Yes, another "my car won't start!"

[Hdriven]

Hello everyone. I've been working on my 1981 vw rabbit diesel for about 4 months now. I have finished painting it (inside and outside). I swapped out the front square headlights to nice round headlights. I have rebuilt the engine and put it all back together.  All thanks to the this forum. Every time I've had a question the search function saved the day but not anymore.
So, here's my problem. After rebuilding the engine and putting it all together I primed the pump and all that good stuff and as soon as I cranck it it came to life!  It was awesome.  I didn't drive it because I needed to take care of some things first. A day later I see diesel coming on the floor. It was leaking from the input shaft seal. I replaced it today and retimed it. I have a hand pump in line before the injection pump which I used to get all the air out.  So now I went to start it and I get nothing but cranking, some smoke and some sputtering. I cracked the lines at the injectors in case there was air and tried starting it again to no avail. 
One observation I had was that with fuel lines cracked the cranking rpms were really low.  Once I tightened down the fuel lines it began cranking fast again which leads me to believe that it is getting fuel and is trying to start. 
So, my car won't start any ideas?  I hope to get it started soon so I can drive it, I have never driven the damn thing! Lol.

Thanks guys. 

[TylerDurden]

I'd verify there is no air in the pump using clear lines in and out of the IP . Then I'd recheck the timing to make sure it's correct.

[srgtlord]

I had a problem once where the battery terminals were not visibly loose but indeed they were.  Check the simple items first. Could also be  that you forgot to plug in the stop solenoid

[libbydiesel]

Having the lines open or closed should not noticeably affect the cranking speed.  Maybe it was just a coincidence.

Did fuel spurt from each of the injector unions when the lines were cracked?

[Hdriven]

Yes, I do have clear lines and I don't see any more bubbles. The stop solenoid is in place and connected. I think the solenoid is working because when I cranked it with the fuel lines open fuel came out.
As far as the cranking speed, I tried it again, I opened the injector lines and cranked and the engine cranks much slower.  When I hooked up the fuel lines again the cranking speed increased but it's different. When the fuel lines were disconnected the engine sounded like it was just cranking.  When I hooked them back up the engine sounded like it was misfiring or running 1 cylinder.  It seems like it's almost about to start but it just doesn't. 
Which leads me to the next question can the engine start without glow plugs?  I put in new glow plugs when I rebuilt the engine but I have the "slow" glow relay and I was reading that they can burn out if left on too long or cycled for too long. So maybe it's the glow plugs??  But it's a nice 75 degrees here in SoCal and I thought glow plugs were just for really cold temps?

Lastly before I forget, I checked the timing using my indicator dial and I'm reading .95mm of timing I set the timing when I replaced the IP front shaft seal. Is that sound good or should I go up to 1mm?

Thanks you guys very much.

[vanbcguy]

The IDI engines do rely on the glowplugs even when warm, though they shouldn't need them on for long.  The 'slow' relay will definitely burn out non-Duraterm plugs so that is a distinct possibility.

That said, I'd be concentrating on timing first.  It should start at 0.95mm, but are you sure the pump is in phase with the engine?  If it's 180 degrees out for instance the locking pin will still fit in the pump (depending on the sprocket you have) but it'll be firing fuel on the exhaust stroke rather than the compression stroke.

Oh, and a slow starter will definitely cause some issues getting these engines fired, but if you've got good compression and working glowplugs it shouldn't take much to get a healthy engine started.

[Hdriven]

I never did stop to check if the pump was 180 out. The pump timing pin does fit in either way, now that I think of it.  I guess I'm going to check the pump and pull the glow plugs and check those. I'll report back.

[Hdriven]

Ok, so I wanted to make sure the pump was not 180 off so I performed a test. I removed the number 1 hose from the pump and put in a paper "plug" rotated the engine by hand and the plug popped off during the exhaust stroke. It should have popped off during the compression stroke as the engine engine reached tdc. So I re did the timing with the pump rotated 180.
I went ahead and cranked it and after a 10-20 seconds of cranking it started but just as it started it died out. So now I have no idea what it could be. It starts and then Dies immediately.

[Hdriven]

I also checked the stop solenoid. I put 12v to it so it was always engaged.  The car starts then dies immediately after.

[bajacalal]

To answer your question about glow plugs, these engines will not start well at all without glow plugs unless the ambient temperature and engine are very warm, from my observations, about 100F for both the block and ambient air is the minimum temperature for starting without glow plugs.

If the engine is cold and the glow plugs are not cycling sometimes you can get the engine to fire a few times if it's warm enough but it will run very rough and will stall.

When you start the car do you put your foot on the accelerator? Sometimes if there is a lot of air bubbles left in the system you have to rev the engine a little while it works the air out before it will idle. Have you carefully checked the timing after rotating the pump, there isn't much room for error.

[Hdriven]

I went ahead and double checked the timing. I pulled off the valve cover and did it as if I was starting all over and it's perfection. .95mm. While I was rotating the engine I noticed that the injection pump makes a fairly loud clicking sound. Kinda sounds like something is binding and when it rotates a bit more it lets go and snaps into place. Is this a normal sound to have?  The sound happens maybe once every rotation of the pump.

As for the glow plugs, I pulled them and they all lit up when power is applied.

Also, I had a spare set of injectors that I went ahead and swapped in just in case the injectors were fouled up but it resulted the same. It cranks for a while then it sort of starts for just a second and dies; sounds like maybe one or two cylinders fire then dies.

[libbydiesel]

How long did the pump sit?  Did it dry out?

[Hdriven]

It sat for a while. I bought the car as a project so I don't know its history. But it had been sitting for as long as I've owned it and yes it was dry. Also, I just took off the top cover just to see and it looks rusty in there. In fact there was a bit of water floating on top of the diesel. :/
Any ideas?

[srgtlord]

I would install an electric pusher pump If I were you. Makes like ALOT easier

[libbydiesel]

If the pump sat, then very likely the vanes of the vane pump are stuck.  When that happens it will often run for a second or two then die.  If you install an electric pump sometimes it will actually run enough to free up the vanes.  Otherwise, a pump rebuild or pump swap is in order.