Not your average "Car won't start"

[wikdslo]

Just a background, car is an 81 rabbit with a 1.6 IDI.
I had noticed in weeks prior that my alternator belt was loosening on it's own, and thought the alternator was just slipping down. Found out a couple of weeks ago that I had a wobbly waterpump pulley.
Checked it a few days ago and it was moving fairly smooth so i left it alone.

This morning, the gf was driving the car to work. She said she was just driving normally, when she heard what sounded like a bunch of rocks being tossed around the engine. (She was driving through a construction area with a bunch of loose gravel). She thought maybe she was dragging something, so she turned off the car and got out and checked but nothing was there, so she got back in, started it again, and went to work.

<several>

I showed up with an alternator belt to replace the one that was no longer there anymore. After getting that back on, I tried to start it, it cranked, but it did not fire. Maybe 30 ~ 45 seconds worth of turning.
At that point, i started hunting around, and checking things. Found that the timing was off on the injection pump.

The timing was set to 1.65, but the crank and the cam were still lined up, and the timing belt was looser than normal. Assuming the pump had jumped a tooth, i left it where it was and just rotated it so that it was sitting at 1.00mm. I double checked, tripled checked. Made sure that it was all free spinning by hand, the cam was ligned up, the proper flywheel mark seems to be lined up, the pump is showing about 1 ~ 1.02 (changed it a couple of times).

Every time I tried cranking, it would spin but nothing would fire. I cracked all of the lines at the injectors, and they all got wet, so there is fuel. When the lines were cracked, the motor turned over smooth, when I tightened them, the motor would chug seemingly on just 1 cylinder. I could also see white smoke coming out of the tailpipe, signifying fuel?

After a full night of this, the car still would not start. I tried 1 bump start, it failed.

If ANYONE can give me some help or suggestions, I'm all ears.

I am going to double check my glow plug circuit tomorrow, but other than that, I don't think any fuses would directly affect this (other than the glow plug one which i checked).

I'm at a loss, and I could use some help.

Thanks, and sorry for the long write up

Cheers

[wikdslo]

So per the bently, here's what I'm planning on tonight.
1. Check the stop solenoid on the pump for voltage.
  - Check fuse no. 9 (per the bentley, but it also says that is for the rear wiper.. Are they on the same fuse?)
2. Bring spare pump for stop solenoid swappage if necessary.
3. Check for voltage to glow plugs

Any other suggestions?

Is it possible the pump is out 180 degrees or something? How can I check that?

[burn_your_money]

To check the stop solenoid just have a helper turn the key from off to run. Have your ear close to the stop solenoid. You'll hear it click if it is working. Fuel at the lines and smoke out the back usually indicates it's working fine though.

Do you have any air bubbles going to or from the pump?

I'm not positive but I think if the pump was out 180 the timing gauge would not read properly.

[wikdslo]

2 words...

Glow plugs.

2 of the 4 had no continuity, 1 had about 1000 ohms of resistance, the other was jolly good.
Changed all 4 with 4 working ones, car starts and runs better than ever.

[somolovitch3]

Cool, some actually posted the end results!

Where is the beer?! There was supposded to be beer! :oops: