'85 jetta starting issues

[quanstrom]

Hi all,

1.6 na, bought her about a year ago, lots of little projects, new timing belt about 4 months ago. Car had a ton of blowby when I bought it, some compression loss is certainly to blame for having to crank for several seconds usually before she lights.

I always kind of assumed I might have a bad glow plug, and the car became noticeably more difficult to start a few days ago (and it's still warm in the pacific nw.) so im thinking, sweet, another plug just went, nice easy job to get her starting right up...bought four new glow plugs and put them in the other day, and tested the old ones afterward. Much to my horror, the old ones all tested good (.9 ohms. +\- about 0.2)

My injector bleed off/return hoses were getting gooey from running biodiesel, and I haven't had a chance to pick up moe fuel line yet, so I won't be able to start the engine until tomorrow, but i cannot reasonably expect any change due to the new glow plugs. 

Problem is, I want to drive the car this winter but if starting is just barely difficult in 60-70 degree weather, I don't think ill be able to light her off at all in December.

I plan to load test the battery when I get a chance. Maybe that's part of the prob. Perhaps the injectors aren't spraying a good pattern, I could take them out and down to a shop if you guys think thats worth it. I already know the engine surely must have less than ideal compression although I've never tested.

What else do you guys think I should look into, short of a quick and dirty in frame rebuild ( more like get in, replace piston rings and get out fast)?

The engine really runs beautifully once she gets going. I would love to keep driving the car but it might be a real problem this winter. Block/coolant heaters aren't much of an option since I live in an apt and park on the street.

Thanks in advance fellows. I appreciate your time!

Ted

[745 turbogreasel]

Air leak into fuel?

[rs899]

I found out the hard way that cranking speed matters.  I had a starter that was turning OK ( I thought) when cold (FL cold) but had issues when it got hot.  Eventually it left me stranded and when I pulled it apart I found that the commutator had somehow worn a hump in itself and had trashed the brushes.  When I put a good stater in the car it's like new again (well, it burns oil, but you can't have everything).

[JessaBug]

Air leak into fuel?

That's my thought, especially with bio use. Could be eating up some seals causing air to leak in which can lead to some hard starting.

[scrounger]

I was getting hard starting with my jetta TD. It got progressively worse and found that I had a leak in one fuel lines. I replaced the bad line with a clear line which improved the problem but I could still see some air bubbles in the line after a couple of days. Turns out one of the screw clamps didn't tighten evenly. I replaced it with some copper wire to give a good seal.

Also consider that just because your glows are good are they getting power?

You have probably checked both of these but just in case.

When everything is working it starts extremely quick.

[damac]

My cars start so fast hot or cold that I can't count a revolution of the engine   I remember when I first got my jetta, it had air in the line issues and the starter would speed up and down and you could count how many times it turned over.  Also when warm the engine was ready but the starter would do wierd stuff. 

Got to make sure fuel is draining away from the pump inlet, otherwise on a cold start you are pushing air in to start and basically wasted a glowplug cycle.  Add in a poor starter and it makes for a nasty combination.

I also used a tdi auto starter as suggested by a member on here.  Loved it so much that I put one on each of my cars.  Also upgraded all wiring at the same time to a size larger wire with freshly cleaned connections.  Also added extra ground to starter/tranny/alternator for the hell of it.

[burn_your_money]

Search for a DIY called "voltage drop test"

Did you hook the glowplugs up to 12v to see if they actually glowed red?

[quanstrom]

Thank you all for your helpful suggestions as always.

I replaced several fuel lines including the link between the fuel filter and IP. That line is now clear and there don't appear to be any air bubbles whatsoever.

I also load tested my battery and it appears to be "good" overall.

I am still having more or less the same issues when starting. Again, it's pretty darn warm outside so it's hard to get a feel for how the car might behave in winter.  I am still experiencing several seconds of cranking from a cold start. If I get the timing adv. handle out immediately it usually runs rough for a few secs until OP comes up then she purrs. From a warm start the engine will sometimes fire up immediately, which is a great sound, and will sometimes take several seconds of cranking. I feel like my issue at this point must be directly related to compression loss around my worn (broken?) rings.

My water trap is still intact and I occasionally drain sediment and water from it. It would be easy enough to delete but I feel as though any barrier for water and crud before the primary filter is a good safeguard. And because I don't see any air in the line after the filter I can be reasonably sure there's no leaks in the system upstream of that point.

On a side note, I test drove a 2000 Jetta tdi this afternoon that is for sale for $4500 by a local dealership. It was fun to drive and quite fast! First gear was difficult to engage sometimes though and the dash looked like a Christmas tree with all the check engine lights blinking at me the whole time. I must say, I was happy to hand the keys back over to the salesperson and climb into my trusty, computerless boxy thing for the drive home. There's something about that clack clack clack that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.