Car Cranks Fast But Doesn't Fire

My ALH cranks fast but doesn't even get a hint of firing.

I read through the no-start thread and checked all the stuff he listed and its all good.

Any suggestions on what else to look for?

thanks!

Make sure the IP is drawing in fuel. Make sure the engine speed signal is present, and fuel violently sprays out of an injection line when loosened slightly. Visually inspect the IP for leaks.

What was the problem with the starter not working? Interference with the flywheel?

Crack an injector and make sure you are getting fuel at the injector. I had a no start situation after a changing the fuel filter. There was fuel in the clear line, but air had gotten in the metal line.

I really hate to ask this, but when you say that it "cranks fast", do you mean that it cranks at regular speed, or it's cranking faster than normal speed?

Check that the fuel shut off on the injector pump is working. Remove the 8mm nut on the top of the shutoff valve. With the key in,the 'run' position, touch the wire to the valve's terminal. You should hear it click to the open position. If not, jumper it. Still no, it's the shutoff switch. More likely it's good. Check your 109 relay.

Other common fault is the nut on the opposite side of the I.P. There is a nut with two flats. Remove... In the part you remove, there is a roll pin that controls excessive pressure in your pump. Push the roll pin back into it's holder. Reinsert.

Other than that, timing, injectors, fuel filter, plugged fuel lines, clogged fuel sensor one-way valve... check thread for 'hard start'.

PM me if you are still stuck.



K5ING...wow, great miles!

Cranks REAL fast.....broken timing belt....

One other thing to check is the anti-shudder. If it's stuck closed, the car won't start.

Thanks for the feedback.

The car cranks at normal speed

Still not sure why the car wasn't cranking....... I rolled the car and popped the clutch in 3rd and now it cranks good.

I cracked an injector and fuel just kindof lazily came out of the line so there's the problem then. Do I need to disconnect all of the injector lines to bleed it of air? If I still can't get lots of preassure does that mean my IP is bad?

Thanks Franko6...... If I get the IP working good and it still doesn't start I'll check all that jazz and get back with you.

The RPM signal is missing, the fuel cutoff valve isn't working, the fuel supply is missing, or the QA is disconnected. After having the entire fuel system disassembled, it bled out enough with the 4 lines loosened in 10 seconds.


It makes me nervous to think that some mystery thing was interfering with the flywheel or pressure plate, and is no longer. If it were me, I wouldn't run the engine before getting to the bottom of that.

OK guys I finally had time to work on this.

Antishudder valve is open
The RPM Signal is there
The fuel cutoff valve is working
I took that pressure control thing off and It looked good but I don't know what I'm looking for
There is fuel in the lines

But.......... when I disconnect the lines at the injectors and crank it fuel only dribbles out of the lines.

Any other suggestions?

i'm guessing a blocked fuel filter, or maybe the IP. Like i said, just a wild guess.

fuel filter is brand new.

How can I check if fuel is coming easily through the lines?
Could it be the fuel sender?

Mabe my IP is bad only has 120k miles on it though.

Ok. I filled a container with diesel and connected lines from there straight to the fuel filter (brand new). When I try to bleed the lines, fuel only dribbles out of the lines. Is this normal? You said before that it sprays violently out of the lines normally..... is that like spraying all over the engine?

Is this post timing belt or just a random occurance?


edit: I thought you meant it cranked faster than normal. I'd have said it was indexed wrong if a timing belt was recently performed.

happened after swapping engine.

I'd read block 001 with VCDS to at least see what the ECM is telling the IP to do.

The fuel should strongly spray out, with no air bubbles. If all the inputs are good, and the QA is being commanded to the starting IQ range, and the pump draws in and discharges fuel, then there is most likely a problem with the cutoff valve.

Is she cranking faster than seems normal?

If so, verify that engine is properly set to TDC. You may be off enough to mess up the combustion cycle, but not enough for pistons to kiss valves.

it seams to crank normal..... but just for good measure and something to do, hows the easiest way to check TDC?

Well, I may need to drive somewhere and borrow a VCDS, could the cutoff valve be the problem even if it clicks on? I do have another IP sitting in the shop, shall I just change out the cutoff valves? Or, is there an easy way to change out the whole IP without messing with timing?

TDIPOWERMAN said:

it seams to crank normal..... but just for good measure and something to do, hows the easiest way to check TDC?

Well, I may need to drive somewhere and borrow a VCDS, could the cutoff valve be the problem even if it clicks on? I do have another IP sitting in the shop, shall I just change out the cutoff valves? Or, is there an easy way to change out the whole IP without messing with timing?

Click to expand...

