05 Passat TDI won't start. Help!

We have a 2005 Passat TDI 2.0. I was driving the car from a neighbor's house to mine (just down the street), let it idle in the driveway for a minute and was driving back down the street when the car died. I coasted into the neighbor's driveway and tried to start it. It will turnover but won't start.

I asked a buddy to help and we have done the following:
Scanned for codes with a diagnostic tool - No codes found
Checked injectors, fuel pump, cam sensor, timing belt - all seem fine

One last piece of info is that when the key is on, all of the dash indicators light up as usual.

Does anyone have any insight into what this problem could be?
Thanks,
OBXTDI

Watch engine data with scan tool and see if there is cranking signal.

crank it, see if RPM's move

RPMs do not move on tach.

Sorry, RPMs do move on tach.

crank or cam sensor bad, believe crank sensor, check wiring to it first, wires get brittle

Sorry the tach does register 200rpms after cranking for about 2 seconds. We did unplug 1 injector at a time and try to start looking for a bad injector. We also unplugged the cam sensor and tried to start it again and from the forums i gather the engine will run without it but takes a little longer to start. We also replaced the fuel filter and did a pressure test and we have good fuel pressure. Any ideas. Thank you

how did you unplug the injectors

afarfalla said:

how did you unplug the injectors

Click to expand...

Maybe he meant glow plugs?

believe your right would have to be glo plugs

We unplugged the wires to the injectors, one at a time and tried to start the engine.

I am not a car mechanic which is why I am hoping to get some help here. I had been surfing YouTube trying to find out why it just died and this was one of the suggestions.

I appreciate all the help!

I know this may be a stupid question but can one use a squirt can with diesel in it, squirt it into the intake while turning it over and see if she fires off? We have done it on old diesels and still do it on gas engines all the time but have never thought of this with a vw diesel motor.

If it will work it will pretty much eliminate compression and timing issues and would put it as a fuel system/delivery issue whether that be fuel not getting to injectors or something not allowing fuel injectors to fire (electric) issue. The fuel injectors are run by cam on these correct? The cam is a known fail point. Although i own seveal BHWs im still learning how they operate, doing swaps and conversions with them is elementary compared to the complex operating systems on these.

OBXTDI said:

We unplugged the wires to the injectors, one at a time and tried to start the engine.

I am not a car mechanic which is why I am hoping to get some help here. I had been surfing YouTube trying to find out why it just died and this was one of the suggestions.

I appreciate all the help!

Click to expand...

I think you need to get the car to someone with some better knowledge and equipment. There is a "trusted mechanics" list on this site.

LOTS of folks in North Carolina:

Import Auto Werks
1823 E Millbrook Rd # 106
Raleigh, NC 27609
(919) 871-5850 Chris Dale (eastern NC)

German Imports
6385 Irish Potato Road
Kannapolis, NC 28083
(704) 932-8211

German Speed Merchants
6016 Market Street
Wilmington, NC 28405
Parts: (910) 799-7920
Service: (910) 791-4844
gsmwerk@yahoo.com
http://www.germanspeedmerchants.com/

TurbineWhine
Asheville, NC
http://forums.tdiclub.com/member.php?u=36454
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showpost.p...6&postcount=12

Dave's VW Service
Wilmington, NC
910-392-4285
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showpost.p...2&postcount=37
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showpost.p...4&postcount=34

Apex Tuning
1700 B North Salem St.
Apex, NC 27523
919-303-0013
Sales: sales@apex-tuning.com
http://www.apex-tuning.com
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showpost.p...postcount=1020

osidak
Omar Sidak
Davidson, NC
tdiwrench@carolina.rr.com
704.701.4040

Appalachian Diesel Works
Daniel Grindstaff, owner
2893 New Leicester Hwy (NC highway 63)
Leicester, NC 28748
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.6573...ZA!2e0!6m1!1e1
aka "DG-TDI" on TDIclub
828-273-8951
degrindstaff@gmail.com

Everything Euro
3190 Peters Creek Parkway
Winston Salem NC
336-577-3484
Walt@EverythingEuro on TDIClub
www.everythingeuro.com

Guy Roberts Volkswagen Repair
2574 Highway 16-S,
Newton, NC 28658
828-465-1750
http://guyrobertsvw.mynetworksolutions.com

OBXTDI said:

We unplugged the wires to the injectors, one at a time and tried to start the engine.

I am not a car mechanic which is why I am hoping to get some help here. I had been surfing YouTube trying to find out why it just died and this was one of the suggestions.

I appreciate all the help!

Click to expand...

injectors in your car are mechanical they run off the cam

when you turn the key on can you hear the fuel pump run in the tank, under rear passenger seat, you could have lost hi pressure from your tandem fuel pump to the injectors, try cranking for 5 seconds then rest for 5 seconds do that till it starts

afarfalla said:

injectors in your car are mechanical they run off the cam

when you turn the key on can you hear the fuel pump run in the tank, under rear passenger seat, you could have lost hi pressure from your tandem fuel pump to the injectors, try cranking for 5 seconds then rest for 5 seconds do that till it starts

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion afarfalla. I tried this 6 times and no luck. Let me know if you think of something else I can try.

Thanks,
OBXTDI

it may take more than 6x's, make sure the fuel pump in the tanks runs when you turn on the key

Thanks afarfalla, I will try it again.

Does anyone know if there is 2 fuel pumps? It would make sense to me that the pump and the tank would supply fuel to the filter, and then a high pressure pump would supply fuel to the injectors. If this is the case, does anyone know the correct PSI the high pressure pump should be supplying?

2 pumps, one in the tank, to the filter, from filter to tandem pump, tandem pump to the injectors. From filter you have a return to the tank thru the fuel cooler. Tandem pump puts out 20K psi I believe

Check your air hose to the cooler, it goes under radiator. If you blew the turbo that will fill with oil, and you will not get air into the cyclinders!

fairbanks said:

Check your air hose to the cooler, it goes under radiator. If you blew the turbo that will fill with oil, and you will not get air into the cyclinders!

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That's an interesting thought. I have read of BEW turbos failing and blocking the airflow, but I can see how the oil could block the airflow and since the turbo I'd also blocking some airflow, there just isn't enough flow to get the air into the engine.

That may not make sense since I'm trying to dull some pain right now...

Happened to me while driving got very sluggish and died, would crank, and crank, but in that tube that spans across the bottom of the radiator, full of oil!

2005 VW Passat TDI 2.0