did not startup after fueling!!

tha vwkid

Active member
Joined
Mar 11, 2007
Location
Seattle, Washington
TDI
2010 VW GOLF 2DR
So early Monday morning on the way home from the festivities, I stopped to fill up. She has been a dream.. (well aside from some ass hitting me and doing five grand in damages, but thats another story) ..so I have had no engine issues for the six months I've owned her. Roadside assistance had someone come to jump me even though I told them I needed a tow cause it was turning over, (all my electrical was working, hello I was using the bluetooth to talk to them!) who is VW outsourcing this to by the way?! So when it finally gets to the dealership later that day, it still is a no go. They got to it the next morning and it fired up just fine, guy said the computer logged no faults, ***?! Any idea's?
Im about a tank away from hitting five thousand miles, are you guys changing your oil early or waiting till the recommended ten? few service guys from the dealership are saying they would do five, heard a mech say to wait for ten tho.. I'm not mechanically savvy though, so please do tell!
 

Fixmy59bug

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2009
Location
Las Vegas, NV
TDI
2015 Passat TDI SE
Hmmmm. No fault no starts are pretty tough to diagnose when it starts later, especially considering how new the car is.

As far as the oil change, Go by what the owners manual says. Wait until 10K. Most of the time the engineers know what they are doing. The dealership who says 5K on the new TDI's is just trying to make a little more money. They CAN NOT void your warranty or deny a warranty claim (should something happen) because you were following the OCI that is in the manual. Unless they have hard proof that Vw revised it. In which case they vw would have been required to send an owners manual suppliment to each and every owner.

If the dealership insists that the oil should be changed at 5K, have them print out the maintenance schedule and show you where it says 5K.
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
Poeple noticed some winter starting odditiys last year. It seemed everything electrically was fine except the ECU thought otherwise and wouldn't crank over and left no MIL or codes thrown. My personal thought was mostiure/frost building up on the MAF durring cold runs then heated up and condensed and caused the ECU to freak out.

Thowing out a long shot, what's the humidity in your area right now? I know we've had a killer heat wave over here, not sure if you guys are having a bit of rain?
 

tha vwkid

Active member
Joined
Mar 11, 2007
Location
Seattle, Washington
TDI
2010 VW GOLF 2DR
I had been on E for about twenty miles or so..

So I guess I'm just gonna wait till ten, no argument from me, dont mind saving the extra $$ as long as it doesn't hurt her.

Our fourth was a bit cloudy, but no rain.. its been warm here (for seattle) so 70-80s.
 

Moltenburn

Veteran Member
Joined
May 28, 2010
Location
Denver
TDI
2013 B7 Passat 2.0 TDI
I had been on E for about twenty miles or so.. .

This sounds like the issue right here. Even though a car will let you run it till empty, never ever do it. When the tank gets low on fuel the fuel pump has to work extra hard to suck the remaining reminants out. You should always fill up before you get to E. I wait till my light comes on and the range on the MFI reads no less then 25miles to go.

Sounds like you might have shocked your fuel pump and it kicked back on after a day of no use. Seriously people watch your a-s-s on these things.:eek:
 

back2vw

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2010
Location
Oregon
TDI
2010 Golf TDI, 2016 Jetta GLI SEL
With a 600 mile range you guys are waiting until the fuel light is on?
I always try to fill up at half a tank. Have you ever had a midnight call from a friend or family member in an emergency? It's hardly the time you want to make a stop for fuel.

I also think that the fuel pump is probably sitting on the bottom of the tank. Keeping at least 1/4 tank of fuel would help keep the pump cool.
 

vw_leadfoot

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2010
Location
GTA, Ontario
TDI
2010 Golf TDI Wagen
....Have you ever had a midnight call from a friend or family member in an emergency? It's hardly the time you want to make a stop for fuel.
If you're from the North East, remember the Blackout of 2003? Always keep her topped up......:rolleyes:
 

back2vw

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2010
Location
Oregon
TDI
2010 Golf TDI, 2016 Jetta GLI SEL
Two winters ago we had a big ice storm and lost power for a couple of weeks, and the temps were in the single digits. I was glad to have a full tank in my truck and five gallons in the garage.
 

