I bought a TDI. 5 minutes later and it would not start. Now it won't even crank.

Hello; I am new to the forums, and TDI ownership. About 32 hours at this moment, actually.

I use to own a very loved 2001 Jeep Cherokee. I did everything on it short of engine and transmission rebuilds and body work. Unfortunately, I rolled it over (4 times!) at 60 mph in January.

A good friend was replacing his 2011 TDI sportswagen with a much newer BMW diesel. He let me borrow his car for four months while it was extra. Then it sat unregistered in my driveway for a month while we worked out a price we were both more or less happy with.

I purchased it yesterday, transferred the insurance and the plates, and went to go out and get some ice cream for my birthday.

Last night I turned the key, the engine cranked a tiny bit (a half second?) very slowly and then slowed to a stop. A few months ago, I had left it in the run position for 30 minutes and the battery was completely flat. So I figured after sitting for a month, the battery was dead.

I attached a charger, which seemed to indicate the battery was charged after just a few minutes of charging. I tried starting, and nothing. Then I put the charger in the 'start' position (50A) and still nothing. The car was not even trying to turn over. I left it charging overnight. Still dead this morning.

The battery looked to be the original for the car.

I was able to get a ride to my closest auto parts store, and bought a Diehard H6 AGM battery. (I did not have the luxury of choosing where to buy - I had only one store I could easily get a ride to and really needed the car to work today for an important errand.)

The old battery tested bad on their countertop tester - showing only 340 CCA. Plus it seemed likely to me a nine year old OEM battery needed replacement.

Got home, installed it - and nothing. Charged it with the charger, and it showed full after 10 minutes. No click of a starter solenoid.

It shows 12.7 Volts with a multimeter with the car off. With the key in the run or start position it drops to 12.4 Volts. I checked for voltage drop between the battery ground and what I think was the water pump - 0 Volts. I also checked from the battery positive terminal to the positive in the engine compartment fuse box - 0 Volts.

I read a lot of posts here, and the won't start page in the TDI 101 section. I can report that the headlights do NOT turn off when I move the key from run to start. The headlights seem very bright. Jiggling the key in the run position does not do anything. Everything in the car seems to work except for the engine. Which is a key bit of the car.

Lots of lights on the dash. I see a red battery the owner's manual calls the alternator light. There is an orange steering wheel, which I think only appeared after the battery change. Also indicators for the car skidding and a check engine light. The check engine light was on before all this started.

I do not have a VCDS set up yet. I have no manuals yet, although I have been told that I should buy the Bentley manual, and plan to.

What can I check next?

When I first bought my car, after the test drive. I went to start it up again at the dealer to pull it up next to my old car. No start, no click no crank, only dash lights headlights ect. Thought ***? Service tech came out with a brush, some terminal cleaner and a wrench, he cleaned the battery terminals and made sure they were good and tight, nothing else (did it right in front of me). It fired right up and I've had the same battery for two years now. I'm not saying thats what's wrong with your car im just saying start simple, a loose or corroded connection (not just the terminals) could be the issue. As for the steering, TCS (car skidding light) and I think abs light will be on for the first 50-100 feet of driving after a battery disconnect then they will go out when those systems calibrate themselves (mine were out before I left the dealer parking lot). As for the check engine light you will need VCDS or at the very least OBD Eleven which is what I use. Good luck.

JesseTDI said:

a loose or corroded connection (not just the terminals) could be the issue.
<snip>

As for the check engine light you will need VCDS or at the very least OBD Eleven which is what I use. Good luck.

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Thank you for the helpful information, not all of which I quoted above. I would certainly believe there is a bad connection problem, which was exacerbated by the slow crank - I have seen it happen once and read about it many times. A low battery really strains the electrical system.


If I did not make it clear, the (orange) check engine light was on for a couple months of my driving the car. It was looked at by a local TDI guy as part of an inspection, and he said it was for something minor that he didn't have time to figure out right then. I suspect it is unrelated to the current problem, but of course I can not be sure.

usually when you turn the key and nothing happens its the starter? I just had to replace mine a few months ago on my 2011 around 100k miles

asgoodasdead said:

usually when you turn the key and nothing happens its the starter? I just had to replace mine a few months ago on my 2011 around 100k miles

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I am thinking it is worth trying to run power to the starter solenoid to see if the car cranks. This sound like a good idea? Now I need to find the starter!

