Starting woes ALH TDI

[bonfire]

I have a 2001 TDI.

In October I was driving to Oregon, as I reached Cranbrook I suddenly lost my power steering and my battery light popped on.

****, my serp belt blew apart. I drove the car to Cranbrook and drove it around the town hunting for a belt. I started the car a few times and it started just fine. Napa found a belt and a pulley for me but it was going to come in the next morning.

The next morning I went to see if the car would start, if it did I was going to drive it up to the napa.

It started, then there was a clunk and the car stalled. Went to start it and it wouldn't start. So I hopped on my bike to fetch the pulley and serp belt.

When I went to install the belt I noticed that actually the belt hadn't failed it was the pulley that had failed. As before I want to start the car that morning there was nothing on the ground, now there is a belt lying on the ground. Thankfully I had bought a new pulley anyways.

So I think the slack belt got caught on something and sheared it.

Ever since the car hasnt started worth a ****. I had to mark the fuel timing, then advance it just a hair. To over fuel so it would start. Once the car warmed up, I retarded it back to where it was stock. Then it started no problem.

I then drove the entire way to Oregon, stopping for fuel and bathroom. But never let the thing cool down, therefor it started no problem. Spent my two weeks at school down there and when I to drive back I had the same staring procedure and drove it all the way home.

I live a block from work and such therefor I haven't had the need to drive the car since October. But now I kind of want to get it back on the road. Any suggestions as to what could be causing the issue?


TLR
Car started fine, serp belt failed, went to start car sudden bang, car stalls. Car now comes close to catching but just won't. Unless I alter the fuel timing

[Benjamin]

Re: Starting woes ALH TDI

My brother just went through something like this a week or two ago. His belt shredded for different reasons, but the end result was the timing was out.

When the belt shredded a bunch of the pieces got into the timing belt area and all ended up around the crank. Yours might not be exactly the same, but I would pull off the harmonic balancer and the cover and check to make sure there is no fragments of belt down there.

After that physically check and set your timing via the marks and cam lock.

What happened should have no effect on your starting, your timing being out though will.

[bonfire]

Re: Starting woes ALH TDI

That was my fear.

The belt didn't fragment, as I held it together and the ends fit together perfect.

But I fear it has skipped a tooth, there is maybe 5,000k on the belt and w/p.

From what I can remember there isn't a way to loosen the belt enough to move the belt without pulling the cam pulley off, no?

[dJ]

Re: Starting woes ALH TDI

Nope, you will have to start from scratch. pull the belt off, and start with the flywheel first, then you know your crank is good. Set the Cam, make sure you have it the right way as it looks the same when its 180 degrees out. Install the cam lock. Set the fuel pump, then lock it. then work on putting the belt back on. Make sure you clean up the area around the crank because it sounds like you have the exact same problem I had with there being pieces of the serp belt stuck in the crank area. Good luck, you're going to need it.

[Benjamin]

Re: Starting woes ALH TDI

I would also rotate the belt with the cover off to check all the teeth on the belt. You skipped a tooth on the belt when the bearing seized on the pulley, not exactly friendly to the teeth on the belt. If it was me, I would be tempted to pull the belt and replace just the belt. This is a suggestion only, I would do it for peace of mind, but you could probably get away without it as well.

If you are in Calgary and need a hand and or tools, with the rain the next few days I could probably find some time.

[turbomeyers]

Re: Starting woes ALH TDI

How is the power after it starts ?

[bonfire]

Re: Starting woes ALH TDI

Power is normal, I was very afraid of weak power in case of bent valves.

I've been playing with fuel timing past couple of days and it is running normally. I do notice a bit more smell but this is the first time having the car in a parkade so the scent could just be the confined area.

The offer to help is much appreciated, as I have a garage I could use but lack the timing specific tools.

At this point in time, I'm going to wait a bit. I have a Vagcom cable and had the Ross tech software but the laptop it was on died after years of use. So I am going to get it sorted out on the new laptop then see where my fueling sits. Then investigate the belt if the fuel timing is way out. It's been running good the past couple of days, starting and drives wells.

[turbomeyers]

Re: Starting woes ALH TDI

That you have good power tells me timing is ok. Don't worry about that .. i suspect you have a failing nozzle .I'm pretty open to pop testing your nozzles for you some weekend if you wanted to come down.

[idlandk]

Re: Starting woes ALH TDI

Like chris said, timing should be fine. Is your pump losing prime?

[bonfire]

Re: Starting woes ALH TDI

I would be super game to come on down some weekend, let me know when you are free and I'll cruise down.

I figured if the timing was out too much it wouldnt start in general. I have driven it quite a ways (To orgeon and back and a little bit around the city) plenty of power. Just hard starting.

But timing is the only thing that makes sense, as it happened suddenly. I would think a failing injector or pump would gradually degrade over time.

This morning I started it, like I have the past three mornings. It starts hard, but it started. But then I went to move it today at lunch, it started then stalled on its face. So now I am beyond my thoughts of it running ok.

Open to any help or suggestions.

[turbomeyers]

Re: Starting woes ALH TDI

No in tank on the alh .. sounds like your pump is on its way out .. have a car here doing the same thing . i will be arround on saturday but check back here tomorrow i will let you know if its still a go .. do you have a vag com ..?need to see if the pump timing is bouncing off the chart

[bonfire]

Re: Starting woes ALH TDI

Working on getting my vagcom sorted. I do have a cable and a laptop, just need to transfer my license to the new laptop.

[bonfire]

Re: Starting woes ALH TDI

Got my vagcom working. Got the car started, drove it to my parents garage so I could have some space and my tools to work with.

Got to the house and engine temp on the dash was reading 90°.

Took a little while to get the vag com working and reading. Went into the TDI Timing screen. And it was fluctuating between 27-34 in the timing window. The fuel temp was reading 147. The little diagnostic screen that normall tells you if timing is good or not says "Engine (ECT) temp is too low" and the yellow line vertex was above the red diagnol line but below the middle blue line.

So I shut the car off, went to adjust the timing so that it would bring it up a little bit to the blue line. Came back to start it and nothing. The car would crank a bit, then start but the throttle wouldnt do anything, then it would just stall out. I would depress the pedal and it would have zero response in the engine.

I've now tried to put the timing back to where I had it to begin with to no avail. Tried a variety of spots and no luck. So currently it won't start at all. Before I checked timing I ran vag com and it showed no codes or faults.

Think it is about time I drop the thing off somewhere. It appears to be beyond my skills.

[bonfire]

Re: Starting woes ALH TDI

So after letting it sit. It fired up and I drove it straight to CAW. So if anyone works there who is on here. My red golf is out back and my key is sitting on the floor in your lobby via your mail slot.

[dJ]

Re: Starting woes ALH TDI

Good luck. Hopefully it doesn't cost you an arm and a leg.