I just got a '93 SLC (Satin Silver w/ Black Leather, made 9/92 in Germany, I love it.) and I wanted to blink out the DTC's (fault codes) per Bentley and Club web page. After scouring the archives, scrutinizing Bentley, and popping the Brake/ABS light cluster out of my dash, it became obvious that there is NO check engine light in my car (the attached archive postings below confirm this). Also, the Bentley wiring diagram incorrectly labels the ABS lamp as the Malfunction Indicator Lamp (MIL) (Volkswagenese for check engine light), but correctly shows the MIL wire as not being connected to the cluster component, terminal 6. (This is the diagram for '92 and '93 models made in '92. Roughly page 95 in my manual).
NEITHER THE BRAKE NOR THE ABS LAMP BLINK OUT ECM DTC CODES!
The ECM just merrily blinks the codes out on the unconnected MIL wire. Fortunately, VW did route the MIL wire to the cluster connector. My GUESS is that the 3 lamp cluster component wasn't ready for installation when the made-in-92 93 models were ready to roll off the line. So, rather than delay production, VW slapped in the two lamp jobby.
So, if you want to blink out the codes on your '92.5 Corrado, it seems that you have two basic choices (barring any telepathic links you may have formed with your ECM):
1) You can go to your friendly Volkswagen dealer and tell them that you want to trade several gold bars for approx. $1.83 worth of light bulbs, diodes, resistors, and a transistor mounted on a cheap PC board and enclosed in an attractive cluster. Then take that puppy home and pop it into your dash. You now have a check engine light (excuse me, I mean MIL) and you can follow the Bentley jumper wire procedure. (You may be down a couple of gold bars but believe me, you saved a lot of farting around.)
or
2) You can do what I did: connect an LED and a resistor (about 660 Ohms +/- 100) to Terminals 4 and 6 on the brake/abs lamp cluster connector and do the Bentley jumper wire thing.
The positive LED side goes to Terminal 4 (black wire), the negative LED side goes to the resistor which goes to Terminal 6 (yellow/black wire). Let me know if you need a schematic diagram for this.
This solution has one slight caveat. The ECM draws a miniscule amount of current through the MIL. This is not enough to light up the incandescent bulb in the factory cluster, but it will give your LED the faintest glow when it is in the "off" state. This is just a side effect of using a more sensitive component and it won't hurt anything.
I actually spliced wires into the harness (Oh my God! It's not stock anymore!) and permanently mounted the LED in a discreet location on the dash. Now, when the ECM is pissed about something, I'll know it. (The previous owner had been driving around, for God knows how long, with a busted O2 sensor wire. Duh, no wonder she was idling rough.)
Speaking of busted O2 sensor wires, I looked at one other '93 SLC before buying this one and noticed that it had a splice in the same O2 sensor wire that I had to repair on my car (no it wasn't a 1 or 3 wire sensor mod). If you have a '93 or '92.5, you may want to check the wires coming up from down under near the firewall on the passenger side of the car. Not only was one of my O2 sensor wires broken, but the insulation on the O2 filament wire was hard, brittle and falling apart, exposing bare copper. It may be too hot down there for the insulation used on those wires. Remember, when the wire breaks on your '92.5, your ECM can only notify you by using mental telepathy! (Or the dealer can use their diagnostics. Don't get me started!)
Thanks for your patience with this long winded message. I hope it helps someone out.
Andy Ellis
Madison, Wisconsin
'93 ('92.5!) Satin Silver w/ Black Leather SLC, no mods yet
P.S. I got the following "check engine" light posting from the corrado-club e-mail archives:
Date: Sat, 21 Dec 1996 18:33:27 -0500 (EST) From: Robert Brown Subject: Re: Fault Code Test Light
Neither of my 93 SLC's had the check engine light. I belive they were effectively created in cars built after a specific date, alas something like a 93 1/2 feature. Both of my 93 were made in 92. My friends 93's made in 93 had the light.
- -Robert Columbus, Ohio
On Sat, 21 Dec 1996, Rossato, Bob HSD wrote:
I need to check a fault code in my VR6, but don't seem to have the test light that supposedly comes with the cars. Does anyone? Has anyone ever actually read the fault codes using a test light? Was it just like the manual says?
You actually *do* have the fault code light, in the SLC/VR6, it is the check engine light. If you lift up the shift boot, you will find 2 or 3
Not all SLC's have a "check engine" light. I have a '93 SLC and only a Brake/ABS light cluster. The Bentley manual shows a 3 light cluster with Brake/ABS/Check Engine (not necessarily in that order) but I have a feeling that may only be on the CA cars. Can anybody else verify this? Does anybody know if the Brake/ABS lights are used to flash the fault codes on the SLC's without a "check engine" light?
Bob
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