If it's a Bosch starter you may be able to have it rebuilt. There are shops that do that, and you might have one by you.

Sent from my SM-G930U using Tapatalk

Cleaning/tightening the terminals is definitely the place to start.

turbobrick240 said:

Cleaning/tightening the terminals is definitely the place to start.

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Which are on your mind? The battery terminals are pristine. And I am not seeing any voltage drops that would go along with a dodgy terminal in most cases. It *could* be one, but which would you look at?

I noted that the headlights do not go off when I try to start the car. In the TDI 101 sticky here they should. Is this true?


If so, it would seem to mean it is not the starter - the computer is not even trying to start the car, because the headlights would turn off.

Bad ground connections, in particular, will do strange things sometimes. If the battery connections are clean and tight, I'd check the ground to chassis connection/contact next. If everything there checks out get a cheap bosch obd2 reader. That should tell you something.

Use this: http://faculty.ccp.edu/faculty/dreed/Campingart/jettatech/nocrankdiag/index.htm

Almost everything should be the same, other than the possible problems listed in Step 5.

With the problems that you listed, my first thought was ignition switch.

I have done through step three on my own, and plan on the next steps once I get the airbox out.


Thank you for the link - I don't think I needed it, but it was a good resource that I have bookmarked.

Update: I am seeing 12 Volts via a DMM on the wire to the solenoid, turning on and off as the key is turned to start and back to run. So I am assuming a bad starter. Replacement scheduled for tomorrow.

The bush fix for a bad starter is to give it a good whack with a hammer. Works a surprising amount of the time.

I had a friend with an older jetta gas model that a new starter did not fix his no start condition. A cold start relay was the culprit. Is it possible that our diesel models could have a similar component in the circuit?

Check the intercooler for the turbo. Problems are common. They get moisture buildup and lock up your car. When I had trouble with mine, it acted exactly like the battery was dead. No crank. Dealership should replace it for free under TDI warranty if that’s the problem.

What i believe you may have done is sucked water into the engine and it is hydro locked... This happend to me on my 2010 tdi jetta for the first time this year after owning it for 10 years. What i'm guessing is you were driving it in cooler weather, or very humid weather.. THe intercooler in our tdi is very effective in these cares, and in humid or certain low temp conditions ice will form inside the intercooler. You park it, and don't drive it and the ice melts... It then accumlates in the intake hose.. WHen you start it, the intake hose acts like a straw and you suck the water into the engine... Due to the high compression ratio, and water being unlike air, it can't compress, and then it stops the pistions...
Here's what i did... I jacked up the car... The intercooler hose exits on the passenger side.... I undid the clamps, (they are easy to undo...) I pulled the hose and pulled about a small JIF peanut butter jar sized amount of water from the intercooler pipe. I then dried it out with some shop towles, and reassemlbed it..... Now the hard part.... THe stuck engine.... What i did was put a wrench on the main pullley bolt and rocked the engine forward / backwards a little at a time until i could get it to turn complety over by hand... IF your read the 2000 pages of intercooler post, i did post a more specific post of what i did.... Others have instead of wrenching the engine over just used the stater, with the key and went click... pause for some seconds... click..... pause for some seconds.. click pause for some seconds and eventually it worked its way around, pushed the water out the exaust ports and fired to life... (Mine ran rough for about a minute or so, and then has been fine..) The big risk of course is bending valves or piston rods which is a risk in this situation.... in my case, i found once the water was vacated from the intercooler hose, that was the most part of it.. In terms of routine maintenance, i've make checking the intercooler pipe a normal part of things.... Lots of people have posted possible solutions... I found drilling a hole in the lowest part of the intake intriguing but something i couldn't bring myself to do.... If i get another hydrolock situation, i might consdier it....