Hi,
My golf has just started being a bit of a pain to start in the mornings. Essentially the engine turns over but it takes a few times to get going and a bit of throttle sometimes helps. It's only just started doing this - is it just old age!
I had the car serviced a little while ago and they replaced the cambelt. Would the timing be out and causing this? I've not noticed any problems with MPG?
any clues appreciated, thanks in advance
noz
Edited by Pugugly {P} on 17/02/2008 at 19:56
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It sounds like your glow plugs, 99% sure.
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All of my various TDi's normally started immediately, even in the depths of winter. However I noticed spring last year that my MkIV TDi110 was now taking a few turns before springing into life. VW garage couldn't find anything, the weather got warmer, starting returned to immediate. Come last winter and again it began to take longer to start. Eventually the garage diagnosed glowplugs; these were duly changed... but made no difference (this was at approx 90k miles).
I'm sorry to say that there was no solution to this problem; the car reached the end of the lease (99.3k miles) before its next service visit to the garage.
JohnM
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It was the glowplugs...thanks for the help!
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groan...still getting some problems.
it takes a couple of cranks of the key to get it started and it's not even that cold yet (17C) today....
any more ideas before I take it back??
ta
noz
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Do you have a glow plug light which illuminates when you switch the ignition on? Is this light behaving normally, ie on for a few seconds, then off? If it is, then it is possible that the glow plug control unit/relay/timer has gone faulty. There should be 12 volts across the glow plugs when the light is on. I would start by checking this, first. No volts would indicate a faulty relay/fuse. Volts for too short a time would indicate timer/control unit.
If you have changed the glowplugs and it improved for a while, then it may be the timer unit. (new plugs, better glow for a short time, enough for an easier start.)
HTH
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Have a look at the glow plug relay, relay 4a. You can measure the volt drop across the contacts with the engine running to give an idea of its condition, you could also clean the relay contacts (inside the can) with elctrolube contact cleaner, etc, or just replace the relay.
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thanks,
The glow plug light goes on and off more-or-less as it has done since I had the car.
back to the garage....!
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It may be nothing to do with the electrics (although that's where I would look first!)
Get the garage to check that there isn't a leak (or leaking one way valve) allowing fuel to drain back overnight. It's possible that if a new fuel filter was fitted, it isn't making a perfect seal. If your fuel filter doesn't run under pressure (I don't know the detail layout of your fuel system), then small leaks here can be difficult to spot, because no fuel leaks out, only air leaks in!
Number_Cruncher
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Have a look at this troubleshooting list which starts at the beginning:) tdiclub.com/TDIFAQ/TDiFAQ-8.html
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nozmiester
You almost answered this yourself in your first post.
If the cambelt is changed, the electronic timing must be re-set using suitable equipment.
If it isn't; then they drive OK, but can be a real pain to start from cold.
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thanks for the help. I'm booking it into the garage for more investigation next week.
Just a question about the timing....I didn't notice the problem when the weather was warmer, just when it drops below about 18C - could the timing be at fault then?
ta
Noz
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Noz
The electronic timing does vary with coolant, air and even fuel temp; but it's only as it gets colder that you really start to notice it's effect on the starting.
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Hi,I had a problem with my pre heat relay on a 93 1.7 TDI Cavalier a few years ago,I found it getting a jump lead connecting it to the + on the battery and connecting it to the glow plug rail (don't let it short to earth),I counted to 10 and hit the key and she started instantly,it proved it was the relay.
HTH Andrew...
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I do like my Diesels to be Turbocharged for that extra OOMPH!!!!
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It's back in the garage now.
They've checked whether any errors have been logged but there aren't any so they are going to strip it back and check the timing.....they don't seem to know what this could be.
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noz
"Strip it back?" You check/re-set the electronic pump timing with a sophisticated scan-tool through the serial port!
Wrong timing doesn't leave anything as simple as a fault-code. Sounds like your garage are way out of their depth.
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Just spoke to the garage who have said they've now adjusted the pump timing so I suspect the "strip it back" was the man on the service desk giving me it in something that sounds more thorough!!
Anyway, I'm going to pick it up later, I'll report back then.
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Seems like the timing change might have fixed this as it seems "OK" when I've started it up over the last two mornings.
Thanks for the help!
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