Moccasin

Active member
Joined
Apr 16, 2010
Location
Boston
TDI
2010 Golf TDI
I had been on E for about twenty miles or so..
That's why I asked. I had my Golf shipped to me from an out of state dealer. Much to my chagrin, they shipped it with NO fuel in it. Half of a gallon at best. I had to drive a couple of miles to the nearest diesel station, and mere minutes after owning my car it wouldn't start. I freaked out and almost called roadside assistance when I said to myself, let me see what happens if I blip the throttle when trying to turn it over. Sure enough, it fired right up. I think folks are right to recommend not running it all the way to E, but maybe next time try blipping the throttle?
 

securityguy

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2009
Location
Virginia
TDI
2009 Jetta TDI Sedan
I never understood why anyone would ever knowingly place themselves in this position. 1/4 tank at least and it's time to refuel. Do you like living dangerously and on the edge:confused: Doesn't sound these cars like it much:(
 

RomanL

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2008
Location
Denver, CO
TDI
'10 GOLF TDI
I never understood why anyone would ever knowingly place themselves in this position. 1/4 tank at least and it's time to refuel. Do you like living dangerously and on the edge:confused: Doesn't sound these cars like it much:(
Because on these cars 1/4 tank is another 120-150miles. That's more the 3 days of average rt commute to work for most Americans. Long road trip in the mddle of nowhere is a different story.
Someone said to fill up at half tank in case of emergency? Really when was the last time you got a call to drive 300 miles (1/2 tank) and not have 4 min to stop for more gas.
I got the car for those 550-650 tanks and not having to stop as often.
When my light goes on (1.9 gallons I believe is reserve?) that's another 80 miles with my average. Plenty of time to find a station
 

back2vw

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2010
Location
Oregon
TDI
2010 Golf TDI, 2016 Jetta GLI SEL
Well obviously it's different for each person and each situation. I was mostly referring to my truck, that I LIKE to refuel around 1/2 tank although I don't always. A 1/4 tank of gas in my truck doesn't get me that far, and I live in a rural area. Not the concrete jungle that is socal. My drive to work is around 35 miles on a country road, and 35 miles back. I work on call, when my phone rings I grab my **** and go. Leaving myself in a position where I would need to stop and get fuel on the way (or back) would be retarded for me. There are still plenty of places here that are pay inside only, closed at night. Driving along a nearly deserted road with no gas stations nearby, staring at your gas light isn't my idea of fun.

In Oregon, I often went to see friends/family all over the state through mountain and desert roads. Several times I've taken the truck far into the mountains late at night to rescue a friends broken or stuck vehicle. Finding an open gas station (no self serve in Oregon) at night isn't always easy. Having to back track to find fuel is less than ideal as well.
Or on another occasion where my best friend was nearly killed in a motorcycle accident 150 miles away, and his wife needed support as he was still unconscious. Not the time you want to have to stop and think about fuel.
It also wasn't uncommon to have storms where I grew up that left the place without power for several days, and the towns were somewhat isolated. The storms that brought powerlines down generally closed roads with fallen trees. It was always good to have fuel and be able to help friends and family when they needed it, instead of hunkering down and worrying about having enough fuel to last.

I could not care less if other people want to run their cars to empty, except when the idiots around here run out of fuel in the middle of the road. Oddly enough it happens here ALL the time. It seems like at least twice a month I come up to a spot in the road where traffic is backed up, and I find someone walking back toward the car with a can of gas. I just don't understand why you would want to do that. I would rather have it and not need it, than the other way around. I can't think of a single time in my truck, a car, or a helicopter than I'm flying where I wished I had LESS fuel (unless it was a weight consideration).

