ALH rough idle when cold, runs fine when hot

makita

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 30, 2005
Location
Joliette
TDI
Jetta 1.9 TD 1992, Jetta Variant 1.9 TDI 2003, Golf Variant 1.8 TSI 2016
Need help to troubleshoot a rough idle on an ALH

The car:
Jetta Wagon 2003, bought in 2009 at 160 000 km, now at 454 000 km.
The maintenance is up to date, I'm the only one working on this car.
The engine is bone stock, no chips, original turbo, original injectors.
The only mod was to upgrade the ''Sachs'' DMF by a brand new ''LUK'' DMF, by prevention.

The background
At the end of last winter, I suddenly noticed that when cold, the engine was not idling as it used to. Instead of that nice tight 903 rpm idle, it was sounding as it was misfiring on one of the cylinders and the engine was shaking. However, as soon as I was pressing the accelerator (even a slight press), the engine was revving just fine.
The above symptoms were mysteriously disappearing as soon as the coolant would precisely reach 50°C. (temperature reading on VCDS)
There was no error code, the IQ was around 2.5-3.0, no air bubbles in the lines, timing belt tight and in place etc.
Since this was not causing any starting or drivability issues, I left the car this way and thought I should eventually change my nozzles as ''it might help''

The problem
This morning, outside temp at -10°, I started the car as every morning. It fired right away but stalled within seconds.
I gave it a second try and kept the key at ''start''. It fired right away, but stalled within seconds as before, even if the starter was cranking up. At this point, I opened the hood, the fuel lines were full and there was no bubble. (yes, the hoses were full of fuel, not full of air ;)).
I gave it a few other tries with all kinds of combination of starter and throttle without any luck. The exhaust was smoking and smelling unburnt fuel like an old D7 at -45°C, so fuel was definitely injected somehow.
After ~2-3 minutes of starting, the engine was finally able to keep running by itself, with an impressive quantity blue-grey smoke smelling unburnt fuel. At this point, it was impossible to rev it more than 1100-1200 rpm and the engine was sounding as there was too much advance.
I let the engine warm for few minutes (hoping the neighbors wouldn't call the fire department... :rolleyes:) and when the coolant reached 50°C, everything went normal, the engine was idling 903 rpm as it was back in 2003, no smoke, no misfires, no lack of power etc.
Of course, there’s no stored code...
Anybody had seen something like this? Injectors? Needle lift sensor? N108?
 
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Yuro

Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2009
Location
Calgary, Canada
TDI
2001 Golf
I have the exact same problem. Mine started after a slight runaway incident though. My car would start really rough and emit white smoke out the pipe but after a bit of revving it would run just fine. White is unburnt fuel. After much troubleshooting (compression test among other things) I took the oil pan off and looked up, sure enough rods 2 and 3 have a very slight bend to them and I mean slight.

How diesel works is its compressed to the point of explosion. Heat helps this along immensely hence the glow plugs to help starting. Cylinders 1 and 4 can fire off the heat from the plugs, but 2 and 3 just do not have the compression to ignite the fuel due to the slight bend in the rods. The bend makes the piston not travel as high upward thus making the combustion chamber larger. Larger = less compression. Once the engine is hot enough the fuel can ignite in those lower compression chambers and the car runs like a dream.

I really hope you do not have the same problem as me cause it means an engine rebuild may be in the cards. Or at least rods, rings, timing belt and top end gaskets whiles its all off. Least that is my plan.

I highly recommend checking your intercooler for oil and cleaning it out (that is where the oil came from for my runaway) and a compression test. Also EGR delete is amazing in terms of waking the motor up and keep the intake passage clean.

Could just be glow plugs not heating up too, which can be fixed easily. *fingers crossed* :)
 
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makita

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 30, 2005
Location
Joliette
TDI
Jetta 1.9 TD 1992, Jetta Variant 1.9 TDI 2003, Golf Variant 1.8 TSI 2016
AnotherPerson: Absolutely, that's probably what's going to happen next. However, if there's another possibility I might haven't considered, I want to clear it fist before changing parts around.

Yuro: I would strongly doubt I have a bent rod or a compression issue as I'm the only one using this car (and that's the case for almost 300 000 km), there was no runaway, abuse, hydro lock, low oil pressure, gas in fuel etc etc etc. The symptoms appeared suddenly. Not while driving, not progressively. It was idling fine one morning, the next day it was not.

These symptoms are definitely related to the coolant temperature, and they are not going away progressively. It's running bad, coolant reach 50ºC and instantaneously, it runs fine. That occur each and every time I start the car.

As for the GP (engine and coolant GP), they are fine and there's no codes.

bbarbulo: Good point. I forgot to mention that the timing is just a little above the blue line, just as I adjusted it at the last TB change.
 

leftyserve

Active member
Joined
Oct 2, 2016
Location
Lexington, SC
TDI
Stock 2003 Jetta TDI Wagon. Turned in my 2012 Jetta TDI Sportwagen on 2/3/17. Hated to see it go!
Makita, I have an open thread on the same exact car, same or at least very similar issue. I bought my 2003 Jetta TDI Wagon new. My idle surges started out of the blue just like yours. Unfortunately, my car has been in the shop for 3 months trying to resolve it. See everything I've had done to it here:
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=472039
 

UhOh

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 24, 2014
Location
PNW
TDI
2003 Golf GLS (2005 Mercedes E320 CDI)
Has the car been scanned for codes?

Daughter's wagon has had similar issues. When I had it recently to do suspension work I poked this issue a bit. I replaced the fuel filter "Tee" and bumped up a low IQ and it seems to be vastly improved. Not sure, however, whether the issue is completely gone: I don't see the car on a regular basis and the daughter isn't providing much feedback.

I have to wonder what effects a bad EGR valve has on cold starting/running. I'd want to test the EGR valve operation: vacuum check.
 

Warthog

Veteran Member
Joined
May 16, 2004
Location
Clemson, SC
TDI
see Bio
Sounds like what I am experiencing...And no one has commented on the effect a "bad" EGR valve would have on the engine.
I'd like to know if they can fail intermittently...and then "FIX" themselves after you stop the engine. THAT seems to point to the EGR...
I have 29 inches of vacuum in the vacuum system, BTW. Just checked it.
 
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