clyde
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2000
- Location
- confluence, Snake/Clearwater
- TDI
- 1998 Jetta, 1959 DeSoto with leopard-skin seat covers
For the last two weeks the car would start only after much cranking. Motor is a stock 1Z, no mods, has about 135 k on it. Has performed well for the six years I've been driving it.
Worst problem was on Thursday the 14th—temp 25°F—crank, crank, crank, finally it started. CEL appeared, had not before.
I checked the glow plugs—all good, about 1.2 ohms each. GP harness OK, looks new condition. Glow plug fuse good; checked with meter—zero ohms.
Next I checked the CTS. Without removing the CTS, by using a single female pin on one terminal and a test probe on the other, the side that goes to the ECU (not the side for the eng temp gauge) is open circuit. Maybe that's it, I think.
Then I connected a supposedly good (checked with meter; resistance @ 45° F is about 1.8 k ohms) CTS to the car's CTS connector. No luck—still won't start.
Swapped the GP relay—I found one here. No change.
After charging the battery—because I'd been cranking quite a bit—when the temp reached 50° today (Sat. March 16) it started. For the first few seconds it would not respond normally to the accelerator, but that symptom disappeared quickly.
Wanted to drive it, get it hot so I could check VAG-COM to find what the CEL meant.
VAG-COM found one fault—00550, Start of injection regulation, 17-10 Control Difference Intermittent. I cleared the code, drove it seven miles, no more CEL. I had hoped VAG COM would reveal something about starting!
Hot starts fine, drives fine, power same as before. But I have zero confidence that it will start cold. Why should it? I haven't done anything, and I believe the CTS is dead. But it wouldn't start with a "good" CTS connected…
Next I will check operation of the GP relay, and check resistance of the closed relay contacts when the relay is powered.
What am I forgetting?
Worst problem was on Thursday the 14th—temp 25°F—crank, crank, crank, finally it started. CEL appeared, had not before.
I checked the glow plugs—all good, about 1.2 ohms each. GP harness OK, looks new condition. Glow plug fuse good; checked with meter—zero ohms.
Next I checked the CTS. Without removing the CTS, by using a single female pin on one terminal and a test probe on the other, the side that goes to the ECU (not the side for the eng temp gauge) is open circuit. Maybe that's it, I think.
Then I connected a supposedly good (checked with meter; resistance @ 45° F is about 1.8 k ohms) CTS to the car's CTS connector. No luck—still won't start.
Swapped the GP relay—I found one here. No change.
After charging the battery—because I'd been cranking quite a bit—when the temp reached 50° today (Sat. March 16) it started. For the first few seconds it would not respond normally to the accelerator, but that symptom disappeared quickly.
Wanted to drive it, get it hot so I could check VAG-COM to find what the CEL meant.
VAG-COM found one fault—00550, Start of injection regulation, 17-10 Control Difference Intermittent. I cleared the code, drove it seven miles, no more CEL. I had hoped VAG COM would reveal something about starting!
Hot starts fine, drives fine, power same as before. But I have zero confidence that it will start cold. Why should it? I haven't done anything, and I believe the CTS is dead. But it wouldn't start with a "good" CTS connected…
Next I will check operation of the GP relay, and check resistance of the closed relay contacts when the relay is powered.
What am I forgetting?
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