hasn't been started for a year and won't now

Spock-Mckoy

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 2, 2008
Location
Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A.
TDI
2002 Golf GL
Hi,

I had several issues with my tdi, and I'm trying to get it running. I have replaced the battery, 4 glo plugs, wiring harness, fuel filter. I have primed the fuel filter by vac fuel through it. I pulled over 1 quart of fuel through the new filter in a jar via my elec vac pump. All good. the engine turns, just won't fire without fuel. It won't start. I loosened the 4 nuts on the fuel injector out side and no fuel comes out. The clear output fuel line of the fuel filter has no fuel in it. I tried hooking an electric vac pump on the output line of the FI pump and after 30 minutes, no fuel even in clear IN fuel line. Due to a year of sitting, is the fuel inj pump shot or need cleaned of goo? Not sure what to do next. Any thoughts? I have a video of vac pump in action. Would like to attach, I'll try, but never did it before. I have an 2002, 1.9 TDI. There is almost a fuel tank. I added 5 gallons of fresh to old fuel in tank from last summer. I just saw I'm not allowed to post a video. Oh well. It would have been helpful. I have not taken any part of the IP apart, except the in/out fuel lines.
 

JDSwan87

Black Swamp Thing
Joined
Feb 9, 2014
Location
Michigan near Toledo
TDI
2001 Jetta TDI, 5 speed Lagoon Blue Metallic(sold); 2005 Jetta TDI Wagon auto
Hi,

I had several issues with my tdi, and I'm trying to get it running. I have replaced the battery, 4 glo plugs, wiring harness, fuel filter. I have primed the fuel filter by vac fuel through it. I pulled over 1 quart of fuel through the new filter in a jar via my elec vac pump. All good. the engine turns, just won't fire without fuel. It won't start. I loosened the 4 nuts on the fuel injector out side and no fuel comes out. The clear output fuel line of the fuel filter has no fuel in it. I tried hooking an electric vac pump on the output line of the FI pump and after 30 minutes, no fuel even in clear IN fuel line. Due to a year of sitting, is the fuel inj pump shot or need cleaned of goo? Not sure what to do next. Any thoughts? I have a video of vac pump in action. Would like to attach, I'll try, but never did it before. I have an 2002, 1.9 TDI. There is almost a fuel tank. I added 5 gallons of fresh to old fuel in tank from last summer. I just saw I'm not allowed to post a video. Oh well. It would have been helpful. I have not taken any part of the IP apart, except the in/out fuel lines.
You need to bleed the injector lines of air.
 

hollowhead

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2015
Location
cope,sc
TDI
2003 Jetta wagon 5 speed(2)2000 vw beetle tdi automatic
Look up the thread on how to prime the ip.you have to get air out all the way to the injectors.
 

Andyinchville1

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2016
Location
Virginia
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI wagon, 5 sp, 226K miles
HI,

You can try starting a diesel with wd-40 ....it's easier on the engine than starting fluid.

If you run it long enough on WD it may just start working by itself....

Andrew
 

AndyBees

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 27, 2003
Location
Southeast Kentucky
TDI
Silver 2003 Jetta TDI, Silver 2000 Jetta TDI (sold), '84 Vanagon with '02 ALH engine
Do not use WD-40, Engine Start, Ether, etc., in your TDI engine.

Your Injection Pump did not go bad sitting for a year. My engine sit for 7 years and started. I purchased a 2002 Jetta with dead auto tranny in August of 2014... it had not been started for almost 3 years ... started just fine about two weeks ago.

You have air in the Injection Lines from the IP over to the Injectors. Also, most likely the IP doesn't have much fuel in it. You need to either pull the fuel through from the return hose off the IP or push fuel thru the IP with a pump or air pressure... yes air pressure! Once you are sure you have fuel in the IP, crank the engine with two Injector nuts a bit loose. Then tighten those nuts and loosen two more... keep doing that until fuel begins to ooze out, spew out, bubble out, etc., from two or more injector lines.

No starting fluid........ just a potential to create more problems!
 

jokila

Vendor
Joined
Dec 3, 2004
Location
Houston, Texas
TDI
2003 Jetta GLS, Manual
Hi,

I had several issues with my tdi, and I'm trying to get it running. I have replaced the battery, 4 glo plugs, wiring harness, fuel filter. I have primed the fuel filter by vac fuel through it. I pulled over 1 quart of fuel through the new filter in a jar via my elec vac pump. All good. the engine turns, just won't fire without fuel. It won't start. I loosened the 4 nuts on the fuel injector out side and no fuel comes out. The clear output fuel line of the fuel filter has no fuel in it. I tried hooking an electric vac pump on the output line of the FI pump and after 30 minutes, no fuel even in clear IN fuel line. Due to a year of sitting, is the fuel inj pump shot or need cleaned of goo? Not sure what to do next. Any thoughts? I have a video of vac pump in action. Would like to attach, I'll try, but never did it before. I have an 2002, 1.9 TDI. There is almost a fuel tank. I added 5 gallons of fresh to old fuel in tank from last summer. I just saw I'm not allowed to post a video. Oh well. It would have been helpful. I have not taken any part of the IP apart, except the in/out fuel lines.


