Discussion: 01 Jetta no start

Came to me on a flatbed. History of gradually more difficult starts until it eventually would not start. 84K miles

Found that it cranks at proper speed, and fuel does come out of loosened injector lines. Pump did have some air in it. Owner changed the filter prior to sending it to me. Did not change the T O-rings (done now). Fuel examined, and found to be dark brown. Reported to be homebrewed biodiesel.

Pump purged of all BioD, and fuel lines cleaned. Interinjector lines replaced because horrible. System reprimed with dieselpurge and injector lines bled. Fuel supply isolated, and DP in it's place. Engine cranks and tries to start, but fails.

Timing belt performed before attempting to start, so all marks line up. IP sprocket centered. Shutoff valve jumpered without effect. Tapped the pressure relief collar back in place as it had backed out about halfway. Antishudder valve open. Intake manifold is not clogged. Glowplug light illuminated when key turned, so relay 109 not suspected.

Compression is 440 all cylinders.

Main code is a "quantity adjuster upper limit", besides a glowplug code.

My diagnosis is a failed injector pump.

Anyone with anything I have forgotten, please chime in. All suggestions welcome before I have this gentleman's IP rebuilt.

Bruce

I would have injectors tested first easier than pump R&R

If you had a spare IP around you could swap it in to be sure.

2003 Silver Golf TDI (hers)

Hmmmm...

It's a tough call to say the IP is bad, when you have nothing substantial, just a process of elimination. The timing advance solenoid is accessible and they have shown contamination there. Maybe pull that and look for something there that would indicate a bad IP. Also, pop the top off and see if anything surprises you.

Given the comment about the injector lines, I would put the injectors at the top of the list to investigate too.

whitedog said:

2003 Silver Golf TDI (hers)

Click to expand...

LOL! Yeah, right. If I took her car apart, I would never hear the end of it. She's already asking why I'm going to remove her intake in 2K miles. Just doesn't understand I want to see the effect the ONCCV installed for 80K miles has had.

Glen, will definitely look at the injectors.

paramedick said:

Main code is a "quantity adjuster upper limit", besides a glowplug code.

My diagnosis is a failed injector pump.

Bruce

Click to expand...

That was the code I got when my pump failed...

IP is off and on it's way to DFIS. I'll let you know what they find.

Bruce, what finally made you decide to pull the pump?

DFIS has been heard from.

IP was so clogged up that fuel could not flow through it. They had to soak it for 4 days to get some parts to break loose from all the homemade BioD gunk inside.

I think that we will drain the tank, put 5 gallons of DinoD in, change fuel filter, install and prime pump, and send the gentleman on his way. Diesel purge the nozzles, of course.

Note. We thought we had purged the IP of all the bad BioD. Wrong. When the IP was removed, still had lots inside.

For closure.

IP arrived back from DFIS 2 days ago. Installed today. Car started easily on first crank after fuel lines purged.

This IP has the most extensive parts list I've ever seen replaced. Including the pump head that was so badly corroded that the rebuilt IP read 10% below minimum specs when DFIS tried to reuse. That was a $462 part. $1177 total repair bill for the IP.

What was in the "bad bio"? Glycerin or just raw oil?

No clue, but nothing I want in my car.