ALH fuel filter changed, primed, starts, no power

Changed fuel filter now limp.

I bought this 2000 Jetta TDI new 20 years ago, now my son drives it. We were doing some maintenance on it recently all went well except for the fuel filter replacement. I initially forgot the critical step, to fill the new filter. (7 years of maintaining my Mercedes CDI, I guess, no priming required.)

Once we realized that we missed a step, we got some power service and topped the filter off where the T junction goes in. I also cracked number 3 fuel connection until fuel flowed. The car started up and idled fine. A couple hours later we drove it. No power, no codes. Still see an air bubble in the line FWIW

Any help is appreciated.

Does the rpm move up off idle? If you rev it in neutral, what RPMs can you attain?

I'd scan to see what's going on. If there are absolutely no DTCs, I'd bleed every injector hard line at the injector.

Four or five years ago, I did a Fuel Filter change at night in a dimly lit parking lot with wind blowing and snowing at 22F........ 2000 Jetta just like yours that I had also given to my son.

The fuel filter had not been changed it at least 4 or 5 years and likely had 50k miles on it. He stopped at the CSX Railroad office in Knoxville, TN to check the board before heading on south to his work destination. When he come back out about 10 minutes later, the engine would not start. He called me and I grabbed what I assumed I'd need and headed to his location. After installing a new primed fuel filter, I used a 12 volt tire pump to force fuel thru the Injection Pump and one injector. I observed the clear hose so as to not add more air. After two three attempts to start, it fired up!......... I immediately took the RPMs up to about 2000 for about 45 seconds! ........ problem solved and I cleaned up the mess and headed home!

Point is, some how, your filter change has been botched! .... find the problem and fix it!

you have clearly not filled the filter enough.
fill it up again.

Fuel supply and return lines from the tank mixed up? I did that once, would start but no power.

Resolved

Thanks to everyone's replies. I'm a big believer is resolving threads, so here goes.

We thought we had the car running fine, but by the time we realized that although the engine idled fine, it drove with no power. I caught my flight and left my son with the issue. It was a big weekend. We replaced rear rotors and pads, bled the rear brakes, replaced a door regulator and window motor, replaced headlight lenses with glass lenses, replaced a bad glow plug and chucked the lousy VW glow plug harness upgraded to a plug-in ford/mercedes hybrid that I engineered. We changed the oil, the cabin filter, the air filter and lastly the fuel filter.

Car ran with no power. I walked him through priming procedure, filling the filter, didn't work. Cracking the injector lines, didn't work. Even priming the pump with a hand pump, none of these things worked. Towed it to an Indy. The problem. Wait for it......

Control lever on the EGR valve had fallen off.

I mentioned all the work we did, I racked my brain to try to figure out what the problem could have been or what other work we did to cause this issue.

$60 back on the road!!!!

60 bucks I would be perfectly fine with at that point. Good job. Happy to see good maintenance.

since this is a fresh fuel filter thread.............


just changed mine for the first time, got the car at 180sh now at 211. old filter was dern rusty all over and cemented in the holder.


took due diligence and lotsa time to prep everything for minimal time for fuel to recede back thru the lines by capping the lines as they were removed. filled the filter to the top over twenty minutes with Howes diesel treat, it was brimming when i laid into the holder. replaced lines, took good care with the T and baby rubber bands......


no other purging or suction, just capped lines when separated and a fully full filter. when i cranked her over she started like she was cold, then took all of three seconds to even out. went for a spin around the triangle, few miles, good to go. hot to trot.


these cars are bona fide. thanks to all for great information.

You really only need to fill the thing.

Nice work Bill, thanks for posting back!

I just change mine and I filled it with Stanadyne Performace formula. Small funnel and patience until it is completely full.

When I change out a fuel filter i use hose pliers at the least on the incoming line from the tank to the filter and on the return line from the IP to the filter. That minimally keeps the lines from losing the fuel. It helps with the process from hiccuping a length of air in the line.

I have two sets of these:
Hose pliers

I gotta buy some of those, for brake work. Been using needle nose vice grips with rubber hose on the fingers.