Hard Starting

[Mopar44o]

I tried searching the faq section and didnt come up with much

Recently the my 96 jetta 1.9 td has become a bit of a pain to start.

If I pull the cold start lever after its been sitting for a while it will fire up right away 90% of the time.

But without the cold start it will crank and crank and crank and then after 30 secs or so it will go but be really rough. This is on a day like to day  where it was 32 degs out! Should I really need the cold start lever on a day like that.

Also Its even hard to start sometimes after the car has warmed up to operating temp without the cold start lever.

Today it stalled because I forgot I had the a/c on still when trying to slow roll from an idle. I Cranked it for almost 30 seconds. The starter was turning slowly. Had to pull the cold start lever to get it to go. This was after it warmed up to.

Any ideas?

[jimfoo]

Almost sounds like it's getting air in it. Mine would do that. The return was allowing air in, and the fuel would slowly leak back through the return line. Luckily I had a lift pump, so it would prime within 5 or so seconds. So I'd check for air in the lines first, glowplugs second.

[Mopar44o]

Can it be any line? Or just the return line? Wher's the return and what am I looking for?

Thanks

[gigaz2]

that one is easy, its the line that comes from the OUT bolt, and the return from the injectors (rubber lines) also go there.

[burn_your_money]

It could be anyline, just pop the hood with the engine running, then turn it off and quickly look for air bubbles in the lines. It could be low compression as well