2006 Jetta starts but Immediately Dies on Occasions

[dbrannon79]

Hey guys. to all the Jetta TDI owners out there, I have a curiosity on my daughters jetta. it had been parked for about two years because the dual mass flywheel had stripped out the splines. I recently got it back on the road and has been running nicely.

something I have noticed is that every now and again when I go to start the engine, it will immediately die. there are no codes on the ecm and no engine light, runs fine and when it does this, I just try cranking a second time and it's good to go. the battery just got replaced with new, though I have not checked voltage draw when cranking.

Since it's got a hair over 230K miles on the clock, I was considering replacing the glow plugs to see if that helps, though the weather shouldn't be cool enough to really need them. the glow light in the dash only will come on for a couple of seconds and have never seen it stay on longer than that even in the winter.

Just wondering if anyone has experience on this or what all I should be checking.

I do know this thing has had it's fair share of wiring issues with the insulation falling off. I have had to replace the harnesses in the doors and patch the one in the trunk lid. there some wires going into the hood that I have no idea what they go to that I need to address, but has not effected anything to my knowledge. Also the sun roof will on occasion crack it's self open even it's parked and the key isn't even in the car, haven't tried to address that yet, but am seriously thinking about just disconnecting the electric motor in the roof.

Only reason I want to disconnect that is because back when it was sitting (daughter had bought a new car, not while it was down with the broken flywheel), I had left it parked under the pecan tree in the yard with the battery connected. Well it had cracked open and moisture got into the cab creating mold on everything but no standing water in the floor, just major dampness. since then we masked up and sterilized everything, pulling all the seats, carpet and all going though a deep cleaning, then ozoneing the car. now it smells like a new used car LOL. I doubt that incident has anything to do with this new issue, it was driving and starting fine until the flywheel broke.

 

[J_dude]

Not really sure what’s going on there, I’m thinking something with the wiring..? But I’d say don’t bother with glow plugs unless you verify the existing ones are bad, should be able to check resistance. Not sure what values those ones should be at though, they’re different than the ones on mine. Even if glow plugs were an issue I’d check the harness first too before spending moneys lol.

On the sunroof, yeah just unplug it, they’re nothing but trouble usually.

 

[dbrannon79]

I just watched a video on how the check them on a warm engine. they all should be about 1 ohm. the harness has this plastic housing around it, but its cracking and pealing. it's been like that since we got it about 6 years ago. honestly nothing has been done to the car other than oil changes and regular maintenance. I started thinking the other day about the timing belt and wondered how bad of a job it is. I probably should look into that further. I'm sure it's been done at least once in it's life, but with 230K it probably needs all the rubber under the hood replaced.

 

[J_dude]

I just watched a video on how the check them on a warm engine. they all should be about 1 ohm. the harness has this plastic housing around it, but its cracking and pealing. it's been like that since we got it about 6 years ago. honestly nothing has been done to the car other than oil changes and regular maintenance. I started thinking the other day about the timing belt and wondered how bad of a job it is. I probably should look into that further. I'm sure it's been done at least once in it's life, but with 230K it probably needs all the rubber under the hood replaced.

If you don’t know when the timing belt has been done, definitely look into doing it as soon as possible. They have a km/mile service interval, as well as a time interval, whichever comes first, and at 6 years you’re probably on borrowed time.
I’ve done my ALH once and a buddy’s BRM (06 Jetta as well) and the BRM is way easier, we did it in an afternoon, taking our time. I would say get a timing belt kit from ID Parts or one of the other “Trusted TDI Vendors” on TDIClub.
I don’t remember if you need a VCDS cable to finish up the timing belt job on those engines, but the boys on TDIClub will know, have you posted this over there yet?

 

[dbrannon79]

no I haven't posted over there yet. Yeah I definitely don't need this one to go off the cliff while my truck is out of commission esprcially if and I'm sure it is an interference engine.

 

[J_dude]

no I haven't posted over there yet. Yeah I definitely don't need this one to go off the cliff while my truck is out of commission esprcially if and I'm sure it is an interference engine.

Yup game over if she lets go on ya

 

[MrMarty51]

End of headache, ship that critter over to Me.
Yup, get that belt done before messing with anything else.
Hook a volt meter to a GP wire, see what that does.
Address the obvious first and it seems that the GP system is bold faced and glaring at You, especially being no codes.

