long crank and white smoke after start

oh-man67

Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2011
Location
naples fl
TDI
2002 jetta
I'm still new to the tdi but since I've owned it, intermittently I'll have a long crank/stumble and a cloud of white smoke on inital start up. Its a 2002 jetta with an auto and most times its ok but still ramdomly long crank. This has happened since I got it but I have (not to eliminate this issue) resealed the injector pump, replaced t-belt and water pump, new tires, air and fuel filters, etc etc. I live in southern florida so its not real cold at any time and this has happened even when warmer out. Any help would be great. I'm thinking the anti shudder valve is sticking or the valves are leaking oil down and compression isnt great after that or something.
 

Powder Hound

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 25, 1999
Location
Under a Bridge, Crestview, FL, USA
TDI
'00 Golf 4dr White 5sp, '02 Jettachero 5sp, Wife's '03 NB Platinum Gray auto(!)
I vote the anti-shudder valve sticking. If the valve seals are leaking, then you'd get smoke every time after x hours of non-running (i.e. however long it takes sufficient oil to ooze past the valve seal and dribble into a cylinder).
 

dodgediesel

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2008
Location
ohio, usa
TDI
'96 Passat, 2002 Jetta
Have you checked the clear fuel line by the pump to make sure there isn't air in the system? You can open the hood and look before you try to start it, or look right after a hard start and see if air bubbles are blazing around in the tubing.
 

CustomShirt

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 1, 2012
Location
San Diego
TDI
2003 Jetta Wagon GLS
White smoke, however, usually means water... so (if it is, in fact, water) either it's in the fuel, or worse... it's the head gasket.
 

oh-man67

Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2011
Location
naples fl
TDI
2002 jetta
Somehow I dont have the clear line on any section of my fuel system. Must have had replacement lines installed. I thought that the ip held reserve fuel, at least enough to start the car but that may be my issue. As for coolant leak, maybe, the level hasnt dropped at all. I've been checking it since I did the water pump and timing belt just to make sure I didnt have a leak. Hasnt happened for a few days but probably will tomarrow. Thanks.
 

03bora

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2007
Location
Salinas, Ca
TDI
2003 Jetta GL
White smoke, however, usually means water... so (if it is, in fact, water) either it's in the fuel, or worse... it's the head gasket.
I second this....a head gasket leak internally. From a split in the gasket from one of the coolant passages to the combustion chamber. When you start the car up after it has been sitting over night, does the radiator hoses get hard quick, in a short amount of time...like the system is under pressure? If so, that would be something that would raise a red flag.
 

slam

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2008
Location
San Jose, California
TDI
1996 Passat TDI B4V Wagon
I had a head gasket leak. It was blowing all the coolant out of my coolant tank when I drove on the freeway. I don't know if you can have a coolant leak on the TDI and not blow all your coolant out.

White smoke can easily be fuel. Sniff it, you can tell if it's fuel. And if it was water it would probably evaporate fast; a persistent cloud of white is probably fuel.

I got this issue myself right now. New head gasket, new valve seats and seals. Timing is spot on, but other threads recommend using Vagcom/VCDS to check various temp sensors and stuff.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=335390&highlight=hard+start

Where is the anti-shudder valve? Does the 1Z have one?
 

dodgediesel

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2008
Location
ohio, usa
TDI
'96 Passat, 2002 Jetta
The anti-shudder valve isn't on a 1Z, but on the ALH engine, it's up near where the EGR is on a 1Z.
oh-man67 - when it finally starts, does it continue to stumble/miss, or is it smooth as soon as it starts?
 

slam

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2008
Location
San Jose, California
TDI
1996 Passat TDI B4V Wagon
I don't know about his, but when mine starts, it runs great. Smooth as butter. After a couple of minutes the smoke clears up, too.
 

jettawreck

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 2, 2004
Location
Northern Minnesota-55744
TDI
2001 Jetta and 2003 Jetta
Somehow I dont have the clear line on any section of my fuel system. Must have had replacement lines installed. I thought that the ip held reserve fuel, at least enough to start the car but that may be my issue. As for coolant leak, maybe, the level hasnt dropped at all. I've been checking it since I did the water pump and timing belt just to make sure I didnt have a leak. Hasnt happened for a few days but probably will tomarrow. Thanks.
The thermo "T" fitting o-rings are the most common source of air in the fuel system. New o-rings and/or coat them with some petroleum jelly or I used some heavy bearing grease before inserting into filter canister.

