a obd1 aba harness and trying to figure out what my next move is on the car...
pics for clicks..
















I just want to thank all the people that have helped me so far. 
Thanks for looking and the help, Steven 

_Modified by boostin05blacksti at 10:52 PM 7-9-2009_


_Modified by boostin05blacksti at 10:56 PM 7-9-2009_


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## boost is better (May 26, 2007)

That first pick of that harness with the yellow tube is a door harness. and that big black conector is for the rad fan.


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## boostin05blacksti (Oct 31, 2008)

So the door harness and the rad fan is together..?? I really need to figure out if what I got is a harness from an obd1 aba car...


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## boostin05blacksti (Oct 31, 2008)

anyone else wanna give me some input..?


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## BladesNet (Mar 29, 2001)

*Re: (boostin05blacksti)*

I did mine in a weird way, Full ABA on original CE1 digi-2 harness. plain and simple. Did the distributor mod required for aba bottom with 1.8 head, and added the throttle switches to an aba obd1 throttle.
Works charms. Planning on having an mk4 AEG intake modified to fit under the hood (since it`s 1.25" too tall) Goal is to keep the OEM airbox. (getting the most factory look as possible)
Throwing ideas since your aba harness looks pretty corodded.


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## boostin05blacksti (Oct 31, 2008)

obd1..? obd2..? what exactly did you change to make this work ..? please im me and I can call you if its easier..thanks steven


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## BladesNet (Mar 29, 2001)

*Re: (boostin05blacksti)*

I get a few picture of the same swap in a mk2. The logic is the same !








Throttle switch 








Digi-2 ISV








Digi-2 coolant sensor on ABA










_Modified by BladesNet at 5:57 PM 7-10-2009_


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## boostin05blacksti (Oct 31, 2008)

I got hold of a timing gun and checked the timing and it looks good to me. The car is still running rough at time and sounds like it is missing when I drive it and put load on it. While driving the car also hesatates at times, I can floor the gas and it does nothing. If any one else has some suggesrtion, things I can check please let me know. Thanks Steven


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## redzone98 (Jun 10, 2004)

*Re: (boostin05blacksti)*


_Quote, originally posted by *boostin05blacksti* »_I can floor the gas and it does nothing. If any one else has some suggesrtion, things I can check please let me know. Thanks Steven


almost sounds like you have a bad coil. what part of central NJ are you, maybe we can exchange info on this, since im in the middle of the same swap, in the same year car http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif 


_Modified by redzone98 at 1:33 PM 7-14-2009_


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## weener0000 (Mar 27, 2008)

*Re: (boostin05blacksti)*

hey man i will try and help....
first... it's a crossflow head on it so you are using the obd 1 ecu for that motor right? are you sure it's obd 1?
second... you are not using a newer style coil... i swapped out my coil in my digi 2 1.8 for the correct obd 1 aba coil. i heard it would not work, or not work well without it.
third... i added grounds from the coil to the engine block and that really helped with the hesitation issue i had.
hesitation can also be caused by a few other key things... you should use the serach to find some answers.
4th... have you tried replacing any sensors??
more details would be helpful...
good luck bro
weener0000 

















_Modified by weener0000 at 7:30 PM 7-14-2009_


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## weener0000 (Mar 27, 2008)

*Re: (boostin05blacksti)*

no man they are not in the same harness... try and separate it further and see what happens... take more pics of the harness... it looks to me like your missing a lot of what is necessary...
weener0000


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## boostin05blacksti (Oct 31, 2008)

*Re: (weener0000)*

hey man i will try and help....
first... it's a crossflow head on it so you are using the obd 1 ecu for that motor right? are you sure it's obd 1?
*I am using an obd1 ecu for it correct. I am almost possitive it is obd1. It has an icv valve on the left side of the motor.*
second... you are not using a newer style coil... i swapped out my coil in my digi 2 1.8 for the correct obd 1 aba coil. i heard it would not work, or not work well without it.
*I am using the digi 2 coil that was on my old 1.8l 8v. But I tried my buddies obd2 coil and still the same issues. So I dont belive that is it.*
third... i added grounds from the coil to the engine block and that really helped with the hesitation issue i had.
hesitation can also be caused by a few other key things... you should use the serach to find some answers.
*Hmmm.. this I need to try. I have serched alot in the offical swap but theres so much crap in there its ridiculous. I will run a ground and see what happens.*
4th... have you tried replacing any sensors??
*Yes I did replace the sensor in the radiator, all sensors in the plastic flange on the side of the head also.*
more details would be helpful...
*Just ask what you want to know and i will answer. I tried to be as descriptive as possible with everything. Its hard because the car has been down for so long and ive done/tried so much on it.*
good luck bro
weener0000 

