[Vwdiesel] 1998 tdi no start

[jonathan hoehl]

Ok,
 
So, my friend's daughter has a 1998 1.9 stick shift tdi Jetta with 220,000 miles on it.  It cranks over, but does not start.  It sounds smooth and eventually tries to catch (just the littlest bit), but just doesn't.  Lots of white smoke out the back.  Glow plugs don't seem to light.  50 degrees F outside.  No soot in the coolant.  No tools.  She says the car got progressively harder to start in the last few months, until it just didn't start one day.  It always seemed to run fine when it did.  So, we pull the car with a rope, behind a truck.  Engine turns good, white smoke, but never runs.  I figured if the intake was full of oil even, the engine would try to run away?  No hint of that.  And, you could only hear the turbo spin when the rpm needle was right of vertical (don't remember the numbers).  We towed to 40mph and ran-out of room.  Tried a few more times, and no life.  I remember the IDI's would start like that in the cold without glow plugs even.  Oh, and no check engine light, of course.  So, I admit I'm a bit stumped.  I wondered what everyone here thought might be wrong.  I'll go back and check compression and timing.  I assume I can jumper the GP relay as well.  I don't know what to do about checking the air flow meter or ECM though.  If I unplug the electronics, but jumper the glow plugs and fuel stop solenoid, would the engine run in a 'limp' mode?  What do you guys think?
 
thanks,
 
Jon
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