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emergency jumping of car when relay 109 goes
Hi
I read somewhere else jumper between 12-28 relays. It's just my car is at a temp address and would like a way of starting it on fri and moving it to my parents house if i have to. My 109 is due in on thurs from the dealer but if it doesn't work then id like a way of moving the car.
If i did jump it bypassing the relay 109 how many miles could you drive it for? (is 150 out of the question). As i said it completly broke at my temp address and would like to take the car with me on fri so I dont have to come back for it, and someone doesn't break into it (although if they get it started I'd probs let them keep it haha lol)
Hi
I read somewhere else jumper between 12-28 relays. It's just my car is at a temp address and would like a way of starting it on fri and moving it to my parents house if i have to. My 109 is due in on thurs from the dealer but if it doesn't work then id like a way of moving the car.
If i did jump it bypassing the relay 109 how many miles could you drive it for? (is 150 out of the question). As i said it completly broke at my temp address and would like to take the car with me on fri so I dont have to come back for it, and someone doesn't break into it (although if they get it started I'd probs let them keep it haha lol)
1. You were driving along in your car and the engine died and won't start, or it just won't start but may start after sitting for awhile.
The basics.
The fuel being injected is controlled by the computer, but the computer needs electricity to run.
Troubleshooting.
This is easy. Turn the key to "ON" and watch the glow plug light. It looks something like this:
If the some lights come on but the Glow plug light does not come on you have a relay 109 problem. If NO lights come on, you have a power problem so start at the battery and start checking.
The earlier cars had a bad problem with the main power relay which is numbered 109 in the relay panel. The original relay was black, and the updated one is gray.
This relay supplies power to lots of stuff including the main computer. If this relay fails, it is just like the key was turned off. The thing is that the problem is a bad solder joint that opens and closes with heat. Often if you let the car sit for a bit, it will cool back down and that crack will close and you can run again until it heats up enough to open that crack. Some people have had luck opening the relay and resoldering the cracked joints, others have been able to test it by jumpering the terminals 30 and 87 in the relay holder using a piece of wire. You can see the numbers on the relay next to the terminals. Use caution with any temporary repairs or don't drive very far from a fire station.
Check to see if yours is black. If it is, this is a very high failure rate item so it is safe to assume that's the problem and either fix the black relay if you are capable or just drop the $10 and buy a new one. If it isn’t the problem now, it will be in the future, so this is worth replacing.
Here are some old posts about it:
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=199038
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=35854
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showpost.php?p=300195&postcount=1
It’s also possible that the engine will die and not restart, or it may just not start. Just remember to look for that tell-tale glow plug light on the dash.
If the glow plug light comes on, see #4 below.