Previous owner filled gasoline instead of diesel

Hello guys!

I really need some professional help here.
April 2014 I bought my VW Golf MK6 1.6 TDI Bluemotion with the common rail system.

Shortly after that I felt that the starter was going for a longer time than it should do, so I went to the official dealer in Norway for a diagnostics. I had to do this two times without any results. They even had it for a week to start it every day to try to find the problem. Costed $185 for every diagnostics.

So, when I took it in for the first diagnostics I was told that the previous owner filled gasoline instead of diesel, and got a towing car to tow it to the workshop. They changed fuel filter and cleaned the tank.

I even recorded when starting the engine, but they're saying everything is Normal. This winter i had a problem starting it. Well, in -27 celcius (-16.6 farenheit) I might understand that it won't start without the DEFA system I've got installed. But in January when it was about -2.5 celcius (27.5 farenheit) it just died when I was trying to start it. It got to 1000rpm, then died. I changed diesel filter, but it didn't help. I had it for a diagnostics again, and they told me to change the diesel injector, which I did for $1228. But this didn't help either.

Sometimes it starts immediately, and the other times it takes 1-4 rounds more before starting.

Now I'm wondering about trying to change the glow plugs, just to do it and eliminate that as an option.

Anyone got any ideas? I really like my car and take care of it, but I need everything to run smooth too.

Understand that there are different levels of misfueling. In other words differing ratios of diesel to gas depending on the amount of diesel in the tank at the time it was filled.

I'll note that a slug of gasoline will pretty much stop a TDI right now. While not good for the system it's not a killer either. Most times a lot of white smoke, no power, then quiet. Lesser amounts cause poor performance at minimum but probably no damage.

VagCom would have paid for itself in spades. It appears that your dealer in Norway is much like too many dealers here. They're very good at charging exorbitant fees and doing nothing.

Based on your description and the lack of a CEL I'd wish to confirm good compression. If low compression your glow plug/pressure sensors should see this and set a CEL and code. The same being true for both glow lugs and harness. A CEL should be set. The fact that the car does start and run normally suggests that all is well in your combustion chambers and probably with your glow plugs.

Then the HPFP and associated fueling issues. There should be a code set if rail pressure is out of specs. Your in-tank fuel pump is not monitored by the ECU though and I think I'd want to check it. Unfortunately since no codes I can only advise that unmonitored items must be suspect and your in-tank pump is a primary candidate.

Two other things come immediately to mind. First is a hanging shutter plate on your ASV. Again, you should see a CEL if the ASV is failing. Honestly I don't think this is the issue but it must be eliminated.

Next up is Intercooler icing. As for starting a TDI we often see -20F here and I have no problems with unassisted starts, so I don't think low temps are the real issue. Very cold air is also very dry air. Icing would not be expected. Things change as temps rise toward freezing and even above. Ambient air at near the freezing mark carries a lot of moisture and charge air freezing can become an issue. You might consider removing the charge air tube as it enters the ASV and see if the engine comes to life. If it does, then you've located the problem. As to a real fix I don't have that answer. All I can share is that Intercooler moisture must be dealt with and removed.

Good luck!

Thank you for your reply, nord!

nord said:

Understand that there are different levels of misfueling. In other words differing ratios of diesel to gas depending on the amount of diesel in the tank at the time it was filled.

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The workshop have no information about how much gas he filled, and if he started the car after misfueling.

nord said:

VagCom would have paid for itself in spades. It appears that your dealer in Norway is much like too many dealers here. They're very good at charging exorbitant fees and doing nothing.

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I totally agree with you, after paying them over $550 for diagnostics and no results I'm pretty disappointed

nord said:

Based on your description and the lack of a CEL I'd wish to confirm good compression. If low compression your glow plug/pressure sensors should see this and set a CEL and code. The same being true for both glow lugs and harness. A CEL should be set. The fact that the car does start and run normally suggests that all is well in your combustion chambers and probably with your glow plugs.

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The compression has been checked and are fine.
This is my first diesel car, and when it has been "hard" to start it's shaking a little bit, and when i press the throttle the rpm is a little unstable (not much).

nord said:

Then the HPFP and associated fueling issues. There should be a code set if rail pressure is out of specs. Your in-tank fuel pump is not monitored by the ECU though and I think I'd want to check it. Unfortunately since no codes I can only advise that unmonitored items must be suspect and your in-tank pump is a primary candidate.

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The rail should be fine, but why do you suspect the in-tank fuel pump? Can that take damage of the misfuel?

nord said:

Two other things come immediately to mind. First is a hanging shutter plate on your ASV. Again, you should see a CEL if the ASV is failing. Honestly I don't think this is the issue but it must be eliminated.