 

[J_dude]

I doubt very much that the glow system being inop would have anything to do with the engine dying, it’s really only there to help with starting and if the car starts fine I don’t see how that could be the problem. But who knows, that’s just my opinion.

I skimmed a couple threads on this issue on the “Club” last night and I saw a couple things electrical mentioned, crank sensor wiring was one, might want to start checking those sort of things first.

 

[dbrannon79]

I did some reading on the other forums for this issue and it seems it could be a voltage draw thing. the other threads the OP replaced the battery which fixed the issue. I am wondering if the starter is pulling more than it's fair share. could be too if I didn't get a good connection on it when I reinstalled the trans. I will get a meter on it and looksee. I remember the previous owner we bought it from said he drove it a lot back and fourth from where were located to deep into Mexico. that's about a 10 hour drive one way, so it's got a lot of freeway miles on her. all the components including the starter still looked original when I dismantled it. So for a starter that has lasted 17 years and 230K That's not too common anymore.

 

[dbrannon79]

Looked into the timing belt kit and I found the kits are around $60 for the belt with both the tensioner and ilder. I also see that both Gates and AC Delco use the same part number. Not too sure about using a Delco part on a German VW, but maybe I'm just off my rocker LOL.

I figured I better plan to do the water pump too while doing the timing belt. that too is around $60. not too bad for $120 and doesn't look like it's too bad of a job ether.

 

[DieselAmateur]

It's best practice to replace water pump and all rollers and tensioner when doing the timing belt too. Classic "do it while you're already there" kind of job. And definitely get the timing belt done ASAP if last change is unknown, they are interference engines and if the belt goes or slips you're looking at a trashed engine.

Definitely read up on the TDI club website, lots of good info there. I can't speak to the '06 PD engines but make sure you make sure everything is locked into place (cam & crank) before you start removing things. Also you may need software to re- time the engine, again not sure only familiar myself with the ALH engines that have a rotary distributor type pump as opposed to the cam driven injection of your engine.

 

[dbrannon79]

Yeah I will be reading up on it, youtube'n it too lol. I have the software and the VCDS cable for it, used that several times. I will need to know all the tools as well. when I replaced the flywheel was the second time that I had pulled a jetta trans. found out half way through on the first one (04 jetta) that you have to have some special sockets to get all the bolts out. I'm sure there's a special crank pulley puller needed and or some specialized tensioning tool for the belt needed.

my weekend plans are to replace the HB on my truck and then read up on this for the timing belt. Gee, an exciting weekend!

 

[MrMarty51]

Read the book before releasing and removing that belt.
A guy called me one morning.
His brothers toyodah pigup. Twin OH cams, he didnt have a book. Took things apart, removed belt. Both cams spun to differing positions.
Asking me what to do. Told him, see if the cams will rotate until the timing marks are met. Then rotate the cranking shaft to the same.
Told him, if one or both cams comes to a halt before getting the marks from the sprockets aligned to the marks on the head, then He is in a deeep darrrk world.
Well come on over and show me. NO I WILL NOT ! ! ! !
He had his brother call and plead, no, you should have had a repair manual from the factory when You first bought that truck. If them cams dont rotate around then You are going to have to massage the crank around and hope that when the mark on the crank sprocket aligns with the block or cover mark that the cams will be in position.
If that dont work then you better have a book and figure out how to pull them camshafts.
I hung up. I also never seen his brother drive that truck again too.
Maybe the cams would not spin wholly to align marks.

 

[dbrannon79]

Yeppers. at reading I will do.

 

[J_dude]

Looked into the timing belt kit and I found the kits are around $60 for the belt with both the tensioner and ilder. I also see that both Gates and AC Delco use the same part number. Not too sure about using a Delco part on a German VW, but maybe I'm just off my rocker LOL.

I figured I better plan to do the water pump too while doing the timing belt. that too is around $60. not too bad for $120 and doesn't look like it's too bad of a job ether.

Yeah probably best to just get a kit from one of the vendors like ID Parts, they make sure all the parts they sell are of good quality. There will be single-use bolts to replace on that job as well and the kit should include those. Usually German parts are best on these cars, I wouldn’t trust AC Delco for a VW part lol.