Won't start, horn honks too

While trying to start (in the cold) this morning, it will not start. It turns for a long time and also honks the horn. This is very strange.

2002 Jetta TDI. Ambient temp is like 40-55 F (DFW Texas).

So, its like crank/honk crank/honk crank/honk over and over again without ever starting. I did wait for the glow light to turn off before cranking.

I checked the anti-shudder valve and it is ok.

Does it honk INSTEAD of cranking? Or does it honk during/after cranking?

I've seen ground problems cause some real weird things to happen...

Check the grounds under the battery tray (I know it's a pain to get to).

It's definately something weird...

It started with a jump.

It was definitely trying to crank while it was honking.

My money is a ground problem for two reasons. One is that adding hte extra battery gave enough amperage to work across the bad ground and get everything right again.

Second is that when you have something in the electrical system that is so odd that you say, "that can't possibly happen" it's a bad ground.

Ditto what Whitedog said...

Interesting...my car just started doing the same thing this morning. The outside temp just dipped down to -10 and when I attempted to the start my car, the 4 ways started flashing (in a jittery way), doors were locking/unlocking repeatedly and the clock reset itself.

I'm assuming I have a similar ground problem. Oh well, I didn't really want to work today anyway

KID A TDI said:

Interesting...my car just started doing the same thing this morning. The outside temp just dipped down to -10 and when I attempted to the start my car, the 4 ways started flashing (in a jittery way), doors were locking/unlocking repeatedly and the clock reset itself.

I'm assuming I have a similar ground problem. Oh well, I didn't really want to work today anyway

Click to expand...

I had the exact same thing happen to me just once, when my battery was quite discharged. After putting the charger on it has worked fine ever since (1.5 years so far).

Mine did this last winter too - just before the original OEM battery quit completely.

I believe this behavior is normal when the battery is too weak to crank the engine fast enough to start it.

Simon

Cool

Thanks for the quick replies. Yeah the car is 5-6 years old now and the original battery is still in it, so it's probably on it's way out. The car tries to start, but it sounds like the battery is toast.

On a similar note, the dealership in Barrie (ON, CDN) wants $164+tax for a battery and Napa wants either $194 (tax in) or $234+tax for different one with more CCA. All of this seems mental. My friend suggested I go to Crappy Tire and grab a Motomaster for $80 but I think I'd rather suck it up and go to the Dealership.

Thanks again for everyone's help.

I have always used Crappy Tire batteries in my TDIs after the OEM battery dies, never had a problem. Half the price, twice the warranty, more convenient locations and hours.

Simon

Yup it was cold and my battery was quite exhausted.

This is my wife's car. I drive a modified MR2 and in the cold I occasionally have to give it a little gas for it to start. I mistakenly did that in my wife's car after the 6 or 7th crank or so to try to get it going - my bad. So I figure I kind of flooded it a little and combined with the cold, it just would not start and I drained the battery way too much.

After the jump I have been fine so far, but this is a 2002 with the original battery and now may be the time to replace it. I don't want this car to leave my wife stranded somewhere.

I also suspect the timing needs to be checked... as it has not been checked since at least 2006 when we bought it. I know the timing belt was done at 80k miles (105k now) so its probably time to get that checked now since apparently my hard starting might be a symptom of that.

I just replaced my battery because it was the original one too. My car started instantly.