02 Jetta TDI Cranks but No start

Even after seeing little/no fuel flow to the IP through the [clear] fuel line between the filter & IP?

How much should come out in what amount of cranking time?

should spray 6" to a foot out the top of injectors with the lines loose.

Pulled the hose tonight to check that the egr valve wasn't stuck shut at the recommendation of my guy. He asked that I try hitting it with a small shot of starter fluid if the valve wasn't stuck to try & see if it is fuel related or something else. So I had the ol lady crank & I gave a few little hits. It'd rev up for a second but never start. I gave up but asked the wife to crank er again & it half way sounded like it wanted to start w/o the ether. So I had her hold it cranking longer & be dang if she didn't fire off. Took it for a short ride, shut it down a few times & every time it fired back up.

No idea. We'll see if she fires in the AM!

IP is leaking around the body, bet you a six pack.

So that would cause an intermittent no-start? How so? Air? Would this be evident externally? If so I'm going to try to get some pics to see if you can tell. On front bottom side of IP, its dry & so is engine. There is light film on stuff on the side of IP closest to valve cover. on the valve cover & injector lines, etc.

At one point the pump was swapped or rebuilt. It has paint marks on bolts on top. My guy said it felt strong & whatnot when driven & checked with vcom about 5500mi ago.

My car the pump was not leaking externally as in fuel coming out, the issue was air getting in. As best I remember I used the hand vac to push fuel through the fuel filter and pump but blocked the return lines, this made it actually drip fuel so I could find the leak. I did this AFTER trying to get the system primed using vacuum and hearing a hiss every time. Unless you know that pump was rebuilt, don't worry to much about the paint marks, my car has the same thing and I know it has never been into.

What my car did was occasional hard/long starts that turned into no start at all. Somewhere you have a leak letting the fuel drain back to the tank, remember, no lift pump on these cars, just an internal pump in the IP.

I'm beginning to believe my issue is same or similar to yours billy. 95% of the time it fires off instantly. Since I first posted about this & it restarted, it has happened two more times. The 2nd time it took cranking for about 15-20 sec & it fired right up & was flawless until yesterday. This time it cranked & cranked to no avail.

Everytime this has happened its been in my driveway parked in a particular spot. Also everytime its done it, I've heard the fuel slosh in the tank when I've stopped the night before.

Those are the only commonalities.


So billy, which oring did you change in the pump? Is this do able with the pump in the car? Something a DIYer can handle with some sense & mechanical abilities?

Fuel plate cover and main body O-ring. I went to the local injection service and had them order the seal kit, cost under $30. The cover was easy, just mark it's location VERY carefully, remove, replace o-ring, install in it's original location. Best I remember it just lifts straight up. You can move it around some to increase fueling a teensy bit, but don't ask me the procedure.

Pump head was a bit trickier, basically you want to remove the injector lines and loosen the head from the pump body just enough you can get the o-ring off and the new one on. It is not super hard, but it's going to require slow going. After you break the bolts loose, back them out evenly 1/4 turn at a time. The head will want to cock to one side, just be aware. Google it, there were several good write ups and one or two videos I found. Oh, and yes, you do this with it on the car, and if you screw up the pump has to be sent to someone who knows how it goes back together and has the parts that will go flying

Thanks

As I mentioned, the car isn't starting again... fast forward a week & my wife invites a friend of ours over to take a look at it while I'm still at work. I get texted that "it needs a fuel pump in the tank" to which I reply theres no such critter. Get home & find out he attempted to start it by pouring "a little" GASOLINE down the intake tube (taken apart by the air filter) then climbing in the car and cranking. I quickly reminded him its a DIESEL. he was neck deep in a cavalier working on the blower motor in my driveway & my stomach was in knots. IDK how I kept my cool but I did. I thanked my wife for not trusting me & hoped our car was ruined... that was around wed. I think.

Fast forward to yesterday when I finally had a little time to look at it... I pulled intake tube off & didn't see any gas but could smell a little. IDK what to do but wanted to see if it'd crank. It did, & started actually. rattly & no throttle response & died within a few seconds. I just assumed it was running on the gas? So I try it a time or two more & it runs for only a couple seconds. I figured its run out of gas & is back to the regular no-start condition? So I hook up jumper cables to keep from killing battery, get wife to crank it & I hit it with a shot of starting fluid. Bam, it revs as expected & back to sputtering. Hit it with starting fluid again wile still cranking & vroom! That ***** went WOT! I honestly thought wife accidentally pushed throttle instead of clutch. Nope! I thought it was running away completely but it fizzled out in about 5 sec.

Pull engine cover off and notice its blown fuel (like mist) around the IP & a cpl of the injectors. Plus a little black fluid seeping from egr tube by intake. Out back, it blew black smoke that would make a hilljack oraller proud & even sooted the grass by the exhaust outlet. Also, when it did the little runaway, there was a LOT of fine bubbles in the clear FEED tube going from filter to IP. They seemed to originate by the pump & go opposite way as fuel flow if that makes sense?



I'm taking it to my mechanic but what could I be looking at here? I don't have new viewports in anything so nothing exploded thankfully. I fear the IP is ruined but idk.

A possibility is the car hit and ran backwards on oil collected in the intake piping and intercooler. I have seen it happen on other diesels being hit with starting fluid.

Almost bet on 109 relay, check for 12 volts on the injection pump electrical terminal while cranking or put a jumper from 12v+ to it and see if it will run, I've beat my head against the 109 relay more than once, remove it test it electrically ,show ok re install and 50/50 chance of working or how long,I've pulled them apart cleaned the contacts tested and you never know, last time I installed a jumper ring terminal on pump with an alligator clamp insulated and left in place at battery for those dark no start times, I run a programmed ECM and with jumper in place power is reduced to near stock levels but it will get you home,and jumper disconnected to kill engine or drain battery. JMO use at own risk,I also carry a spare new 109 now too so when it's convenient to remove kick panels to regain lost power and sometimes the next day it will start and run for months after a no start ??????

I still haven't taken my car in to get worked on since the gas incident.

Previously though, I was told that my relay is, in fact, an old version because it's a grey one. I think he said the new ones are black or maybe he said blue? Or maybe I have it backwards? Crap I forget now.

Dropped off at mechanic Fri. Should know something early this week. They're betting it might just be the relay... unless the gas episode did some damage.

All of this over a plugged (and collapsed) fuel filter. Apparently I got the tank fairly low, sucked some crud and plugged the filter. I think the filter collapsed when it did the small run-away on the gas in the turbo. Forced the IP to suck on the fuel filter at substantial RPM and crushed it.

All appears to be fine now.