Hard to start. Doesn't matter hot or cold ???

Hard to start. Doesn\'t matter hot or cold ???

Looking at a 1999 Beetle TDI at a dealership ( Non-VW ). Car runs great, plenty of power. However, its hard to start. It takes several seconds of cranking to bring it to life. Doesn't matter if its cold, or if you shut it off after 10 min of driving. It still cranks a long time before it will start. Whats the most likely cause and what is involved in fixing this ??
Thanks
-Brandon

Re: Hard to start. Doesn\'t matter hot or cold ???

Long list of potentials - battery, starter motor, timing, air in fuel line are the ones that come to mind. Each is easy to identify then fix or replace. I assume others will suggest other problems.

Re: Hard to start. Doesn\'t matter hot or cold ???

I'm almost certain it isn't the starter or battery. It cranks strong and fast. I noticed that if I slightly tap the accelerator during cranking it seems to help.

Re: Hard to start. Doesn\'t matter hot or cold ???

The fuel pedal shouldn't matter in starting - it's drive by wire, and the computer controls this until it's going. iirc, the nb has a black fuel line, so you can't see if it's got air in it. Good luck with this - hopefully you will make the right decision concerning the purchase. If you'd put your location in your profile, someone might be able to help you.

Re: Hard to start. Doesn\'t matter hot or cold ???

I say basic timing is retarded. You didnt' say how much mileage and whether a belt was done.

Re: Hard to start. Doesn\'t matter hot or cold ???

Try looking at the glow plug wiring harness issue. I had the exact same problem and that's what fixed it. good luck

Hard to start. Doesn\'t matter hot or cold ???

Belt was changed about 20K ago. It has 101,000 Miles on it. I haven't been able to get in touch with the previous owner. I found the records in the manual so thats how I know it was changed.

Hard to start. Doesn\'t matter hot or cold ???

Who replaced the belt and was the timing set to obtain the best starts after the belt change? That is the big question.

If you can take it for a test drive without a sales snake with you and you can take it to someone that can check the timing, that would be best. And I'm not talking about the dealer. As long as the timing is in the window, they won't touch it, most likely.

Hard to start. Doesn\'t matter hot or cold ???

Slight expansion on what WD says - the "window" has above "line" and below "line" that is considered acceptable. Most on this forum feel that close to the "top line" is much better than below the middle line.