[Vwdiesel] no start, relay and a smoke puff

[Erik Lane]

One thing that is possible is that your fuse box itself has problems
with its internal connections. (I think. My older A1 cars have all
done that.)

The connections in there get a little corrosion, and especially the
high current draw ones like for the glow plugs can cause burning and
melting if there is enough of a problem. I had to replace the fuse
boxes in a couple of my cars, and when I took them apart I found that
internally they had corroded enough to have a high enough resistance
to get serious heat. The little rivet like connections just wore out
after so many years.

So that would fit, at least. A messed up fuse box could fit just about
any weird electrical issue you could think of, though. The smoke is
what made me think of it.

Erik

On Wed, Mar 14, 2012 at 2:23 PM, Tad <tadc at europa.com> wrote:
> Chris, I'd start with checking the ground path between the starter and
> battery.  It sounds like you've got a bad connection that is
> backfeeding current through whatever path is available (the TPS wire
> in this case).  Not sure how the GP relay fits into the picture
> though...
>
> On Wed, Mar 14, 2012 at 2:02 PM, Chris Jude <vegbenz300 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Folks,
>>
>> For the last couple weeks I've bee having an occasional no start situation
>> with the 85 Jetta.  It's not every time, but occasionally the car wont
>> start, and sometimes it won't start and there will be a small puff of smoke
>> from the fuse box area.  I've noticed that the insulation of the Brown wire
>> going to the throttle position sensor switch is melted.  When I remove the
>> glow plug relay the car will crank and start fine (sans glow plugs).
>> Last week, after this happened a couple days in a row, the battery died.  I
>> tightened up a wire going to the alternator and that seemed to fix that
>> problem, and the car started regularly for several days, no problems.
>> Today the problem came back, with some smoke, I haven't looked yet to see
>> if there is another fried wire.
>> Any thoughts on where to look?  I don't see any bad connections at the fuse
>> box, and the glow plug relay pins look fine.  The battery is charging as
>> well.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Chris
>> 1985 VW Jetta NA
>> Pittsboro, NC
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