car dead

john.bosyj@gmail.com

Active member
Joined
Nov 23, 2016
Location
Canada
TDI
jetta
Ok, I was driving on the highway and suddenly my 2003 jetta tdi with 540000Km lost power and dead. I tried to restart it and the starter only went "click". I checked the timing belt and it looks to be ok. I pulled the glow plugs and one appears slightly bent at the tip. It pulled off the accessory belt and tried to manually crank the engine. I could rotate it about a 1/4 revolution before it locks up. What happened and why?
 

Strider17

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2016
Location
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
TDI
Beetle(sold) MK4 Golf TDI(sold) Mk4 Jetta TDI(parted out) MK4 Golf GTI w/ALH swap (built then parted out) 2015 Passat TDI Highline (current)
if you try and start it and all you here is click click click, its your battery...if it cranks and cranks..it could be relay 109....if it doesnt turn over at all it could be you starter. get vcds and get it scanned if any codes came up.

possibly your fuel filter is clogged up.

there could be various problems since the ALH engine is mainly mechanical
 

Windex

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 1, 2006
Location
Cambridge
TDI
05 B5V 01E FRF
If you can only move the engine through 90 degrees, then something internally is mechanically broken or misaligned.

Did the oil light ever come on? Was there any loud noise when the engine stopped?

post a picture of the bent GP - pull the rest and try to again manually crank over the engine via the crank bolt.
 

maxmoo

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2011
Location
Lakefield, Ontario, Canada
TDI
2000 golf, 2001 golf, 2000 beetle, 2003 wagon, 2004 golf, 2004 jetta, all diesels
check your static timing ....I'll bet your belt sheared a few teeth off at the crank pulley.
How many km's since last timing belt?

or a rod snapped but you probably would have heard or seen more damage.
 

Wingnut

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 10, 2002
Location
Toronto & Whitby
TDI
Silver 2003 Jetta Wagon
......It pulled off the accessory belt and tried to manually crank the engine. I could rotate it about a 1/4 revolution before it locks up. What happened and why?
Mechanical interference. Possibly the belt skipped (or sheared as Maxmoo suggested) a few teeth causing the valves to make contact with the piston. That will prevent a crank from rotating.

I would pull the valve cover to see if there is any obvious signs, like damaged lifters.
 
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imo000

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 13, 2005
Location
Cambridge
TDI
2009 M-B ML320 Diesel & '05 Passat TDI Manual 5-Speed
A bent glow plug is usually more than just a skipped timing belt. Something is inside that cylinder. Have you done any work on the engine lately?
 
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john.bosyj@gmail.com

Active member
Joined
Nov 23, 2016
Location
Canada
TDI
jetta
The timing belt has about 250 000 km on it. It was way over due for a change. I can only see part of the belt. Teeth look ok from the part that I can see. I can't turn the engine over to see the rest of the belt. I will take a photo of the slightly bent glow plug. This glow plug is also a few mm shorter that the others. Is it possible that the tip of the glow plug broke and caused engine damage? It does not look broken. It only looks shorter and slightly bent.
 

Vince Waldon

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 25, 2009
Location
Edmonton AB Canada
TDI
2001 ALH Jetta, 2003 ALH Wagon, 2005 BEW Wagon
I can only see part of the belt.
You'll need to pull the harmonic balancer and then the lower timing belt cover, so that you can see *all* the timing belt teeth.

The striped ones are often against the crank sprocket. :)

One thing you can quickly check, however: is your timing belt moving uniformly, as you manually rotate the engine with the crank sprocket bolt ?
 

Uberhare

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2006
Location
Ontario, Canada
TDI
Too many.
Looks like something met to the tip of the glow plug, certainly not a good sign. Either skipped timing belt or connecting rod would be my guess. But likely T-B.
 

Windex

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 1, 2006
Location
Cambridge
TDI
05 B5V 01E FRF
Does look like something hit the GP, but IIRC, the tip of the GP extends out of the head into the piston bowl.