Having a car that can go 600+ miles between fill-ups is awesome, but my feeling is... Just because you can, doesn't mean you have to. I will gladly stop and spend five minutes to fuel the car/truck before I get to empty. On the other hand, I've known plenty of people who drive on empty all the time and refuse to put more than $10 of fuel in their car for some reason, and never have problems with it. To each his own.
 
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LandCruiser

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2010
Location
MA
TDI
1991 Mazda Miata
I could care less if other people want to run their cars to empty, except when the idiots around here run out of fuel in the middle of the road. Oddly enough it happens here ALL the time. It seems like at least twice a month I come up to a spot in the road where traffic is backed up, and I find someone walking back toward the car with a can of gas. I just don't understand why you would want to do that. I would rather have it and not need it, than the other way around. I can't think of a single time in my truck, a car, or a helicopter than I'm flying where I wished I had LESS fuel (unless it was a weight consideration).

Can people just get this term right? You could NOT care less right? It's almost as bad when people like to interchange they're/there or you're/your. You try so hard to use correct grammar and punctuation then bam, bad context. Good job.

:rolleyes:
 

PlaneJob

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2003
Location
Wylie, TX
TDI
2010 JSW TDI
Things that are useless in an airplane:
1)Runway behind you
2) altitude above you
3) Fuel in the truck

And the only time you have too much fuel is when you are on fire.

In a car it's a bit different. It seems overly risk averse to say that one should never run his car below a certain arbitrary level before refueling. Why pick *that* level, whatever it is? 1/4 tank? if that's safe is 1/2 a tank twice as safe, and a full tank 4 times as safe? Are you saying any person concerned about safety would top his car's tank off and then not drive the car lest he should burn the fuel and need it later? Do you wear a helmet in the shower?

I completely understand and agree that running an in-tank fuel-cooled fuel pump without the surrounding cooling fuel is a bad idea. But where exactly are you arm-chair engineers getting your data for to support this 'quarter tank then fill up' mantra? Obviously the tank still contains some fuel when the MFI/Fuel gauge indicates empty and requests that you fuel up. Perhaps, just perhaps, the engineers where a little smarter than you have given them credit for and designed that pump to sit in the fuel that occupies the tank when the gauge indicates E...

Now I'm no rocketship surgeon, but I hold a degree in 'how to think better' and I suspect that VW would not design a system that fails when used within the boundaries established for the system. Or perhaps they would establish different boundaries? You know, like having the gauge show empty when there is still a bit of fuel in the tank.

(let the HPFP bombardment begin, even though that is a wholly different failure mode)
 

tha vwkid

Active member
Joined
Mar 11, 2007
Location
Seattle, Washington
TDI
2010 VW GOLF 2DR
So any other opinions on why it didn't start or has it come to a consensus that it was low fuel that caused the car not to turn on?
 

PaulGiz

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2010
Location
Rhode Island
TDI
None any more. My heart couldn't take it.
You didn't happen to see a UFO near-by? Did ya, now? :p
If not, I am out of ideas...
Don't laugh. I used to have a '76 Fuel Injected Beetle that started running rough at the same spot on my way to work, every day. After about 1/2 mile everything was fine.

My co-worker had a VW Fastback (also Injected) that did the same thing, in the same place, only she stalled out once in a while.

It turned out the early VW EFI were not shielded, and we were passing near a microwave tower. Her mechanic solved the problem with a grounded piece of aluminum. I lived with it.

P.
 

98fxd

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 21, 2008
Location
Dayton, OH
TDI
09 JSW
I would take a good look at the fuel filter. You might have a lot of crud in the tank that got stirred up during the fueling. This might have clogged the lift pump, starving your engine of fuel. Letting it sit would have allowed the crud to settle and then be able to start. If this is the case, some of it should have been trapped in the fuel filter.
 
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