Author Topic: 1.6NA no start (Read 2130 times)

Jolly1977 · « **on:** March 12, 2008, 09:41:41 am »

My beloved 1980 Rabbit left me stranded at work a month ago.

The morning I went to work, started and ran fine (about 18 deg F, no engine heater). Went to leave work that night (still about 18 deg F), and it made a little bit of a cough, and then nothing. Just cranks over, no spitting, sputtering, nothing.

Thought maybe it had something to do with the glow plugs, so I went back later that night with a 300W halogen work light, and my girlfriends hair dryer, and let them heat up the IP, head, and top of engine. Still nothing. GP's are only 2 months old, and the fuse on the fire wall is ok. If I cycle the GP's several times, they do seem to get warm, so I dont think thats it. I checked the IP timing, and it was right on.

At some point, I think somebody installed an after market fuel pump just outside the fuel tank. About two weeks previous to this, something shorted it out, and it just blows fuses. It was running fine without the extra boost from that little fuel pump. The tank did run low on fuel, so I figured the IP lost its prime. So I put in 5 gallons of fuel, disconnected the fuel lines from the injectors, and cranked her over. It appears the injectors are getting fuel with no problems. I checked for any kind of fuel leaks, and havent found anything. I'm stumped on this one. I cant figure out why it would run geat one day, and the next it wont do crap.

Im starting to go through diesel withdrawl, and need some troubleshooting insite here. Anybody got any ideas?

Fuel pump

burn_your_money · « **Reply #1 on:** March 12, 2008, 09:43:30 am »

So since it's stop running you've confirmed that you are getting fuel out of the injectors? (ie faulty stop solenoid)

Jolly1977 · « **Reply #2 on:** March 12, 2008, 02:09:22 pm »

I un-did the fuel line from the IP to the back of the injectors and cranked the motor, and fuel dripped out of the lines. So I know there's fueling going IN, not sure if fuel is coming OUT of the injectors.

But I think bad injectors is something that developes over time, not something that happens all at once.

burn_your_money · « **Reply #3 on:** March 12, 2008, 04:31:12 pm »

Are you able to try push starting it? I had a similar problem where my rabbit would randomly not be able to crank over fast enough even though everything sounded fine

Jolly1977 · « **Reply #4 on:** March 13, 2008, 04:41:33 am »

The battery did lose alot of its umphhh. So when I try to start it I hook the VW up to my truck for some extra cranking power. So I dont think the battery is an issue.