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Veteran Member
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2005
- Location
- Anchorage, AK
- TDI
- 2004 Jetta Wagon TDI 5A. Previous car: 2001 Golf, 5spd
The last 10 days it has been hard to start my 04 Jetta. On most but not every morning, it took 3 15-20 second cranks to get it started even though it is kept in a garage heated to about 55F. Once it had been started once, for the rest of the day I could turn it off and leave it for hours and it would start right back up. I suspected that it was losing prime over night and checked with a hand vacuum pump when it wouldn't start, but I got bubble-free fuel in the first squeeze from the outlet of the filter and at the return line from the pump. I checked the anti shudder valve also and it's open when the no-start is happening.
Yesterday it started with just a slightly long crank, ran for a minute as I backed out of the driveway, and then stalled a few blocks later and wouldn't restart with any amount of cranking. I got out the hand vacuum, which I'd started carrying in the car just in case, and verified that there was easily pumped fuel in both the after-filter and return lines, and the anti-****ter valve was open. After doing that, which took about 10 minutes, I cranked it over for a good while, maybe 20 or 30 seconds, and it started. I drove it home and used a different car.
In all of these times there was no smoke when it finally started.
I thought maybe it might be relay 109, but the glow plug light has worked like normal when it didn't start and I have read that a bad 109 would stop that from happening. Anyone know for sure if that's a necessary condition to diagnose a bad relay 109? I would love it if it were that simple. What else should I focus on? Unfortunately I don't have VCDS anymore.
The local tdiclub-recommended shop had the car for months in the fall and had me get all the injectors rebuilt before realizing it needed a new camshaft. So I'd rather not take it to them again.
The only thing wrong with the car over the winter has been the classic persistent P0101 error, that pops up whenever it's fully up to temp and in overrun for more than a second or two.
Yesterday it started with just a slightly long crank, ran for a minute as I backed out of the driveway, and then stalled a few blocks later and wouldn't restart with any amount of cranking. I got out the hand vacuum, which I'd started carrying in the car just in case, and verified that there was easily pumped fuel in both the after-filter and return lines, and the anti-****ter valve was open. After doing that, which took about 10 minutes, I cranked it over for a good while, maybe 20 or 30 seconds, and it started. I drove it home and used a different car.
In all of these times there was no smoke when it finally started.
I thought maybe it might be relay 109, but the glow plug light has worked like normal when it didn't start and I have read that a bad 109 would stop that from happening. Anyone know for sure if that's a necessary condition to diagnose a bad relay 109? I would love it if it were that simple. What else should I focus on? Unfortunately I don't have VCDS anymore.
The local tdiclub-recommended shop had the car for months in the fall and had me get all the injectors rebuilt before realizing it needed a new camshaft. So I'd rather not take it to them again.
The only thing wrong with the car over the winter has been the classic persistent P0101 error, that pops up whenever it's fully up to temp and in overrun for more than a second or two.