2002 Jetta Downshift Overboost

Hi, my daughter decided to teach herself to manually shift in our Jetta sedan. As best as she can recall, she was doing well, but at one point was trying to shift into 3rd, but put it in 1st and the car ran at a excessive RPM's, then died. I haven't been able to restart it. All the belts look good and I don't see anything obvious. I did replace and prime the fuel filter. What should I look at next? There are no codes the were thrown, so wondering if going to 1st gear and giving it fuel could have blown the turbo, or intake or something major that I can't see with the naked eye. Thanks for your help.

Check the flywheel timing to see if it agrees with the IP timing hole with a 6mm (or 15/64") drill bit.
This is assuming you don't have timing belt tools to check the cam timing.
A visual check of the timing belt may or may not give more info.
Also check the ASV to see if it's stuck closed.

Agree with Flee on this. But what does it do when you try to start it?

If the timing is still good - I'm betting that there was internal damage to the IP

flee said:

Check the flywheel timing to see if it agrees with the IP timing hole with a 6mm (or 15/64") drill bit.
This is assuming you don't have timing belt tools to check the cam timing.
A visual check of the timing belt may or may not give more info.
Also check the ASV to see if it's stuck closed.

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If I understand correctly, I need to get the engine to TDC and check if the IP still lines up?

I'll check the anti-shudder as well.

ahldailydriver02 said:

Agree with Flee on this. But what does it do when you try to start it?

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It just cranks. It had been sitting for a bit, so I am charging the battery.

gforce1108 said:

If the timing is still good - I'm betting that there was internal damage to the IP

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Would loosening the fuel line and checking for pressure be a way to trouble shoot a damaged injector pump?

You would loosen the injector lines and crank the engine.
Have some rags around the injectors to soak the fuel up.

There's no low pressure fuel pump in the 2002 unless someone replaced the pickup with a transfer type unit.

Scott_Martinez said:

If I understand correctly, I need to get the engine to TDC and check if the IP still lines up?
I'll check the anti-shudder as well.

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Yes.
At TDC they all line up, including the indexing groove on the cam behind the vacuum pump.

If it was out of time there would be visible damage in the belt path, look hard.

BobnOH said:

If it was out of time there would be visible damage in the belt path, look hard.

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I just put in a new battery since the one I was using was toast for sitting dead so long.

I did inspect the anti-shudder, and it is open.

I took of the top timing belt cover and had my wife click through so I could inspect the teeth on the belt and didn't see any obvious damage. I also shot some slow motion video and I think it all looks good. The spring clamp holding the air duct is deep under the head lamp so I couldn't move it out of the way yet. I ran out of daylight today, but will work on that and try to check if the IP is at TDC tomorrow.

Timing belt clean and tight, no pipes blew off (forget the thing under the headlight, that's just air intake), you're all done, nothing happened.
When you said overboost we all get the wrong idea.

Try disconnecting the inlet to the intake manifold (at the ASV) and see if it fires. That will tell you if you have an obstruction in the air path (like a turbo wheel). I'm still thinking IP.

Fixed!

Sorry for not checking back in sooner. I put the car on the back burner when things got busy. I had put in a new battery and fuel filter a couple of months ago. I decided yesterday to make sure the injector pump had pressure and loosened the #1 line. I saw fuel was indeed leaking, so I tightened the line and cranked. -And cranked... and cranked. The fourth time it sputtered, and the 5th time it started and ran like it always had.
I'm guessing that my daughter ran a clogged fuel filter out, and when I replaced it, I didn't let it prime enough. I did add clean diesel to it when I installed it, but it usually started right back up doing regular maintenance. Anyway, I love this car and very happy to have it running after a 2 year hiatus! I'm going to change the oil now, and get tabs tomorrow (if the office is open).

Scott_Martinez, glad to hear you got the engine running.

If this was filter related, I suspect there was a huge amount of vacuum created between the filter and IP which resulted in air being sucked in at the "out" hose on the filter going to the IP. The air created a "out of fuel" situation. The Vane pump inside the IP is very strong.

As for fuel filter life, I've told this story previously. My brother never changed the fuel filter on his 2001 Jetta TDI until it had 171k miles on it........ no issues that he was aware of!