Low oil pressure(?), engine won't start

[DieselDavid]

My 2005.5 NewJetta has 31,000 miles. It does have the correct oil dipstick. It is still covered by the original warranty. Suddenly it has a low oil pressure text warning message and the engine won't start.

I changed the oil and oil filter 1,000 miles ago, and added new oil until the dipstick showed the level was halfway between MIN and MAX. Thursday I drove to work and home again (about 75 miles roundtrip) and everything up to this point was fine. The car was not used again Friday. Now today (Saturday, 2 days later) I tried to start the car but the engine would not start and a text warning message appeared stating the oil pressure was too low! The dipstick showed the oil level was on MIN so I added enough new oil to bring it halfway between MIN and MAX again. But the engine still won't start and the text warning message about low pressure remains!!!

Is there anything I can do to check and/or fix this myself? Or should I have the car towed to the VW dealership to let them diagnose and fix this under the warranty? I'd prefer to try resovling this myself because I've had bad experiences with my other cars in the past involving towing and involving dealership visits. What do you all recommend...?

 

[40X40]

The oil light will come on because the car fails to start or even cranks too slow or cranks too long.

What you really have is a failure to start.

Check for a proper fuel supply and change your fuel filter. Charge your battery and jump the car if you have to.

Good luck, Let us know how it works out.

Bill

 

[DieselDavid]

Thanks for the advice!

I recently changed the fuel filter just 346 miles ago. The engine does crank but it won't start. I'm not sure if it is cranking too slow; the low oil pressure light comes on after cranking for about 5 seconds. Today I tried again, first "priming" the fuel system by repeatedly turning the key on and then off 30 seconds later (like we do after changing the fuel filter) - and the engine still won't start.

It could be the battery. In the past with my other cars I found the original batteries lasted about 4 years before causing trouble. In this case my car - and battery - is about 2.5 years old. Let me dig out my battery cables and try jumpstarting this car. Stay tuned...

 

[40X40]

Check the lift pump in the fuel tank and the combination pump on the drivers side of the cylinder head.

To check the lift pump, remove the top of the fuel filter canister and briefly turn the key to run, you should have fuel coming to that location under pressure... make arraignments to catch it.(!)
If you are getting fuel to that location, change your fuel filter, you have a bad one....

Charge the battery with a battery charger for a few hours and see how much current it is pulling from the charger. Good chargers can be had at Home depot and Lowes.

Is your drivetrain warranty still in effect? Roadside assistance?
If so, tow it to the dealer.

JMO, Good luck.
Bill

 

[TDI 4 RD]

Great advice, 40x40.

I would only add that DieselDavid should also check that all his fuses are seated properly, both inside the cabin and in the engine compartment.

Good luck!

 

[Jason D]

Would a bad oil pressure sender cause this problem?

 

[smokecitytdi]

Oil pressure light

I posted this (below) on 6-17-2006. Lots of responses. The following day I was going to have it towed and it started??? I believe it could have been something in the fuel?? It's been running great since, 22k miles now. Starts every time after cranking about 3 seconds.

Oil change, now engine will not start
Yesterday I had the oil changed (15k) on my 2006 TDI at the dealership. I drove approx. 10 miles stopped at a Sam's club then another 10 miles home and parked it in the garage. The car ran perfect, as always.

Today it's not starting.
While the engine is turning over the oil pressure light starts to flash and I get the 3 warning sounds. The oil is at the correct level on the dip stick.

Any ideas? Wires to check? Wrong oil at the dealer?

 

[DieselDavid]

The enging still does not start even with jumper cables. The fuses all looked fine. My wife won't be able to help me during the daytime check what happens while the fuel filter cap is off for another 4 days and I don't trust my kids to help me with this. I don't have a battery charger - yet.

I forgot to mention that I recently changed the fuel filter prematurely because I foolishly refilled immediately after a tanker made a fuel delivery at my favorite station - and the sediment at the bottom was in suspension and probably got into my car's fuel tank. Since then I changed the fuel filter (which fixed the performance problems), refilled with more fuel, and drove about 100 miles before this failure to start problem showed up.

