[Vwdiesel] 1998 tdi no start

[James Hansen]

jonathan hoehl wrote:
> 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.

when you crank it with a starter, how does it sound?
Nice even pulses, or what?

   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.  
Not THAT well in the cold. Saskatchewan cold...

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. 

Someone killed the MIL light before they sold it?
GLow plugs are an emissions item, faulty glow plugs are an emissions 
issue, so the light should glow solid.  See if it (CEL or MIL light) 
EVER lights up when you first turn the key on, or it could be with the 
clutch out, and the tranny in gear, the interlock stuff should keep the 
engine from starting, but all the dash lamps should light.

  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?

No, it won't.
Nice try tho.
  You can run with an unplugged MAF sensor (mass airflow) in limp mode, 
but not with "the electronics" disengaged.  Not only do you not have 
warp engines, impulse is down as well.
It could be fuel, but then it wouldn't smoke now, would it.

You need Vag-Com.
-james