Calling on all BEW experts

leadbear

Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2019
Location
Oberlin, Louisiana
TDI
04 VW Jetta TDI BEW
First of all I would like to thank everyone for their help on here. This page has proven to be a valuable resource over the past few years.

Here is my situation. 04 vw jetta sedan BEW with 350,000 miles. Auto trans has about 140, 000 on it. I can not get the car to start. It turns over and it kinda sputter like one cylinder is firing but nothing. To get it started I have to use a small shot of starting fluid (I know this isn't good but I'm at a loss). When I do get it started I have to keep my foot on the gas, RPMs up, to keep it running until the engine almost reaches normal operating temp.
Then car runs fine. It doesnt miss, I can feel turbo working, no problems at all.
The only codes codes that have come up were do to the excessive cranking such as crank sensor, MAF sensor, and a no speed on the auto trans. Also a code for the ECU comes up during the long cranking. Also the glow plug light blinks after to long of excessive cranking.

I parked one night and the next morning the no start started. Ran perfect that day, no noticeable problems. This has been 8 months ago.

Here is a list of the parts I have changed in these past 8 months and the order I have changed them and things I have checked.

Anti shudder valve
Grounds under battery tray
Crank sensor
Cam sensor
In tank fuel pump (lift pump) the pump was bad and probably was the original problem
Tandum pump
All 4 injectors
MAF sensor
Fuel filters
Plastic T on top of fuel filter
Several fuel lines that were showing signs of wear

On a side note, after setting the injectors the car started and ran good for about 6 weeks. Then starting going back to her old ways.

Changed timing belt, water pump, etc.
Changed camshaft
Injector wiring harness under valve cover

The problem of warming up the engine was present before the timing belt and camshaft job. After the job it still wouldn't start without starting fluid but didnt need to warm up before keeping its idle. But after a week it slowly started to need to be warmed up before idling. After the camshaft timing job, I was adjusting the timing and I could either get it to start when engine was cold, or start when the engine was warmed up, but not both.
Now it doesnt start either way, engine just surges or splitters and will not keep idle.

I have the free version of vag-com and when it is running my injector values are: -0.09, -0.24, +0.16, +0.14.
The torsion value for group 4 that I use to adjust timing is currently set at -2.5. I have tried many other settings both positive, negative, and 0.0 and nothing has worked.

I am currently thinking I could have a bad catalytic converter. It looks to be original. I also have seemed to have developed a good oil leak at the turbo over the past 3 months, have not pin pointed exactly where at from turbo, but would like to get current problem fixed before tackling turbo.

Could this all be because of a bad catalytic converter?
Please help, a second opinion and a new set of eyes on the situation is allways appreciate.
 

leadbear

Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2019
Location
Oberlin, Louisiana
TDI
04 VW Jetta TDI BEW
Theres a lot of people telling me just to get another car. Thebproblem is I like the jetta, everything in and on the car still works, and I know it.
Love the MPG I get and it still runs like a champ, it just doesn't want to start and keep its idle.
 

OlyTDI

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2007
Location
Olympia, WA
TDI
'04 Golf
I am certainly no expert whatsoever on these but the only thing that came to mind after seeing your exhaustive list of interventions was the coolant temp sensor. But I think that would give you a code if behaving badly.


Anyway, free bump for providing such a complete overview of your engagement so far. I expect others will chime-in shortly as you've clearly done due diligence.
 

wonneber

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 12, 2011
Location
Monroe, NY, USA
TDI
2014 Jetta Sportwagon,2003 Jetta 261K Sold but not forgotten
Can you post the codes you get?
Might give a clue.

You posted:
The only codes codes that have come up were do to the excessive cranking such as crank sensor, MAF sensor, and a no speed on the auto trans. Also a code for the ECU comes up during the long cranking. Also the glow plug light blinks after to long of excessive cranking.

Does the battery voltage drop below 9.6 volts while cranking?
The ECU needs at least that much to work.
 

leadbear

Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2019
Location
Oberlin, Louisiana
TDI
04 VW Jetta TDI BEW
Olytdi I changed the coolant temp sensor about 1.5 years ago. Temp gauge on dash works good and nothingis reliable. I should get a code if it would be bad.
The thought has crossed my mind that it could be a bad fuel temp sensor, but that would throw a code as well.

As far as the codes I get, they only come up when cranking is to long. I clear them off regularly but this is some that I get.

01166 engine torque signal
P0101 mass or volume air flow circ./range performance
P0726 engine speed imp. circ. range/performance

If any others come up I will put on here.

I'm not sure about the battery voltage dropping below 9.6 volts while cranking but alternator is good and checked the voltage while the car was running and it was good. Im not sure how I can check the voltage while the car is being cranked. Engine turns over fine and as fast (rpm) as it all ways did.
 

leadbear

Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2019
Location
Oberlin, Louisiana
TDI
04 VW Jetta TDI BEW
Ok I just hooked up VCDS lite and pulled some codes. These are the codes that come up due to excessive crank time.
16485 - mass air flow sensor (G70) implausible signal, P0101
01314 - engine control module 013 check DTC memory intermittent

Along with the 01166 engine torque signal and P0726 engine speed input circ. Implausable signal ( crank sensor). These show up from time to time but not allways. The crank code is the most common.

Here is more info from VCDS lite.
I checked the readiness tab.
MIL status - MIL off
Comprhensive components - failed or incomplete
Fuel system - failed or incomplete
EGR - passed

When engine is still warming, RPMs fluctuate from 902 to 882 RPMs with a noticable miss that goes away the warmer the engine gets. When it reaches normal operating temp it goes away all together and stabilizes at 902.
Group 13 Ink. Quality
-0.78, -0.14, +0.19, +0.94

In group 12 my voltage is 13.0 to 13.7 volts when running. The lowest ive seen is 12.92 volts.

I'm not sure what group 7 is, but here are the readings.
Temp. = 86.4C, Load = 0.0%, Temp = 63.0C, Temp = 92.7C.
The one concern is the load percentage does not change even when I raise the RPMs. Not sure what this measures.
 
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