I also forgot to mention the temperatures. During the last week in my area daytime temperatures have been in the 60s F and nighttime temperatures have been in the 40s F and 50s F. Once or twice the nighttime low dropped to the low 30s F (but didn't reach or fall below 32 F), and several times there has been frost on the cars. All of my attempts to start the car have been in the late afternoon after the temperatures warmed up nicely.

Since the car is still under warrantly I think my best bet is to let the dealer come to my driveway, tow the car back, diagnose the problem, fix it, and tell me what happened. I promise to share the diagnosis/fix - even if it embarrasses me!

Here is the post by smokecitytdi:
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=179473

And here is where I described my clogged fuel filter problem:
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=137065#post1891185

 

[wjdell]

not sure if disconnecting the battery will clear the computer - or Vag- Com but if its under warranty let the dealer handle it. I bet its simple and not serious and there will be no damage. Unless the oil pump took a dive

 

[DieselDavid]

Fast update. On Wed 7 Nov 2007 I called VW Roadside Assistance (24 hours a day, 7 days a week in the US at 1-800-411-6688) to have my car towed to the nearest VW dealer. Nice system. The independent tow truck driver was careful with my car. (Did you ever notice that tow truck drivers like to think they are also mechanics too and try to do minimal troubleshooting which never seems to work???)

Now it is 5 days later and the local VW dealer still has not looked at my car - as of Saturday night it was is in the same parking space the tow truck dropped it into. Each time I call the service representatives that answer the telephone say they can't give me any information because I can only talk with the service representative that took the car when it came in, and of course that person is never available. I knew something like this was going to happen. I think I'll have my wife drive me over there shortly to find out what is going on...

 

[DieselDavid]

Next update: The service representative at my local VW dealer said today they finally looked at my car. They tried to start the engine. The determined the engine will crank but not start, and they determined the battery is good. Sigh...

 

[jon_7248]

nice, im awaiting my dealer experiance with my ****y propblem of the oil, glow plug, esp light comming on while driving and the car throwing a P0726 sometimes as the same time. Im awiting them to look at me and shug

 

[Antsrcool]

Huh not too obvious is it?

Next update: The service representative at my local VW dealer said today they finally looked at my car. They tried to start the engine. The determined the engine will crank but not start, and they determined the battery is good. Sigh...

 

[wolf-one]

Did you get to the bottom of what caused your no start problem?
I am having the same problem.
In fact I thought I was typing while reading your post about my 06 Jetta..

 

[DieselDavid]

Hurray! I got my car back this afternoon! The service representative at my local VW dealer wrote the following on my service invoice:

C/S THE ENGINE DONT' START. RAN GFF. CONTACTED TECH LINE, WAS TOLD TO SPRAY BREAKS CLEAN THE INTAKE, AND START CAR. CAR STARTED. TECH LINE SAID TO KEEP IT FOR TWO DAYS AND CHECK TO SEE IF IT STARTED. TEST DROVE TO VERIFY REPAIR COMPLETED.

Here is my attempt at translating this into English: "After the car was towed in we waited 7 days to verify the customer's claim that the engine cranks but does not start. On the 8th day we followed a step-by-step troubleshooting procedure and still could not figure out why this is happening, so we called a Volkswagen technical help line for advice. The Volkswagen technical help line suggested we spray brake cleaner into the air intake system. We followed their advice and to our surprise the car's engine started. Next we waited another 2 days, started the engine a second time without any issues, drove the car 12 miles to make sure everything was fine, and then finally returned the car to the customer on the 10th day."

I don't fully understand how spraying brake cleaner into the air intake system fixed my car's problem. If this was a gasoline engine then I'd guess either there was dirt affecting the mass air flow (MAF) sensor or the plate in the throttle body that regulates air flow was sticking - but I'd think using electronic parts cleaner or carburetor cleaner respectively would be more appropriate. Anyway maybe the same thing was happening with my diesel engine?

