2006 Jetta BRM Hard start, white smoke, knocking

Hi everyone,

I have a 2006 Jetta TDI 130,000 miles with BRM engine I am having trouble with and am hoping someone can suggest some areas to start looking. Here are the symptoms.

. Hard to start. cranks for a long time and eventually fires up.

. white smoke all the time and when revving up the smoke really billows out. smoke has a heavy fuel smell.

. idles great but at about 2000 rpm it has a very noticable knock or chatter.

I have pulled the valve cover and inspected the cam and buckets and it is in good condition. I have changed a cam before and know what a worn cam looks like and this one is in great shape still. Oil level is spot on and doesnt smell like fuel. I am suspecting a faulty injector or two but am not sure how to go about further diagnosing. Thanks in advance for any help.

What did the VCDS scan show?

there were no CEL codes. My VCDS cable will only read older vw and i have ordered a new cable for 06+. I do not know how to test the injectors using VAGcom. What steps would I take to test the injectors for proper balance?

Vcds is very necesary for troubleshooting issues like yours. Once you have it check group 13 for injector deviation.
Dont wait too long because if you indeed have a leaking injector it wont take long to burn a hole in the corresponding piston and it will be way more $$ than just a pd injector overhaul/ replacement.

I did check compression in each cylinder to rule out a dead cylinder. All cylinders were 250-260 PSI. Right now the car is not drivable because of how long it takes to start and I am sure the neighborhood would appreciate me fogging the area for mosquitos but I dont have my pesticide license. New cable is on the way so I will post results here later.

Your compression readings are somewhat low. Typical proper mantained tdis give >350 psi even at 300kmiles.

What compression tester did you use?