2004 Jetta TDI BEW Engine Wont Start

Hi all,
Okay here goes. Drove the Jetta to work on Tuesday with no problem although she did hesitate when I first started her in the morning. Attempted to start her later that morning and nothing. Engine turns over but won't light off. Tried cranking her several times for several seconds and finally got a CEL with flashing glow plug and oil lights. Scan tool downloaded a "no engine RPM sensor voltage" fault. After researching the fault online figured the fault was caused by cranking the engine for so long without it starting. So I reset the fault. Left car at work and next day started troubleshooting fuel malfunction. A little history - got rear ended a couple of months ago. Damage repaired within a week but noticed a whine coming from the rear passenger area after about a week. Assumed it was something rubbing on the tire after repair because I could only hear the whine when the car was moving above 25mph. Did a little more fuel troubleshooting and isolated problem to a bad lift pump (no sound from pump when ignition turned on). Replaced pump and now sounds coming from pump, fuel being pumped out of filter lines but engine still will not light off. Battery is pretty much dead so I'm gonna throw it on the charger tonight and try again in the AM. Any suggestions? Do you guys think the engine fuel lines are full of air? Is there some type of purge procedure? Could my problem be electrical now? Thanks in advance.

if the battery is pretty much dead then there is a good chance it can't turn the engine fast enough to start it.

Thanks Puter for the reply. That's what I'm hoping. I let you know tomorrow.

kcox69 said:

Scan tool downloaded a "no engine RPM sensor voltage" fault.

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Did you replace the crank speed sensor? If not, that's probably it. When mine went, the car would not start and the glowplug light flashed.

halocline said:

Did you replace the crank speed sensor? If not, that's probably it. When mine went, the car would not start and the glowplug light flashed.

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I'm on my way right now to the local VW parts store. Replaced the battery, which was $30-$80 cheaper at the dealership than the commercial auto parts store, and didn't fix problem. Hopefully, they have the sensor and it fixes the problem. If it does this is really weird. The lift pump, battery, and this sensor all taking a dive at the same time.

Maybe it was the sensor only (and repeated cranking ruined the battery if it was old. Some folks report that their PDs will run without a working lift pump. Mine won't though. I know for a fact!

--Nate

PDJetta said:

Maybe it was the sensor only (and repeated cranking ruined the battery if it was old. Some folks report that their PDs will run without a working lift pump. Mine won't though. I know for a fact!

--Nate

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Nate, I hope you're right and I'm thinking the same thing. We see these kind of problems all the time on planes (I'm an aircraft mechanic). While trouble shooting one fault/malfunction, you find several other problems that won't cause the problem you're seeing but will definitely contribute. The pump was definitely bad. The battery was old and I probably aged it by several months with the repeated cranking. The speed sensor fault is the one constant along with a cylinder 4 glow plug fault. I've had the intermittent glow plug fault for while even though I've replaced all four plugs. It's been constant with the no start problem.

The sensor will cost about $45 from the local dealership but it won't be here until Wednesday or Thursday. It'll cost $70 from Bow Wow Auto Parts and they can have it here Tuesday. For what it cost me to fill the wife's Suburban every three days it'll be cheaper in the long run to pay the extra $25 to get my baby back sooner.

I think DrivBiWire is in Boise, he's a serious guru. If the crank sensor doesn't work (I bet it will) call him. In fact, he might have one

halocline said:

I think DrivBiWire is in Boise, he's a serious guru. If the crank sensor doesn't work (I bet it will) call him. In fact, he might have one

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Thanks Halocline. I'll keep him in mind. I talked to him a couple of years ago when my turbo shelled out. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on the sensor.

*Update* Replaced the ESS and my baby is back on the road. It had pretty much chafed through on something but I can't see where. Looking at where it chafed, the new one shouldn't have that issue. I did notice the original harness had a loop wrapped around the keeper on the oil dipstick tube. I didn't (couldn't get my hands in there) make that loop on the new one. It's not touching anything until it goes into the keepers. Thanks for all the helpful advice. Once again, you guys rocked!

Considering how much I learn from this forum I'm glad I was able to suggest something that worked.

*Update to the Update* Okay, the new ESS fixed the "no start" problem but then engine RPMs wouldn't go above 3K. At about 2.5K RPMs the engine would start to sputter with black smoke coming from exhaust and CEL coming on intermittently. Was able to trip a P0726 code once with a code reader connected and stepping on the gas. But it went away and didn't come back. Looked around on here and other forums and the consensus was a bad ESS. So, grabbed my soldering iron and the old ESS. Voila, old ESS cable good as new. Checked both ESSs with a multimeter. Old ESS read ~500 ohms across pins 1 and 2. New ESS read ~1.2K ohms across pins 1 and 2. Reinstalled repaired original ESS, minus the aforementioned loop, and my baby is rolling again with some pep in her step. Thanks again for all the help.

What exactly did you solder? Any pics?

Sorry to be a bit clueless..
ESS = Engine Speed Sensor?
Where is this located? A pict. of the location and a pict. of the repair would do wonders for me. My car seems to experience what you had from time to time; that's why I'm interested.
Thanks!

He's talking about the crank speed sensor, which is on the front of the engine, easily visible with the plastic cover off, maybe even with it on. It's a magnetic sensor that tells the ECU how fast the crank is spinning; car will not run without it. Apparently there are some TDIs that will; the ECU also gets engine speed/position info from a cam position sensor. I know for an unfortunate fact that the BEW will not run without the crank sensor.