Hello,

A coworker of mine has a VW beetle, 1998 TDI, diesel model. He loaned his vehicle to a friend. They used the car in the cold condition (around 0 to -5F). It was running fine. They then turned off the car. It was left for approx 2.5 hours. After that it would not start. After towing it to a warm spot where everything could "thaw" for several hours, some diagnostics were tested: fuel lines. They were not frozen. The electrical system was checked (battery, alternator, starter). They all check okay. The glow plug tests check out okay. The car will turn over, but the engine will not start. There was enough diesel fuel in the tank to prevent condensation/water build up, so that is not a factor.

What else could the problem be? My coworker who owns the car said that it could be that a code needs to be reset in the EEPROM in the car, but he is not sure. He would rather not take it to a service center only to be charged $300 to remedy this.

Anything else that could be checked?

Thanks for any help.
Mike

 

Make sure that you checked to see if the glow plugs are really getting current. The resistance test is ok for the glow plugs to see if they are not burned out, but you must check each one to see if they are getting 12volts DC when the preheat light is on. During cold weather if the diesel fuel is not winterized the paraffin(wax) will seperate out of the diesel fueland clog up the fuel filter. Sometimes it is so bad that the filter has to be heated by itself or removed. A load test for the battery maynot be a bad idea also. It may check out good on a VTM, but perform badly under heavy load in cold conditions. An old trick that mechanics did on old diesels to start them in cold weather was to spray a shot of WD-40 into the intake as the engine is turning over. This has to be done only "when the engine is turning over".

 

The ole WD-40 trick doesn't work anymore, they made
in non flamable. Don't spray anything into the intake of a
diesel untill you disconnect the glow plugs and they are
cool. You could have a big enough explosion to blow the
head off the engine and hurt some one. I would think it
could be that it's just a diesel thing, diesels don't like
cold weather at all. If it was running fine and parked in
that cold of weather, why don't you put the car in a
warm garage, let it sit over night and try it the next day.