Jetta starts and dies

Hey fellas .new to the page . Having some trouble. I bought a 2000 Jetta tdi recently. Guy couldnt get it to start. I put a fresh battery in. Fired right up ran roughly 30 seconds and slow died out. .cranked right back up and ran bout 5 seconds and will continue to do this. If I let it sit for a few hours and restarts it will runs for about 30 seconds again then repeat same b.s. the immobilizer light is not flashing. I've changed the 109 relay changed the filter I even bypassed the tank and put external tank to make sure I was getting fuel to injection pump. Kinda stuck in a spot not sure what to check next.

Sounds like a fuel supply problem, assuming no DTCs.

Filter, pump, pickup in tank, that sort of thing.

I've bypassed the entire fuel system in car. And went directly from external tank and still could not get car to run for more than a few seconds

Since you bypassed the fuel tank take a look at the air intake and the anti shudder valve.

Make sure the ASV hose is connected to the right place! I've seen this one before.... it's POSSIBLE to connect it incorrectly (e.g. to the EGR vacuum source!) and guess what happens when that occurs.....

Ok thanks for the input. So I checked the vacuum hoses they seem to be right. I decided to pull off the intake hose going to asv coming from intercooler to inspect asv. Decided to crank engine and check it out. Car cranked and ran perfectly fine revved up on command. The instant I put the intake hose back on it choked itself put and died. Pull hose back off and fired up. I've never seen an intercooler get clogged to where it kills an engine. Is that a common problem with thesesl cars.

Could it be a problem with the turbo? (Not sure if a turbo problem would cause the engine to die at idle) Maybe others can chime in here?



Have you tried pulling the intake hose that goes to the air cleaner? Maybe the restriction lies there? (we hope!) Not sure if the MAF sensor could cause this problem?

Major restriction somewhere in the intake alright. If the turbo was seized it may do what you are experiencing as there have been instances where a shaft broke and caused a no run situation, although that may also be to exhaust restriction.
May have to start from the airbox end gradually working upstream to find where the problem lives.

As stated before, check your intake, plugging could be starving it. Even though I've seen a handful that the opening was about the width of a pinkey they still ran.


Could be a restricted cat or froze turbo. When it does run, does it sound healthy then chuggs down and stalls? I'd lean on restricted exhaust.

Air filter or snowscreen blocked?

Sounds like the ASV is stuck closed.

.....or somebody left a rag or paper towel somewhere in the intake to keep stuff from falling in while it was apart and forgot to remove it before assembly.
I've seen that happen once or twice over the years.


....or a mouse nest.