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What is ASV? Google didn't want to help me.

nord said:

Next up is Intercooler icing. As for starting a TDI we often see -20F here and I have no problems with unassisted starts, so I don't think low temps are the real issue. Very cold air is also very dry air. Icing would not be expected. Things change as temps rise toward freezing and even above. Ambient air at near the freezing mark carries a lot of moisture and charge air freezing can become an issue. You might consider removing the charge air tube as it enters the ASV and see if the engine comes to life. If it does, then you've located the problem. As to a real fix I don't have that answer. All I can share is that Intercooler moisture must be dealt with and removed.

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I'll check that one out!

Thank you very much for using your time to help me. Now I have more things to investigate in order to find the problem.

Have the rail pressure checked and see if the lift pump is working.

Firstly, the 1.6 TDI does not have the intercooler icing issues. Euro specs do not suffer from that problem at all, as there is no LP EGR system.

OP, what is the ECU software version on your car? If it is anything lower than 9972 or 9971, the first thing I would do is pay the dealer to update the software. Old software versions are known to cause strange and funny problems.

Hi guys,

I just remembered that I uploaded two videos on Youtube.

-11.5c (-11,3f) outside, not starting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfLFy_74SUM

Heavy starting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0Yxftq2EsY

Will this maybe make things clearer?

Anyone have any ideas?
I read on a Norwegian forum about another one that did this on his passat. He filled 7 liters of gasoline, and 63 liters of diesel. The workshop said it would be no problem, but it takes "too long" time to start it.

kristian92 said:

Anyone have any ideas?
I read on a Norwegian forum about another one that did this on his passat. He filled 7 liters of gasoline, and 63 liters of diesel. The workshop said it would be no problem, but it takes "too long" time to start it.

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7 litres to 63 is nothing, that's slightly over 10%, very acceptable. Just dump in some decent additive.

turbovan+tdi said:

7 litres to 63 is nothing, that's slightly over 10%, very acceptable. Just dump in some decent additive.

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That's not my car, but he had the same trouble, and got the same symtoms as me.

But I've tried with additive as well, but that didn't help either.

I'd just drive it and fill up at half a tank,

Glowplug light and stall?

2010 JSW DSG 180K miles. A few months ago I was heading to work, cruise control set at 80 MPH and everything was running great. All of a sudden the glow plug light came on and the car lost all power. Pressed on the gas pedal and nothing. Coasted to the side of the road and she stalled out. Waited a few seconds, cranked her back up and she ran fine the rest of the day. Took her to my service guy, no codes and everything checked good. *WHEW* Just a glitch, no harm, no foul.

Last week: Get to work, and turn keys over to wife who drives a bit further. Get a phone call that the car died while she was accelerating to pass someone and wouldn't restart. Got the glow plug light also. She couldn't restart car. When I got to her the car started right up for me. I got back on the road and floored it. Went maybe 200 yards and got the glow plug light, loss of power and eventual stall. She fired back up though. I accelerated slowly and smoothly with no issues nor lights the rest of the day.

Took her to the shop again. They pulled two codes but said neither one would have caused the problem. (Sorry, can't remember what the codes were.) Checked everything out and found nothing. Took her for a very vigorous test drive and had no problems.

Anybody had this happen? What was the cause/fix?

ALBOB said:

2010 JSW DSG 180K miles. A few months ago I was heading to work, cruise control set at 80 MPH and everything was running great. All of a sudden the glow plug light came on and the car lost all power. Pressed on the gas pedal and nothing. Coasted to the side of the road and she stalled out. Waited a few seconds, cranked her back up and she ran fine the rest of the day. Took her to my service guy, no codes and everything checked good. *WHEW* Just a glitch, no harm, no foul.

Last week: Get to work, and turn keys over to wife who drives a bit further. Get a phone call that the car died while she was accelerating to pass someone and wouldn't restart. Got the glow plug light also. She couldn't restart car. When I got to her the car started right up for me. I got back on the road and floored it. Went maybe 200 yards and got the glow plug light, loss of power and eventual stall. She fired back up though. I accelerated slowly and smoothly with no issues nor lights the rest of the day.

Took her to the shop again. They pulled two codes but said neither one would have caused the problem. (Sorry, can't remember what the codes were.) Checked everything out and found nothing. Took her for a very vigorous test drive and had no problems.

Anybody had this happen? What was the cause/fix?

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Go here-

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=299854&highlight=hpfp