It's not symptomatic of a bad j329 since it never dies when running. It sometimes make a rattling electrical sound when attempting to start, not like a low battery click sound. It will normally start even with the rattle. It just might take a few tries. Sometimes it be like the battery is dead, no power at all. If I open the hood and wiggle at all the thick battery cables it will normally start ok. This started getting worse after I relocated the battery to the trunk over a year ago. All connections are clean, no loose battery cable. I've tightened and cleaned all the connection points. It will start ok 90% of the time. I'm using 2/0 welding cables for the positive. Ordered another cable to run ground all the way to the starter. I highly doubt that is the issue but might as well. It's getting annoying as hell.
Intermittent no power, starting issue
- Thread starter narongc73
- Start date
bobthefarmer
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2013
- Location
- Indianapolis
- TDI
- 2006.5 Jetta Mk 5 192K miles; 2012 Car of the Year, Passat Tdi SE+Nav in blue nightgown, shod in 18 inch heels
J329 is the 360 Relay, maybe
Read other posts about the 360 relay. I had to fix mine recently. I had not heard about faults for a long time, but you 0010 malfunction codes were on my car when I had trouble with this relay. It is buried under the dash.
Is that the same as 458? I might replace both since they aren't expensive. It hasn't done it since I posted. Just ran a ground cable all the way to the engine bay. Gotta wait until next June to get another car. I did however fix the shifting issue I had when it was hot out. The dieselgeek sigma shifter I bought didn't allow for a good cable adjustment. I must've adjusted it 5 times and finally had to force it tight..hard to explain in words. 5 times over almost 2 years.
So i thought the issue went away after running ground directly to the starter. Now that it's cold, it clicks pretty much 90 percent of the time. It does help most of the time if I use the Webasto to preheat the engine/coolant. Although I did notice that when it fails to start the first try, the Webasto timer would lose power and I have to set the clock again. Dash does flicker. New battery, relays 458 and 460 changed just in case. ANY ideas??? I would really hate to relocate the webasto and put the battery back where it was. I'm going to try hooking a battery directly to the starter with a jumper cable and see if the issue can be duplicated.
crazyrunner33
Veteran Member
Before doing much more guess work, it'd be wise to check the voltage drop. A simple multimeter will do, you'll just need to extend your connection to the trunk to reach the positive terminal on the battery and one going to the starter. If you're voltage drop is over a half volt, you know you've got an issue and you can move around your test cables to narrow in where it's at. You can do the same thing on the ground side as well.
Good idea. I will try that next. I just went out and started it again, this time I doubled up on the fuse. There is now 2 250amp fuses in parallel. It is much better, especially at 27 degrees out. I blew the single fuse once when trying to restart after a stall. In any case should a 250 amp fuse hamper starting? Cable is 2/0. Oh and this time the mileage and clock etc was also reset this time around, not just the Webasto timer.
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Did some more testing. .734 from battery terminal to solenoid terminal. The starter spins just fine but sometimes it will make a whirring sound and engine doesn't turn over. This is with the fuel pump fuse removed. I don't understand how this would cause the dash info to reset as though the battery was disconnected momentarily.