Car won't start troubleshooting

Stoller, it may be best to find a site that is more in touch with the older diesels for specific details, but go back to basics: Air, heat and enough fuel injected at the right time.

Www.vwdiesel.net is where most of the IDI folks are these days...registration details are in a stickie at the top of the General forum.

Stoller, we aren't trying to chase you away because we don't like you, we just want you to get the best help. There are folks here that would be an excellent resource, but they are often busy.

Best of luck and let us know what you find.

HELP: Electrical issues on 2013 Passat TDI

Two days ago, my 2013 TDI PASSAT (just under 30K miles) three two lights on the dashboard : tire warning and then the traction control light. Shortly after that it failed to start. Could NOT jump it.

Contacted Customer Care Yesterday VERY EARLY AM...... it took THEM a while to jump it. Drove it Locally (speeds up to 45 MPH) for almost an hour before going to an unavoidable meeting. 45 Minutes later, car would not start again.

Customer Care jumped the battery again but this time with the check engine lights and I drove (VIA HIGHWAY) 35 miles to the dealership. Their first analysis was that it "threw a code"..... they sent me home with a loaner.

5 hours later the Service Associate Called, and said it was working with the old battery. I refused to accept that as an explanation. 30 minutes later, according to the tech, it failed to start again.

This morning, the Dealership claimed it was FIXED, and that it was ONLY the BATTERY not the electrical system. When asked about the code from yesterday, they claimed it was a generalized code 30, and was since fixed. They also claimed the draw test (that the system wasn't drawing the battery down) was NEGATIVE.

Drove into the city and retrieved the car.
THE AIR CONDITIONING system is erratic (A/C on,) and blew coldish air for maybe 5 minutes out of the 45 minute drive home.
The BLUETOOTH is erratic (sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't although to be fair, this could reflect cell issues unrelated to the car)
The Dashboard display (the Media system) is erratic.

What do I do?

Oh.... one last thing...

the FAN for the A/C occasionally sounded like it was in overdrive.

So it starts now? Great.

The other symptoms may be related so stay on good terms with the service advisor and keep them informed in case it fails to start again. If it doesn't start again, push them to find the root cause rather than just throwing parts at it.

pd 130

hi all wondered if i could get some help have replaced the engine in my golf after the last 1 blew, bottom end went and it over revved very bad have scanned with vcds lite and got code 01314 ecm engine control module check dtc memory i have cleared the fault and once i tryed to restart it it threw the same code back up again i think this is the reason my car wont run does it mean my ecu is broken thanks

This sounds like the ECU needs to be reset.

hi do i need a registred version of vag com to do that or is it just a case of clearing the fault code thankyou

I dont know if you need a registered version. Mogolf helped me with this. Since I'm on my phone, I wont link it but search for my threads and find one called "car wont start, need information." Its in adaptions.

thats great thank you hi thankyou very much for your help could you posiblly link me to the page when you get a chance please new to the forum have just tryed searching and theres 2500 posts and i cant find it many thanks matt

also noticed my rev counter is not moving while cranking i take it its all down to this ecu fault as i have a good crank sensor on there

How do you know the crank sensor is good? You also could have bad wiring from the sensor to the ECU.

crank sensor worked fine on my old engine and it used to run fine until the bottom end went

Could the sensor have been damaged when the bottom end blew?

i dont believe so i have just been back out to it and it appears the rev counter is moving now but also noticed i have a permanent live in the fuse panel to n32 fuse very strange

Here ya go:

Go to the cluster, clear codes even if you don't see any.
Go to its adaptation channel 00, read and save.
Go the the engine controller, clear codes even if you don't see any.
Go to its adaptation channel 00, read and save.
Turn off the car. Wait 1 minute.
Turn on the car and try to start the car.

thats great ill try that when the vagcom turns up thankyou also noticed on fuse 29 it is a pemanent live with the battery on, have also taken the ignition switch plug off and it still showed the battery voltage fuse 29 refers to engine managment i believe

I don't anything about specifics on your car like fuses and such so I'm going to leave that alone. It may be normal, but it's best to get the proper wiring diagram for your car to know for sure.

2000 VW Beetle TDI hard start issues

So Ive read on the links about the glow plug checks and issues and have since replaced the glow plug harness and the glow plug relay. In moderate weather it starts no issues. When it gets to like the 30 degrees we have this am and at other times for that matter the turn over is very slow initially and gets some better but takes several cranks to fire up. the starter when you initially keyed it on would crank till it started. Now you have to hold key in start position to get it to start. I apologize if this isnt right place for this post but its as close as I could find. I have burnt up one after market starter and at a loss at what issue is now. Can someone point me in right direction?

nitro710 said:

So Ive read on the links about the glow plug checks and issues and have since replaced the glow plug harness and the glow plug relay. In moderate weather it starts no issues. When it gets to like the 30 degrees we have this am and at other times for that matter the turn over is very slow initially and gets some better but takes several cranks to fire up. the starter when you initially keyed it on would crank till it started. Now you have to hold key in start position to get it to start. I apologize if this isnt right place for this post but its as close as I could find. I have burnt up one after market starter and at a loss at what issue is now. Can someone point me in right direction?

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Nitro, your issue may not just be the glow plug system. I had a problem similar to yours, and got to the point I would park uphill so that I could bump start to get things going. Eventually, the injection pulp catastrophically failed. It wasn't the glow plug system. It was probably timing off the IP.

Conventional wisdom would have you checking your timing, understanding how old your injectors are (are they worn bad enough to affect starting?) and so on.

One post isn't going to get you there. But I will ask, have you checked your timing, and is it on? What is your fuel consumption like? Was the onset of this gradual or sudden?