I'm a bit unclear from previous posts : Can you get this engine running at all?

Verify tdc... set crank to tdc via mark on flywheel, remove valve cover and place cam lock in, use 15/64th drill bit, NON FLUTED (cut) end into pump pin slot. If all those occur, the tb is good. If not, time to reindex that engine.

So you did the engine swap, was the timing belt on the engine when you bought it?

If you haven't gotten this engine to start, I'd check the timing. Otherwise, it's something else.

If you can get VCDS in your hands easily, check group 001 first.

The cutoff valve could be blocked even though it energizes.

Changing the IP out is a pain and should be a last resort (if metal debris is found for example).

I never had the engine running. The guy I bought it from had the timing belt changed about 20k ago and it was running good when he took it out of his car. ( so he says)

I'll have to get the VCDS then and check that.

What am I looking for in group 001?

fase2000TDI said:

I'm a bit unclear from previous posts : Can you get this engine running at all?

Verify tdc... set crank to tdc via mark on flywheel, remove valve cover and place cam lock in, use 15/64th drill bit, NON FLUTED (cut) end into pump pin slot. If all those occur, the tb is good. If not, time to reindex that engine.

So you did the engine swap, was the timing belt on the engine when you bought it?

If you haven't gotten this engine to start, I'd check the timing. Otherwise, it's something else.

Click to expand...

All this will be put off until I can get the fuel to spray from the lines when disconnected from the injectors and the car still doesn't start.

The engine was sitting for a long time.

Are you sure injection pump is primed? It could be air loaded from motor swap.

Ski in NC said:

Are you sure injection pump is primed? It could be air loaded from motor swap.

Click to expand...

yup .

Go back to the basics... fuel, air, compression. Make sure it's on TDC, Pump pin in place and #1 cam lobes both up.

Here is one trick I learned from Jeff Robertson about the I.P. It might look like it's fueling, but has air trapped in the pumps injection pins.

I use a short piece of hose and a funnel over the fuel intake to the pump and fill the funnel with diesel. On the return from the pump, I put a vacuum source and clear line. Suction the return line and keep the funnel filled. When air bubbles stop rising from the return line, you have purged the air from the pump.

The whole operation is tediously slow. One by one, bubbles will come up at 15-20 second intervals. Expect the operation to take up to 30 minutes.

When the bubbles stop rising, your I.P. is purged. Purge the injector lines again and see what happens.

Btw: when this problem occured with me, I had problems with brand-new thermostatic tee o-rings from a Meyle fuel filter. The filter o-rings were either poorly made, undersized or cut. Air kept leaking into the system. So much air came into the I.P. by way of the thermostatic tee that the I.P. injection pins air-locked.

That same thing can happen when a I.P. is left open and allowed to completely drain out. Over time, the prime at the pins will be lost and this procedure is the head-ache to reprime the pump.

Also, if the pump is used and been down for some time, I recommend pulling purge into the pump. Any gum or residue will soften up. When you purge the lines, you might let some extra fuel purge out. Be sure to wash the diesel off of the coolant and a/c lines with soap and water afterward.

Frank's right. You'd be surprised by the amount of air.

AHA!

you hit it dead on the money.
The IP was probably totally drained of fuel during transit and I thought that just pumping fuel through would self-prime it from scratch.

I'll be doing that same procedure when I get the chance.
Thanks so much for taking the time to tell me this!!

OK, I did exactly what you did to purge the pump of air. I let it suck through until there were no big pockets of air coming through, but...... there was an endless supply of lots of tiny bubbles that came up through with the fuel no matter how long I did it. Does that mean there is still air in the pump? Should it be only a steady full stream of diesel coming out?
I cannnot see any fuel leaking from anywhere on the IP but there's pretty much gotta be a leak right?

I'm stuck stuck

Jeff, Frank, and Jason were all right there when my Golf had problems with air leaking into the fuel filter via the thermostatic-T -- they were just a few minutes away from telling me I needed another IP. Incidentally, I'm still using that original IP.

Block that air leak with bigger O-rings, or just bypass the thermo-T altogether with a plug in that hole, and see if that helps. If not then you may have a serious problem, but start with the cheap and relatively easy solution first.

I got the car started today!!!!!!

I hooked up the fuel intake directly to a bottle of fuel instead of going through the filter.

Then I did the vacuum purge on the IP, then I bled the lines some more.
After a long time of cranking the engine fired up and ran for about 1 minute...... the fuel was getting low in the bottle so I shut it off.
Then I put new rubber seals on the fuel filter and hooked it all back up again

The car will not start for anything.
There is not much air showing in the line.

Should I start all over and bypass that thermo-T?