FIrst start up after rebuild. . .

My friend has taken on the job of rebuilding my 99.5 1.9L after blowing some piston rings and spinning some rod bearings. The engine was completely hot tanked and had the cylinders rehoned along with Races Wares head studs new timing belt, new oil/water pump. All new gaskets and seals, filters, along with a Upsolute Stage III kit and TDiRacing.com P520 nozzles. All the machine work was done at the best shop in the area, everything is set to stock, and my friend is more than capable to handle that task but he has ran into 1 problem. . .

The car won't start, he doesnt think he is priming the fuel pump is seems that there isnt enough fuel getting into the cylinders, he first did the test were he "cracks" the injectors to see if they are spraying, and then he manually pumped fuel to the front of the car is get it going. Does anyone have any ideas or any tips or advice to get my baby running again? Anything would be greatly appreciated

You can see all the work being done here at this site. . . http://forum.benbuilt4u.com/showthread.php?t=553

Hi,

I can't help you with getting the car started (although my first guess is the timing may be off). But I can say that installing Upsolute's Stage III kit in a car with those problems is a REALLY bad idea. Those kits are NOT plug and play; and they frequently need special attention to function as designed. Do I think the kit is responsible for the car not starting? Certainly not. But you won't know which way to look when the car isn't driving as expected when you DO finally get it started.

IMHO, you should remove the kit until you get your car running as designed. Once you've ironed out all the bugs that may be a result of your rebuild, THEN slap in the Stage III kit and deal with THOSE bugs (if there are any). Doing both major projects at once will leave you chasing issues and not knowing where to assign blame for given problems. The Upsolute kit is not perfect; and your friend's rebuild could be suspect as well. I think temporarily removing the Upsolute kit will remove at least one variable.

Good Luck,

Scott

The reason is the stage III is being installed is because the stock turbo went, before the rebuild. I have nothing else to "work the bugs out with"

Fuel is the most common problem with these cars after they have been worked on. Try loosening # 1 and #4 fuel lines to the nozzles at the nozzle. Leave the other two tightened. crank the car a few times to see if fuel is coming from these two loose points. If yes, tighten up and try and start. It should give a kick and will be rough for a short time and then should smooth out. If no fuel after a reasonable time you as you stated are not getting fuel to the pump.

Ynot

does your friend have the TDI timing belt tools; pump pin, cam lock? I'm just asking.

does your friend have the TDI timing belt tools; pump pin, cam lock? I'm just asking.

Click to expand...

I really am not sure to be honest but i can find out

yikes... this seems like a potential nightmare. You might want to contact car54 (Matt...is independent) or TDItech (Troy...works at Fairfax VW) as they are both locals in NoVA and know these TDIs inside out.

Post your troubles on the EASTCOAST forums as someone MAY have a spare vnt15 that could be used to work some of these bugs out...as long as you have the right 'stock' ECU. Scott is right...remove the Up package to sort this out...

yikes... this seems like a potential nightmare. You might want to contact car54 (Matt...is independent) or TDItech (Troy...works at Fairfax VW) as they are both locals in NoVA and know these TDIs inside out.

Post your troubles on the EASTCOAST forums as someone MAY have a spare vnt15 that could be used to work some of these bugs out...as long as you have the right 'stock' ECU. Scott is right...remove the Up package to sort this out...

Click to expand...

I do agree, at this point and time it would be the best solution but i have NOTHING stock to convert it back to

get the engine into the hands of someone who knows the workings of a TDI... You find out if your man had the right tools for the timing belt job?

More than one person here has had the same problem and SWORN that their timing was set PERFECT. Turns out, mechanic had the pump gear lock pin in the WRONG hole on pump side. There are two spots that FEEL correct, only one is. Read the pdf by DBW carefully and have your mechanic double, triple check the pump gear timing.

Edited to correct cam to pump. Sheesh, gotta check these closer...

Got_Vdub.. I sent you a PM. I have a timing belt tool kit. I'll come out and give you guys a hand if you need me to.

Cam timing 180 degrees out?

Hey all. I went over and helped out got_vdub's friend J with the TDI. We reset the timing, and turned the motor over. No start. Cracked the lines, and fuel was coming out of loosened injectors, but was foamy. After puttnig in a call to jsrmonster, we hardened the pump using a hand vacuum pump on the return, and a funnel of fuel on the inlet to the pump. Turned the motor with the funnel still connected and a can of fuel handy, and it almost fired. I adjusted the injector pump timing, success, sorta. The car fired and ran. Fuel started pumping out of the disconnected side of the fuel filter (to the injection pump) so we turned it off. Hooked the pump back to the filter, and it doesn't run. We put the funnel back on, and tried again, it ran, but when we release the accelerator after raising the RPMs a little, there is a knock, it is sporadic, and doesn't seem to be a rod knock, will lean fueling in a TDI cause a knock? So, I have several questions that I would like to get perspective on at this point.

1: How long can diesel fuel sit before going bad? Is there any way to test the fuel? (Its been sitting since January)

2: Will lean fueling cause a knock? If not, has anyone experienced this and know what the problem could be.

how's your oil pressure? Check your oil filter to see if oil is flowing. You might want to add some oil through the filter housing to prime the oil pump.

What about the shelf life of the fuel? Should it still be good after sitting for 8 months? I don't think it is any good, but one of the other guys working on the project thinks it still should be good, but its a PITA to empty these tanks, as far as I can tell.

Update: I went over and we pumped out all of the old fuel, put in new fuel, and it fired right up. I adjusted the Injection Timing to be slightly advanced, and the car runs. It still has a knock. It doesn't appear until the car idles for a minute or 2. We have pretty well isolated it to be coming from the #1 Cylinder. The oil filter is wet, so we have oil pressure. Anyone have any thoughts on what would cause this situation?

diesel doesn't go bad by just sitting around, unlike gasoline. The only thing that can happen while sitting is the growth of algae in the tank from condensation moisture. If this happens, the fuel filters will clog as well as the pickup. Solution is to pump out fuel and clean the tank, replace filter.

knock: wrist pin? cam follower?

Just read this thread and am wondering whatt he final story is.