If its cranking slowly, then the battery is suspect.

whitedog said:

If its cranking slowly, then the battery is suspect.

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Under 200 RPM it is hard to start a ALH engine.

I too am troubleshooting the dreaded no start condition. I have read all 23 pages of this, but no luck yet. good news is car is sitting in the garage, so at least I am not stranded on the side of the road. Engine cranks and cranks, but will not fire, it cranks faster than normal, is that a clue?
it is a 1998 New Beetle 1.9 TDI with 267K
- it is not super cold, so jelled fuel is very unlikely, no iced up intercooler
- I put in a new battery, old 1 was 4 years old and I thought maybe it was dead, no luck.
- I checked the antishudder valve, it is open, inside is gunky, so it needs to be cleaned, but this comes 1st
- I put my hand over the antishudder and cranked the engine, you can feel the vacuum being pulled by the engine, so the intake manifold is dirty, but not plugged
- I have a scan gauge - no fault codes are coming up
- glow plug light comes on like normal, so relay 109 should be good
- when you turn the key, you can hear the relay on the fuel pump itself click, so it seems to be working
- timing belt seems ok, everything is turning
- I check resistant on G28 engine position sensor, spec says 450-1000 ohms, I got 1100, so I replaced it, new sensor was also 1100 ohms, so that was a waste of time and money
- took loose fitting at 1 fuel injector and cranked engine, no fuel
- I tired to check fuses, but did not see anything, not sure which ones to check
- original fuel filter was changed back in 2008, it seems unlikely that it is plugged, but not impossible, how to check it?

so it seems like I am getting air, and the glow plugs seem to work, so it seems like fuel is the problem, my year does not have a fuel lift pump in the tank, it is before that, how to tell where the problem is in the fuel system?

I read about worn wires can make the ECU think the car is being stolen so it locks out the fuel pump, any way to check for this?

it is a 1998 New Beetle 1.9 TDI with 267K

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- original fuel filter was changed back in 2008, it seems unlikely that it is plugged, but not impossible

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OMG. it sounds like you are saying that this car has had the fuel filter changed ONCE in it's 267,000 mile life? Is this correct? I change my fuel filters at 20,000 miles, not 200,000 miles.

Anyway...

How many miles since the fuel filter was changed SIX YEARS ago? If it came to me, I would change the fuel filter first. SIX YEARS and unknown miles is borderline abuse.

So, change the fuel filter and bleed it well then hook up the fuel lines to the pump and bleed the pump well. Now crack the injector lines at the injectors and hopefully you will get fuel.

whitedog said:

OMG. it sounds like you are saying that this car has had the fuel filter changed ONCE in it's 267,000 mile life? Is this correct? I change my fuel filters at 20,000 miles, not 200,000 miles..

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In all fairness, I go 50 to 100K on the same filter. My fuel coming into the tank is triple filtered, and I rarely get fuel anywhere else. However, if bubbles are showing in the clear line to the pump, and I have a filter with any kind of time, even 10k on it, I would consider changing the filter. I always have a new filter on hand, and a small funnel to pre-charge it.

One can always hang a bottle of fuel, transfusion style, from the hood. It will deplete quickly, mostly to the fuel tank, but the fuel intake to the IP can be verified that way.

OK, I will change the fuel filter. 1st change was at 122k, so I have gone another 145k since then on this filter. I am just surprised it would need changing again. I have owned 19 cars and driven at least 750,000 combined miles, and never changed a fuel filter on any other car. Does diesel fuel just carry more junk in it than gasoline? This is my only diesel experience. I'll get is changed and report back, thanks!

volkaholic said:

OK, I will change the fuel filter. 1st change was at 122k, so I have gone another 145k since then on this filter. I am just surprised it would need changing again. I have owned 19 cars and driven at least 750,000 combined miles, and never changed a fuel filter on any other car. Does diesel fuel just carry more junk in it than gasoline? This is my only diesel experience. I'll get is changed and report back, thanks!

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My experience is that diesel fuel tends to come form the pump with more contaminants than gasoline, on the average. Historically, I found bad diesel at local pumps, and the good stuff was at high volume places like truck stops. That is not a rule, and I assume I can get bad diesel anywhere.

Moisture is one of the more significant contaminants, as it tends to feed critters. A friend that biocritters growing in his tank, and he had to physically clean as much out as he could, and then I got him some critter killer used as an additive in jet fuel. That effectively got rid of the rest.

When temps get cold, wax crystals will tend to adhere to dirt particles and to water droplets, even small ones suspended in the fuel. A dirty filter will wax up much faster than a clean one. My experience is that with untreated fuel, and a dirty filter, you can pretty much expect waxing problems at about 20F on a VW. A clean filter drops that temperature a little bit.

I go with longer filter changes because I am certain of the quality of my fuel, but if I were buying it at various places, I would shorten the filter change rate. (The filter in my diesel tractor, which is rather small and fits in a glass bowl so that it can readily be inspected, last got changed in 1984. That was a couple thousand hours ago. Mental note just made to change it again.)

The filter may not be your problem, but it could be. There is a long suction run to the IP, and there is a limited amount of atmospheric "push" available. Good time to rule the filter out.

1st change was at 122k, so I have gone another 145k since then on this filter.

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YES! change the filter, then change it every 20,000 - 30,000 miles. Your injection pump needs clean fuel and with a plugged fuel filter you are producing air in the pump which causes all kinds of havoc from cavitation.

Please read up on what maintenance your car needs don't abuse it like this anymore.

OK, replaced the fuel filter tonight, made sure to fill it completely, used vacuum hand pump to make sure fuel coming from the tank, put it all back together, crank crank crank,,, nothing, took 1 injector loose at the head, put a paper towel around it, crank crank crank, nothing, not a drop of fuel. what the heck?