2003 Jetta Will not crank

Hello, it has been 6 years since requiring some help. Yesterday ,after sitting for two weeks I went to start the car. The battery is 6 months old and the Alternator was replaced in Oct. 2018. I had a maintainer on the battery. Turn key, glow plugs glow, turn to start and it made one crank and stopped. Now turning the key and it will not crank. It started fine two weeks ago.



This is the original starter with 246K miles. Is this sounding like the starter died or do I have to delve into wiring, relays, fuses, etc?



The last time I had a bad starter was back in the 1970's in a '72 Buick. When those starters went they made clicking sounds. The Jetta, no sounds.


Any advise would be appreciated, thank you.

A multimeter would really be of help here you could tell in a moment if your battery was charged or not. Usually a click like you describe is a low battery or a bad connection.

Try cleaning the battery terminals and see if that makes a difference. Sometimes just wiggling the cables does the trick.


A multimeter at Walmart or Home Depot is less than $30. You tube how to use one. The first time it keeps you from buying a battery you don’t need it has paid for itself 4 times over.

I have a multi-meter. The battery is at 13.1 Volts and does not change when I turn the key to start.


The clicking sounds, I described was from an old Buick. That is my only frame of reference for a bad starter. I don't know the symptoms for the VW.



Since there are no sounds from the VW, I thought it could be an electrical problem since it did make one revolution before dying.



I did clean all battery cable connections when I installed the battery.


Before I spring for a starter, I would like to know definitively it is the starter.


Thanks for your reply, I will check and clean the connections at the starter and see if that fixes it.

Check fuses on the battery and the internal by door.
To check the starter, pull the square plug and jump from the positive side of the battery to the stud inside on the starter. With the key off it should crank and not start, with it on it should start.

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If it's a manual make sure it's in neutral before you try jumping a starter... seems like it goes without saying but I've seen some close calls- so it's worth mentioning.

Here is a quick and simple test- first, check fuses. Second, assuming good fuses, turn key to start and hold for 2-3 seconds. Then, quickly walk around and feel if the starter has gotten warm or even hot. If it has, make sure the engine will rotate by hand/ratchet from the crank pulley.
If it heated up and the engine turns freely, you may have shorted windings- time to either replace or have a reputable electric motor shop rebuild it.
If it did not heat up, you need to make sure the start wire gets power when you turn the key to start.
If it does get power, and the main battery feed looks good, you may have a faulty solenoid- replace or have rebuilt.

If the engine won't turn or the starter signal wire doesn't get power, that will be a different set of steps.

If the voltage does not drop at the battery when you turn the key to START and the voltage at the battery is normal then there's no current (or very little) getting to the starter motor. That implicates either the large braided cable from the solenoid to the motor itself (a common failure), the points in the solenoid (somewhat less common but they do fail too), the large primary cable to the starter lug or the windings in the starter itself are open. Check all of those and you should find the problem.

I found some other threads on this subject. I had my wife push down on the clutch and turn the key to start while I had my hand on the starter solenoid. I did not feel anything move. I have the VW schematic, it shows a relay under the dash which I assume gets energized by the key in conjunction with the clutch being depressed. The schematic does not show any fuses in the circuit. With the key, on, all the lights, light so power is at the ignition switch. The fuses on top of the battery are all OK. There is nothing I can find indicating the fuses on the driver side of the dash are in the start circuit. The connections to the starter are under the battery, can I get to the 'start' wire and disconnect it without removing the battery? Is it easy to feel for it? Does it pull off or do I have to press release tabs? Lastly, for this reply, is there a more readable schematic out there other than the cryptic schematic in the shop manual?

The fuse supplies power to the relay and a couple others. I use an ohmmeter with sound to check for dead fuses.
The relay is definitely a possibility, however, it's usually intermittent at first. They rarely just stop working, when that's the case it's generally a blown fuse, a clutch switch not contacting, or broken wire.
Usually is not always of course, but, rarely is it not

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Oooh good point eddie- the clutch switch may have pooped out.
Remind me, can one disconnect the switch and place in a jumper wire to test on these? I can't recall if they'll accept a straight-jumped signal.

There IS, as noted, a clutch interlock switch. If it has failed the car will not crank as no power gets to the solenoid.

Check for +12V at the solenoid trigger (thin wire on the starter) when you turn the key to START. If there's no power there then the starter will not engage; either that wire is bad or something in the path is, and the clutch interlock switch is a fairly high-probability point of failure.

