Well i picked it up today and drove it home from Omaha. It was on ebay last night for an hour and i snatched it up! Its Silver w/ black interior, sunroof.. only 115k!
Guy said it has "electrical problems" but it starts by jumping the glow plugs or something? It was in omaha so i drove up with a tow dolly to get it but since it fired right up i decided to drive it home.
Jumpered a wire from battery to the injection pump and it started up.
None of the gauges work, speedo , tach, gas.. but the check engine light it on... .. odometer reads 115k (there was no fuse in the #21 spot, realized that when i got home and started pokin around)
When i got off interstate after 40 minute or so drive it didnt like rev'n up outta first gear, i really had to give it gas and get turbo to wine before it would really get up and go..
The shop i bought it from replaced timing belt and a piston so thats all new!
After lookin at the fuse box, alot of relays are missing (im not sure the shop knew what he was doing) So i need to look at my old mk3 tdi and see what relays are suppose to go where.
Is there a comon problem with the glow plugs or something?
When i got home i parked it and came home 2 hours later and tried to start it up and it wont start, cranks but wont go and white smoke comes outta tail pipe.. i wonder if leaving that hot wire straight from battery to the injection pump fried that sensor / glow plug thing of a ma jig since it probably has a relay in the fuse box that isnt being used..
maybe ignition switch is flaking? very common in mk3's. perhaps ecu isnt getting power?
review all your ground and power connections, then start chasing the evil goblins out of that TDI's loom.
I had a similar problem on a Seat Ibiza tdi. over the battery it has the main strip fuses, the bolts that hold them were fine, but the washers were slightly corroded, that was enough for it to start only when it wanted.
Sounds like its had a hard life--let me know if I can help at all, I'll even be passing through Omaha in about two weeks.
Good luck!
-BB