[Vwdiesel] *help! smoking & bucking*

[Rolf Pechukas]

hey all
this is a follow-up to my alternator failure adventure
(2001 VW Golf TDi)

events as they unfolded:

- driving from Boston to Cape Cod, my battery light came on

- battery clearly running down, alternator not charging, I drove most of the way before the car died
was not running so good just before it died
I attributed that to CPU not getting juice

- had it towed to local garage, who replaced the alternator (OE Bosch rebuild, 120A)

-  picked it up today, running terribly, no acceleration, black smoke under any load, bucking
was initially un-driveable, now slightly better, put 30 careful miles on, hoping CPU would 're-set' itself
not so much
exhaust smelly

- engine light is NOT on

thoughts:

- CPU clearly not driving the fuel pump properly

Q's:

- is it possible driving while running the battery down damaged the fuel pump CPU??
- or even the fuel pump itself?

- shop charged up the battery before doing the alt
if they had reverse-connected the charger, could it have fried the CPU?

- would the car run at all if the CPU were fried?

- might pump timing need to be re-set? isn't that all CPU-driven?

- what else could explain this behavior?

thanks for any thoughts,

Rolf in MA