Starting (electrical) problem with VW Caddy van 1.9 TDi

08 plate 160k miles on friends VW Caddy van. The cranking speed when trying to start the is verrrry slow when cold. It looked to be the battery as starts ok when warmed up. Having said that it does turn over quite slowly even then - but fires easily. Bought a new battery (correct ampHours rating etc) and fitted that. Same problem (sigh).

I've never worked on a diesel before but this did look like just a worn out battery problem - which does not now seem to be the case.

afaik the compression ration on a diesel is much higher than petrol - but as I say the cranking speed is just a crawl.

Additional clue: I just took it for a 10 min drive then tried a few engine starts. Just *one* of those starts had a slow cranking speed - all the others were "normal". So I wonder - could it be worn-out starter motor? Also thought maybe just a bad connection in the power leads - somewhere? Battery posts/connections are very clean, dry - and look fine. Thanks for any help.

Reply to
dave
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Crank it over from cold and see if any of the leads or connectors are very hot. Likelihood is that they are all OK and the starter motor is at fault. I have heard that DMF failure (flywheel) can put metal filings into the starter leading to its demise.

Reply to
Mrcheerful
08 plate 160k miles on friends VW Caddy van. The cranking speed when trying to start the is verrrry slow when cold. It looked to be the battery as starts ok when warmed up. Having said that it does turn over quite slowly even then - but fires easily. Bought a new battery (correct ampHours rating etc) and fitted that. Same problem (sigh).

I've never worked on a diesel before but this did look like just a worn out battery problem - which does not now seem to be the case.

afaik the compression ration on a diesel is much higher than petrol - but as I say the cranking speed is just a crawl.

Additional clue: I just took it for a 10 min drive then tried a few engine starts. Just *one* of those starts had a slow cranking speed - all the others were "normal". So I wonder - could it be worn-out starter motor? Also thought maybe just a bad connection in the power leads - somewhere? Battery posts/connections are very clean, dry - and look fine. Thanks for any help.

At that Mileage the starter will be full of clutch / DMF fillings and that will be your issue. Other than a cursory check for bad connections and an engine earth strap left off after a clutch change...

Tim..

Reply to
Tim

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