It is possible that you have bad IP seals which prevents you from priming the pump.

Your comment in red, if I understand it correctly, meant that you attached a vacuum pump to the output side of the IP and saw no fuel in this attempt for 30 mins. Bad seals will allow air to enter the IP and not let the fuel come through from the fuel filter.

To test this, if you have access to a miteyvac or something with a gauge apply suction and stop. The vacuum should stay put. If it drops steadily or suddenly, you have a leaky IP. You will need to fix that first before attempting to bleed the injector lines.
 

eddieleephd

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 27, 2012
Location
Battle Ground, Wa
TDI
2002 jetta Wagon
Not much more to say other than if you have an electric fuel pump laying around, you can use it to pushfuel into the pump.
Or, you can hang some above the pump and gravity feed it while you crank the engine.

I might try it with diesel purge and maybe good bio diesel.

If you have run Bio in the past it could have caused the pump seals to swell then shrink causing them to leak.
 

AndyBees

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 27, 2003
Location
Southeast Kentucky
TDI
Silver 2003 Jetta TDI, Silver 2000 Jetta TDI (sold), '84 Vanagon with '02 ALH engine
Without all the details, I primed an IP at night in a parking lot at 22f with wind blowing snow. I used a 12 volt tire pump... I arrived on site and had it running in less than an hour.

Below, is a couple of pics of a very simple Diesel Purge set-up made from a plastic Jeff Peanut butter jar, plastic fittings, filter on the bottom, hose and JB Weld. I made it at least 5 years ago ......... it works fine.



As you can see in the pic below, I did not have a plastic elbow, so, I improvised with a T and some JB Weld to plug it off.....:D

 

jokila

Vendor
Joined
Dec 3, 2004
Location
Houston, Texas
TDI
2003 Jetta GLS, Manual
Not much more to say other than if you have an electric fuel pump laying around, you can use it to pushfuel into the pump.
Or, you can hang some above the pump and gravity feed it while you crank the engine.

I might try it with diesel purge and maybe good bio diesel.

If you have run Bio in the past it could have caused the pump seals to swell then shrink causing them to leak.
I am going to disagree with your crank the engine until it starts after the pump is primed with fuel. After the pump is primed, then the injector lines have to be purged of air before it will start.
 

Spock-Mckoy

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 2, 2008
Location
Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A.
TDI
2002 Golf GL
Thank you all so much for the tips! I will try them. I did note the fuel pump exterior is dirty, and MAY be damp causing dirt to stick. I will inspect closer to determine if any fuel has leaked out in the past. I do have a diesel purge kit, but haven't used it. I'm not the first owner, and I don't know maint done in past. I will make a gravity feed kit and try plus crack the nuts a partial turn to get any air out.
 

Spock-Mckoy

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 2, 2008
Location
Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A.
TDI
2002 Golf GL
Hi all; good news/bad news. Andy Bees, I made up a gravity jar with filter, I loosened the nuts on the 4 injectors and after getting some fuel out, IT STARTED!!!! That was the good news. I get no return pissing into the jar as you did. Also, I discovered a nice fast drip, drip, drip near the bottom right of the injection pump. If I look at the pump and there is an anit-tamper nut on the top left, there is 2 blocks of aluminum on the upper half of the IP, which has an O-ring under both. It is NOT leaking from those seams. It is further down, on the right side. NOT out on the nuts in the FI lines. If I'm correct, it is where the metal block on the R side with the 4 lines exit the pump, mate to the main IP. The fuel is filling the support arms below the right side of the fuel pump. So it appears I may need a new IP and if timing is involved, that is beyond my skill set. Ps, while the golf was shut down, I cleaned up, moved a vehicle out of the way and went to start the golf and relocate it to a more level part of my driveway. In less than 20 minutes, I lost the prime again and it won't start......
 
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AndyBees

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 27, 2003
Location
Southeast Kentucky
TDI
Silver 2003 Jetta TDI, Silver 2000 Jetta TDI (sold), '84 Vanagon with '02 ALH engine
The O-ring on the pump head does go bad for any number of reasons. Seems the entire re-seal kit is less than $20.00.



The procedure is to use a longer bolt (comes with the kit) in place of one of the other four bolts which allows you to slide the head out far enough to remove the O-ring. Of course, the injector lines have to be removed and duct tape wrapped around the head to provide protection to the O-ring when you slide it over.

In my case, the O-ring was "stuck" in the groove. I had to remove the pump. I was a 100% novice with respect to this task. But, as you saw in the link above, I was able to do it (with coaching and observing RunOnBeer's YouTube).

The pics below are in the link in my previous post ..

Below, you can see the O-ring after the head is moved out away from the body of the IP.



Below, you can see that the O-ring broke rather than just slip out (sorry about the focus).



Below, and I had to totally remove the head and put it in a vice on the work bench to remove the stuck rubber (used a Dremel)



Hope this helps........
 
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