 

[DieselDavid]

By the way while my car was at the local VW dealer's service department, I had them take care of the radio. The paint on the buttons for the radio was bubbling and flaking off. After scanning posts here at TDIClub Forums it appears this is not an uncommon problem. They ended up swapping in a new radio. The new radio looks like my old radio except the knobs for adjusting the volume and for tuning stations are now silver!

Now for the bad news. While prying the surrounding trim off the person doing the work cracked it in one spot and gourged it in about four other areas, plus they chipped the area above each of the LCD windows where the climatronic displays the temperature settings. In addition they put their tools or something on the front passenger seat, leaving four serious scratch marks on the [FONT=Verdana,Geneva,Helvetica,SunSans-Regular,Arial]anthracite leatherette. So I get to go back to the local VW dealer to point these things out to them...[/FONT]

Oh, they also addressed the recall involving the headlights. Basically they installed two pairs of tiny white plastic plugs over the adjustment points, VW part numbers 4E0-941-041 and 000-941-041. I'm sure they pop off just as easily as they popped on!

 

[DieselDavid]

Now for the bad news. While prying the surrounding trim off the person doing the work cracked it in one spot and gourged it in about four other areas, plus they chipped the area above each of the LCD windows where the climatronic displays the temperature settings. In addition they put their tools or something on the front passenger seat, leaving four serious scratch marks on the [FONT=Verdana,Geneva,Helvetica,SunSans-Regular,Arial]anthracite leatherette. So I get to go back to the local VW dealer to point these things out to them...[/FONT]

Fast update - but you all probably already know what I am about to write!

I went back to the dealer the next weekday, Monday 19 Nov 2007. The service representative never came outside to look at my car. Rather they sent the person that worked on my car outside to look at it. They quickly claimed the damages were already there and/or they were manufacturing defects and/or that I did them myself. They did not admit they did it. Back to the service representative who took me and the person that did the work/damages over to some office with two people inside. The service representative was quiet and so was the person that worked on my car, so I had to explain everything. The two people in the office looked for excuses to not help me: "How old is your car?" "How many miles are on the odometer?" "Are you the original owner?" Finally they sent me and the service representative to the parts counter. The parts counter person said they'd order a new trim piece that goes around the center vents for me and it would arrive by the end of the week (Fri 23 Nov 2007). Yesterday I remembered it has been 3 weeks and I never heard from them, so I called the parts person for an update. The parts person had no record of the part being ordered, researched everything, and said they would order the part [again]. This time I'm giving them 1 week and after that I'm sending a letter to VWoA. The sad thing is this was my first VW dealer experience after purchasing the car and the dealer has done nothing to establish a relationship with me and turn me into a loyal customer!

 

[tomo366]

Which dealer was this?? Congresional? I have the complete set of trim undamaged I am selling....

 

[weedeater]

It would be funny if it wasn't so sad....

 

[maloosheck]

Now for the bad news. While prying the surrounding trim off the person doing the work cracked it in one spot and gourged it in about four other areas, plus they chipped the area above each of the LCD windows where the climatronic displays the temperature settings. In addition they put their tools or something on the front passenger seat, leaving four serious scratch marks on the [FONT=Verdana,Geneva,Helvetica,SunSans-Regular,Arial]anthracite leatherette. So I get to go back to the local VW dealer to point these things out to them...[/FONT]

Well, they broke all the bolt holes in the upper trim (where the air ducts are) when they were replacing my radio. I was wondering if they were trying to pry it out without taking out the bolts...

 

[shaark92]

Starter Duty Cycle

When I was learning about the 'self-priming' fuel filter, a local VW mechanic (well, in Ft. Worth) ... cautioned me about cranking too long ... the motor apparently does not have a hefty duty cycle. A couple of seconds ON ... 10-15 seconds Off ... for 3 cycles ... then about 15 minutes off.

A word to the wise.

Al

 

[DieselDavid]

Which dealer was this?? Congresional? I have the complete set of trim undamaged I am selling....