*Thank you for all your help. Hopefully ill be one step closer to getting this thing on the road slammed and draggin ass. Thanks Steven







*


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## boostin05blacksti (Oct 31, 2008)

i will get more picture of it tomm night as I am on my way out at the moment.


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## weener0000 (Mar 27, 2008)

*Re: (boostin05blacksti)*

ok man... so you are running an obd 1 head? i am not very clear on this... it is 2.0 right?
if you are running an obd1 ecu than you must be running the head. please clarify...
have you replaced the O2 sensor? mine stalls out currently as I need to replace my O2 sensor bad. try unplugging it and taking it for a drive... see if that helps.
MAN! are you seriously running digi 2 sensors in an aba 2.0 head? i am not sure if they are the same part numbers but i highly doubt it!!!!! if you are running a 2.0 aba obd 1 head you MUST run the correct sensors as far as i know...
good luck man


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## boostin05blacksti (Oct 31, 2008)

*Re: (weener0000)*

ok man... so you are running an obd 1 head? i am not very clear on this... it is 2.0 right?
*Ok, I got a complete obd1 aba 2.0 8v the whole motor, sensors and engine wiring and ecu. My old engine harness has been merged with the aba engine harness and am running the aba ecu. got me. All sensors on the aba motor are from an aba motor.*
if you are running an obd1 ecu than you must be running the head. please clarify...
*I am running both aba head and aba obd1 ecu. *
have you replaced the O2 sensor? mine stalls out currently as I need to replace my O2 sensor bad. try unplugging it and taking it for a drive... see if that helps.
*I have already replaced the o2 sensor. I unpluged it also and no difference.*
MAN! are you seriously running digi 2 sensors in an aba 2.0 head? i am not sure if they are the same part numbers but i highly doubt it!!!!! if you are running a 2.0 aba obd 1 head you MUST run the correct sensors as far as i know...
* I am running all the correct aba sensors. All my sensors are for an obd1 aba motor just like it came from the factory.*
good luck man
*Thats the problem I have bad luck..haha. Seriously thank you for helping. Also if it is easier for you to call me and try to go over it I can clarify must better over the phone. 609-381-0182 I get out of work at 530 every day during the week and any time after that is fine. Weekends any time. Thanks Steven







*


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## weener0000 (Mar 27, 2008)

*Re: (boostin05blacksti)*

have you searched to verify that the digi 2 coil will work for this application?
i'd start there. just because it is making spark doesn't mean it's making enough... or at the right time.. blah blah...
fuel filter been changed? 
i don't know much about ce 1 stuff... sounds to me like you should wire up a check engine light and flash some codes... see what the fark is going on man!
let me know and i'll see if i can help any more
weener0000


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## boostin05blacksti (Oct 31, 2008)

*Re: (weener0000)*

have you searched to verify that the digi 2 coil will work for this application?
i'd start there. just because it is making spark doesn't mean it's making enough... or at the right time.. blah blah...
*This I am not sure about. I will check into it or mabye someone else can chime in.*
fuel filter been changed? 
i don't know much about ce 1 stuff... sounds to me like you should wire up a check engine light and flash some codes... see what the fark is going on man!
*The fuel filter has been changed. The car was scanned and comes up with nothing. So no luck there.*
let me know and i'll see if i can help any more
*you da man. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif *


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## weener0000 (Mar 27, 2008)

*Re: (boostin05blacksti)*

i had strange issues with my swap at first too. however mine was due to fueling issues. it turns out i'd pinched a hose a little too much and fuel wasn't getting thru fast enough...
CHECK YOUR FUEL FLOW! 
good luck man
weener0000


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