BE CAREFUL working around the starter with tools while the battery is connected; if you short the primary feed cable (the fat one) to anything metal on the vehicle you're going to be EXTREMELY unhappy.

With your multi meter see what kind of voltage you have at the big cable that runs from the battery to the starter. You should have battery voltage.



Speaking of battery voltage, you said you have 13.1? Is that sitting in the driveway with the engine off? If so that seems a little high. Is your multi meter working properly?

I removed the battery and the tray, the cables look in good, the braided copper wire from the solenoid is not in the greatest shape. Now that I have access to the start wire I will put a jumper wire on it so I can see if it is the starter or the wiring.


The battery has 13.1 volts because I keep a trickle charger on it. I do this on any of my cars that are going to sit for longer than a few days. My Miata is a 2001 and I still have the original battery in it. Otherwise I get about 10 years out of a car battery.


It is a holiday this weekend and our guests have arrived. I will return with further news in a day or so. Have a happy Memorial day!

The jumper should work fine, I believe it's a contact switch. Otherwise, you could just pull the plug and it would start.

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Hope you all enjoyed the weekend.


Here is the update.



So, I put the battery back in and had a jumper wire in the start connection of the starter, connecting the jumper to the B+ on the battery and nothing. No click, no noises. So I am guessing it is the starter that went bad.


Just before I was going to make the jumper contact to B+, I remembered, Take it out of gear. So thanks for that reminder!

Quickest check always is: take the trigger wire off, put a 12v light/multimeter on it, if its getting signal when key is in start position the fault is at the starter..

The braided wirer over time between the solenoid and brushed corrodes and breaks, most likely the cause.

Even if the braided wire is broken, shouldn't there be a clicking noise from the solenoid? There was no noise from the solenoid.

Starter Signal wire should not get power in "Run", only "Start"

tdimoth said:

Even if the braided wire is broken, shouldn't there be a clicking noise from the solenoid? There was no noise from the solenoid.

Click to expand...

Yes, jumping to the square plug post you should get a click either way. The check before thinking it's starter from this point is to ensure a solid ground. Usually this is no issue, however, it can be.
Check for continuity between the block and the negative terminal on the battery and between the starter body and the negative terminal.
If there's no continuity between the negative post and either location you're looking at a ground issue. The starter grounds through the body to the block and the block grounds to the body and the battery, via the pay under the battery.

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The ground is good.
There is a small spark when I jumper the start terminal to B+ so there is a connection. I will check that I get a voltage on the start wire when the key is in start. It does appear that the starter is bad, however.

tdimoth said:

The ground is good.
There is a small spark when I jumper the start terminal to B+ so there is a connection. I will check that I get a voltage on the start wire when the key is in start. It does appear that the starter is bad, however.

Click to expand...

Sounds about right for the solenoid being bad if there's no click and is been energized.

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Hi folks, I was able to get to my VW this morning.
I get 12 Volts to the start wire and the engine turns over by hand.
I am 99.999% certain it is the starter gone bad.


What is your opinion of the DELCO rebuilt from Rockauto?


Thank you all for your posts to this thread, very helpful!

I know most people here will swear by bosch, and that others absolutely hate rock auto. The starter isn't hard to change. All I would suggest is whichever route you go, make sure it comes with a good warranty. Most places offer lifetime, no question asked.

I use Rockauto for all things generic.
I don't buy rebuilt stuff, they always want a core and new stuff doesn't. I've never had a bed new part, however, plenty of bad rebuilt parts.
I would go with a new Valeo as I have, however, carid.com car-parts.com are a couple I use when trying to get reputable new parts at a lower price.
Rock doesn't have most of the brands I want and carid often had them at a better price. That's where I ended up getting my lift pump...

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I went with the the Delco rebuilt Bosch at Rockauto for approx $100.
The new Bosch unit was approx $400 at Rockauto.
I have had good results with rebuilt calipers by Delco. we'll see.


Regarding Rockauto I'm about 94% satisfied. They seem to have a problem with left and right brake hoses being mis-marked.


Here's a question, does the '03 TDI have a lift pump in the tank?

Not from the factory

Just from too much reading on the forum, I say get a Bosch or Bosch certified, accept no substitues. You might be able to clean and lube yours, if it's not damaged.
2003 TDI has just 1 fuel pump.