No, it was not Congressional. It was King. I went to King Volkswagen in Gaithersburg with low expectations as I - plus countless other car owners - have had bad experiences over the decades at other car dealerships owned by King in our area. It is a wonder the King dealerships are still in business today.

 

[tomo366]

No, it was not Congressional. It was King. I went to King Volkswagen in Gaithersburg with low expectations as I - plus countless other car owners - have had bad experiences over the decades at other car dealerships owned by King in our area. It is a wonder the King dealerships are still in business today.

LOL! Congressional is probably worse......If you need to have work done locally use Martens and ask for Kenny Hopkins to work on your car!

 

[zanakas]

BTW, I think they just "goosed" the engine a bit, with the brake cleaner....

It STLL is a diesel, mind you...

 

[Mach1]

I hope they were not using the brake clean for ether..It only takes a Minute amount to hydro-lock the engine..

Its a shame that the tech's don't feel the same way as we do about of vehicles.

Dave, I hope it all gets worked out for ya..

 

[DieselDavid]

My 2005.5 NewJetta has 31,000 miles. It does have the correct oil dipstick. It is still covered by the original warranty. Suddenly it has a low oil pressure text warning message and the engine won't start.

Is there anything I can do to check and/or fix this myself? Or should I have the car towed to the VW dealership to let them diagnose and fix this under the warranty? I'd prefer to try resovling this myself because I've had bad experiences with my other cars in the past involving towing and involving dealership visits. What do you all recommend...?

Hurray! I got my car back this afternoon! The service representative at my local VW dealer wrote the following on my service invoice:

C/S THE ENGINE DONT' START. RAN GFF. CONTACTED TECH LINE, WAS TOLD TO SPRAY BREAKS CLEAN THE INTAKE, AND START CAR. CAR STARTED. TECH LINE SAID TO KEEP IT FOR TWO DAYS AND CHECK TO SEE IF IT STARTED. TEST DROVE TO VERIFY REPAIR COMPLETED.

I don't fully understand how spraying brake cleaner into the air intake system fixed my car's problem. If this was a gasoline engine then I'd guess either there was dirt affecting the mass air flow (MAF) sensor or the plate in the throttle body that regulates air flow was sticking - but I'd think using electronic parts cleaner or carburetor cleaner respectively would be more appropriate. Anyway maybe the same thing was happening with my diesel engine?

Today the same problem happened. This morning in my driveway I cranked the engine and it would not start. My car now has 37,850 miles. So about 9 months and 6,850 miles have passed since the last time this happened.

I drove my other car to work. This afternoon in my driveway I raised the hood, used arc joint pliers to loosen the clamp on the intake pipe that goes to the turbocharger and moved that clamp away, and then separated the intake pipe from the mass air flow (MAF) sensor. Next using a narrow flexible straw I sprayed electronic parts cleaner onto the backside of the MAF for about 3 seconds. I put these pieces together again, cranked the engine, and after 5 seconds the engine started! Hurray success!!! The job only took a few minutes from start to finish. No towing, no visit to the dealership, no waiting, and no worrying about what/how the VW dealership will damage my car!

Now I will add these things to the car's trunk in case this happens again while away from home:

• Craftsman 7 in. Pliers, Arc Joint
• RadioShack TV-Tuner/Control Cleaner & Lubricant

 

[2004STARWARSTDI]

Maf

There is special MAF cleaner available at auto parts stores. When was last time you changed air filter? Hope you are not using a K&N or any oiled air filter!

 

[DieselDavid]

There is special MAF cleaner available at auto parts stores. When was last time you changed air filter? Hope you are not using a K&N or any oiled air filter!

No, a K&N or similarly oiled air filter is not installed. The factory installed air filter is still in place. I plan on changing the air filter every 40,000 miles (about 64,374 kilometers).

Thanks for the tip about special MAF cleaner. I didn't know it existed! Tomorrow I'll pick up a can for the garage to be used for scheduled maintenance, and a can for the trunk for emergencies. I think I'll use this each time I change the fuel filter, and each time the engine won't start.

http://www.crcindustries.com/auto/content/prod_detail.aspx?PN=05110&S=N