For something to hit it, it's going to be worse than just a skipped TB, were talking a dropped valve or similar.

Methinks you need to pull the head to determine what happened... :(
 

Vince Waldon

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 25, 2009
Location
Edmonton AB Canada
TDI
2001 ALH Jetta, 2003 ALH Wagon, 2005 BEW Wagon
Yup, just the tip:



I personally think another possibility is that the tip melted away, and the body warped a bit with the excess heat. Misfiring injectors can do that, over time, and I'm not sure how something bouncing around in the combustion chamber could actually get enough leverage to snap off the tip.

I'd also expect a pretty big racket under the hood while this was happening. :) :)

Just another theory, of course. An engine teardown is the only way to know for sure what transpired.
 
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mrrhtuner

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2011
Location
London Ont Canada
TDI
2003 Jetta Wagon TDI, 2015 Passat TDI, 2015 Touareg TDI
250k on the timing belt :(
Sad that people let it go that far. I know tdi owner's can be cheap...but now the car will need about the same money as a timing belt job if not more to get the car back on the road.
 

imo000

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 13, 2005
Location
Cambridge
TDI
2009 M-B ML320 Diesel & '05 Passat TDI Manual 5-Speed
Sad that people let it go that far. I know tdi owner's can be cheap...but now the car will need about the same money as a timing belt job if not more to get the car back on the road.
If you discount the work it takes to swap an engine, the cost is probably less than doing two timing belt jobs.
 

john.bosyj@gmail.com

Active member
Joined
Nov 23, 2016
Location
Canada
TDI
jetta
I pulled the valve cover and it looks like the valve at cylinder 1 is broken. The timing belt is not broken. I checked all the teeth and none are missing. No recent work was done on the car. No oil light came on at time of breakdown. Any idea why it failed or is 535000km a reasonable lifespan for theses engines?
 

Vince Waldon

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 25, 2009
Location
Edmonton AB Canada
TDI
2001 ALH Jetta, 2003 ALH Wagon, 2005 BEW Wagon
That's likely just an internal piece of the lifter, not the valve stem.

Always hard to tell from a single picture, but it looks like the cam profile at that lifter is insanely worn... which over time holes the top of the lifter and lets the inside parts outside. :)

Gonna have to pull the head to figure it out further... but you may just need a cam and lifters. And headgasket, headbolts, etc... of course. :)
 
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imo000

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 13, 2005
Location
Cambridge
TDI
2009 M-B ML320 Diesel & '05 Passat TDI Manual 5-Speed
That's the check valve of the lifter, not the valve stem. Replace the head with a good used one (use the proper size head gasket) and keep motoring.
 

Wingnut

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 10, 2002
Location
Toronto & Whitby
TDI
Silver 2003 Jetta Wagon
That's likely just an internal piece of the lifter, not the valve stem.

Always hard to tell from a single picture, but it looks like the cam profile at that lifter is insanely worn... which over time holes the top of the lifter and lets the inside parts outside. :)

Gonna have to pull the head to figure it out further... but you may just need a cam and lifters. And headgasket, headbolts, etc... of course. :)
May need a head if the lifter bore got damaged. If not, and the head is fine, I have a good used cam from my ALH that I replaced with a Colt. Nothing wrong with it. Lifters are cheap. You can be up and running for a few hundred $$$ if you don't mind wrenching yourself.
 

Windex

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 1, 2006
Location
Cambridge
TDI
05 B5V 01E FRF
My guess is that lifter bore is munched. That said, if it were my car, I would cheap out and:
Grab Wingnut's Cam
Buy a set of lifters
Emery/file/smooth any burrs in the lifter bore

Install and go down the road.

But then I'm a cheap bastard... :D
 

whitedog

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2004
Location
Bend, Oregon
TDI
2004 Jetta that I fill by myself
Don't plan on anything until you get the head off. Probably broke the valve stem and dropped the valve into the cylinder which whacked the glow plug and imbedded itself in the top of the piston.
 
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