stevneil
Active member
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2004
- Location
- Phoenix, AZ
I've had 8 Mark 4 TDIs, and I've seen a good number of the little things that go wrong on more than one of them, but this one was a first.
The symptom was starting it would work most of the time, but sometimes it would seem like the starter hiccuped for a fraction of a second and sometimes it would stop cranking entirely. Trying again would usually result in success. It had been doing it for about a month and was happening more frequently, so I decided to dig into things.
The positive cable from the battery to solenoid was not as snug as it could be but was not loose. Starter has never been replaced.
The negative cable to engine block was very snug.
Carefully popped the 12 volt positive start signal wire connector off of the solenoid part of the starter.
No corrosion on any wire connections.
I hooked the battery back up temporarily (this was a New Beetle so I had to remove the battery covers, battery, battery tray, move the power steering fluid reservoir out of the way, etc. to see this connector).
I had a friend turn the switch to the Start position. Got 12 volts.
Plugged it in. Tried to start. Absolutely nothing.
Pulled the 12v+ connector off again. Checked the voltage when trying to start. Nothing!
At this point the connector pulled out of the rubber boot around the wire and into my hand. I'll call this good fortune because I didn't expect this to happen.
I peered inside the wire boot and saw that the wire had broken off of the end of the crimp.
I couldn't see how to take the connector apart and attempt a repair, so until I get to the dealer to see if the part can be bought, I just crimped a 3/16" push on female terminal onto the wire and (blindly) pushed it onto the male spade (was nicely snug) inside the connector on the solenoid. Image: http://www.parts-express.com/Data/Default/Images/Catalog/Original/095-287_HR_0.jpg
It started right up in the normal second or less, and didn't sound funny like the cranking had hesitated for a fraction of a second during the cranking as observed.
So my guess is that the wire has been mostly broken for the past month that it has been acting up, and fiddling with the wire today broke the last strand or two off.
Hopefully it didn't damage the starter or gear teeth too badly during the month of malfunction.
So, here's a post for those searching for a problem like this. Hope it never happens to you!
The symptom was starting it would work most of the time, but sometimes it would seem like the starter hiccuped for a fraction of a second and sometimes it would stop cranking entirely. Trying again would usually result in success. It had been doing it for about a month and was happening more frequently, so I decided to dig into things.
The positive cable from the battery to solenoid was not as snug as it could be but was not loose. Starter has never been replaced.
The negative cable to engine block was very snug.
Carefully popped the 12 volt positive start signal wire connector off of the solenoid part of the starter.
No corrosion on any wire connections.
I hooked the battery back up temporarily (this was a New Beetle so I had to remove the battery covers, battery, battery tray, move the power steering fluid reservoir out of the way, etc. to see this connector).
I had a friend turn the switch to the Start position. Got 12 volts.
Plugged it in. Tried to start. Absolutely nothing.
Pulled the 12v+ connector off again. Checked the voltage when trying to start. Nothing!
At this point the connector pulled out of the rubber boot around the wire and into my hand. I'll call this good fortune because I didn't expect this to happen.
I peered inside the wire boot and saw that the wire had broken off of the end of the crimp.
I couldn't see how to take the connector apart and attempt a repair, so until I get to the dealer to see if the part can be bought, I just crimped a 3/16" push on female terminal onto the wire and (blindly) pushed it onto the male spade (was nicely snug) inside the connector on the solenoid. Image: http://www.parts-express.com/Data/Default/Images/Catalog/Original/095-287_HR_0.jpg
It started right up in the normal second or less, and didn't sound funny like the cranking had hesitated for a fraction of a second during the cranking as observed.
So my guess is that the wire has been mostly broken for the past month that it has been acting up, and fiddling with the wire today broke the last strand or two off.
Hopefully it didn't damage the starter or gear teeth too badly during the month of malfunction.
So, here's a post for those searching for a problem like this. Hope it never happens to you!