UhOh
Top Post Dawg
No click from starter solenoid. If battery and all wiring is good would this be a failed solenoid?
Some time back I replaced the starter with one that I rebuilt (new brushes and solenoid): I"d recently pulled it from the wife's car- it was in need of a refresh. It would spin the engine really well and all was good except a very fleeting sound of a solenoid that was a bit slow to disengage. I'd lubed things up well, or so I figure I did. This is like the 3rd VW starter I've rebuilt (I've done several others, so not new to this rodeo).
Have all the appropriate lights on the dash. I can hear the fuel solenoid clicking, but nothing else. I even had my hand on the solenoid when the wife turned the key (nothing).
All relevant electrical connections cleaned (even took the opportunity to clean the grounds under the battery tray). Again, it was cranking over effortlessly, nice and fast and then nothing all of a sudden. I was fortunate in that I had some younger couple give me a push (by hand) and get the car fired up to get home: it was almost the first time that any of my TDIs would have been stranded.
I poked around for references to fuses or relays but am coming up short on that: Andybees makes mention of a relay in one of his posts I found but I can't find any such thing. I'm going to go through the fuses, but there's nothing that seems to be associated with the starter that I can see.
IF it's just the solenoid (I'll look to see if the wire self-immolated) is it possible to replace the solenoid in-car (without pulling the starter)? Of course, if there's a problem with the starter itself then replacing the solenoid is likely going to see the solenoid fail again.
If nothing else than the starter then I'll just run out and get a rebuilt one. Doesn't take too long to swap out (though I have zero time right now). Just don't want to commit until I'm sure that it's not some fuse or relay I'm not aware of.
Not a good time for this (like there ever is).
Some time back I replaced the starter with one that I rebuilt (new brushes and solenoid): I"d recently pulled it from the wife's car- it was in need of a refresh. It would spin the engine really well and all was good except a very fleeting sound of a solenoid that was a bit slow to disengage. I'd lubed things up well, or so I figure I did. This is like the 3rd VW starter I've rebuilt (I've done several others, so not new to this rodeo).
Have all the appropriate lights on the dash. I can hear the fuel solenoid clicking, but nothing else. I even had my hand on the solenoid when the wife turned the key (nothing).
All relevant electrical connections cleaned (even took the opportunity to clean the grounds under the battery tray). Again, it was cranking over effortlessly, nice and fast and then nothing all of a sudden. I was fortunate in that I had some younger couple give me a push (by hand) and get the car fired up to get home: it was almost the first time that any of my TDIs would have been stranded.
I poked around for references to fuses or relays but am coming up short on that: Andybees makes mention of a relay in one of his posts I found but I can't find any such thing. I'm going to go through the fuses, but there's nothing that seems to be associated with the starter that I can see.
IF it's just the solenoid (I'll look to see if the wire self-immolated) is it possible to replace the solenoid in-car (without pulling the starter)? Of course, if there's a problem with the starter itself then replacing the solenoid is likely going to see the solenoid fail again.
If nothing else than the starter then I'll just run out and get a rebuilt one. Doesn't take too long to swap out (though I have zero time right now). Just don't want to commit until I'm sure that it's not some fuse or relay I'm not aware of.
Not a good time for this (like there ever is).