TB has been replaced. Where is the timing on the VCDS timing check graph?? Up above the middle (at least) is better for cold starts-if there can be such a thing in Florida.

Headgasket leak-I don't think so.
 

oh-man67

Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2011
Location
naples fl
TDI
2002 jetta
Thanks for the insight. This is what I"ve noticed exactly. Maybe every third day of cold starts, it takes about 20 sec of cranking to actually start. It may fire a couple of times during this period but not run. Once it does start there is a cloud of white smoke that smells like oil or maybe fuel. It runs kinda rough for a few seconds kinda like its loaded up or like a gas engine after its flooded but after that it runs and drives fine. I have a vagcom and there are no codes and timing is where it should be. Also there is no excessive cooling system pressure and no lost of coolant or transfer of fluids ie oil in water or fuel in oil. Just drove it to orlando and back ( 400+ miles) with no issues and got 43 mpg (its an automatic) so I think overall its running well. Aside from the starting issue its great but I think my girlfried is starting to question the reliability and think it'll leave her srtanded like my 6.0 ford did. Thanks.
 

jettawreck

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 2, 2004
Location
Northern Minnesota-55744
TDI
2001 Jetta and 2003 Jetta
For some reason the air leaks can be rather intermittant. One day fires right off, the next time it cranks longer than it should. Any time it cranks longer than "normal" it seems there is a lot more smoke than usual because some fuel is being injected but not well.
mileage seems ok for an auto.
 

oh-man67

Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2011
Location
naples fl
TDI
2002 jetta
cool, thanks. Think I'll install the new set of fuel lines to see if there are any bubbles, Too I was thinking about a lift pump or one of those external low psi diesel pumps. If the lack of fuel is my issue, this will correct it right?
 

jettawreck

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 2, 2004
Location
Northern Minnesota-55744
TDI
2001 Jetta and 2003 Jetta
cool, thanks. Think I'll install the new set of fuel lines to see if there are any bubbles, Too I was thinking about a lift pump or one of those external low psi diesel pumps. If the lack of fuel is my issue, this will correct it right?
You shouldn't need a lift pump. Find and fix the problem, even if it goes to something a bit more complicated like an IP seal leak. Don't add another potential issue. On rare occasions the fuel sender unit has been known to develope cracks in the pick up tube. Check out the easy stuff first. Maybe pull a vacuum on the fuel line just before the IP and see if there is a air leak downstream.
 

Neukom720

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 15, 2010
Location
Roxbury,Ct
TDI
1999.5 Jetta TDI
im having pretty much the same problem. new belt, new headgasket, the whole shabam ya know the drill. I had vw time the motor and it takes over 10 seconds to start after its been sitting overnight. Could it be injection pump timing? Could vw have set my pump a tooth off or something?
 

CustomShirt

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 1, 2012
Location
San Diego
TDI
2003 Jetta Wagon GLS
With a tooth off, your engine would not run at all... the timing is so sensitive, if you adjust it and you see the pulley move, you basically did too much...

If you have a Vag-Com, check it... or find someone who does have one... for the injection timing, you will see three lines, going slightly diagonally down from left to right... the Yellow (pump timing) line should peak near the top line, or at least between the top line and the center line. Otherwise, the computer will have to compensate too much and you can get a P1248 error.

Sadly, not many VW technicians are all up on the diesel specific settings...
 

slam

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2008
Location
San Jose, California
TDI
1996 Passat TDI B4V Wagon
Okay, it looks like I had multiple issues. That's the worse kind of trouble to try to trouble-shoot.

My timing was way off and I finally managed to get it back to where it should be. But my hard starts persisted, though the startup smoke went down to a minimum. I also started getting power loss at wide-open-throttle. And I seemed to have too many bubbles in the fuel line.

I took it on a road trip anyway... and lost so much power I could only manage 45 mpg on the freeway. Finally pulled into a rest stop and had the motor die as I rolled in.

Luckily I travel with tools and spare parts and I keep a 12v fuel pump in my engine compartment because I've had fuel issues in the past (part of a crap veggie fuel installation I had to rip out). I isolated the problem to the fuel filter: I could not pump fuel through the filter (air leak or clog) but I could pump fuel directly from the tank.

I had a cheap glass inline filter with me and I was able to bypass the OEM fuel filter for both fuel feed and return. No more hard starts, no more loss of power.

My next project now that I am home is the thermal T delete. I'm also considering replacing the OEM fuel filter with one of those industrial glass filters. I like to see the filtered crap.
 
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