2001 Passat GLX will not start

early model 2001 Passat GLX V6 30V will not start.

It is behaving as though it is not getting fuel. According to my wife, it started at first this morning but only ran for 3 seconds. After that, it would crank but not kick over.

I tried the car after work and I got a momentary sputter but no sustained run. I think the sputter indicates there is ignition.

this car is from 06-2000 production so it is an early model 2001. It has 50,000 miles on it and is in excellent condition aside from the present no-start condition.

I have removed the cover from above the fuel pump so that I can listen to the pump. During one trial, This is what happened.

  1. Turned the ignition on, but did not crank the starter = heard the fuel pump clearly for a few seconds, then turned off the key

  1. Repeated step 1.

  2. Turned the ignition on, but this time the fuel pump did not run!

My question is: Will the fuel pump *always* run for a brief time when the ignitioni is turned on or do the controls somehow sense fuel pressure and not turn the fuel pump on?

I think I hear the fuel pump running when I crank the engine but I am not 100% sure yet. I have just begun to troubleshoot the problem.

Next, I am going to get the meter and test for voltage at the fuse. I do have the Bently manual on CD so I may be able to figure this out from there.

thanks in advance!

Mark

P.S. My wife drives this 01 and I drive the older Passat referred to in my other post from today. Today the old car wins!

Reply to
Mark
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When were the spark plugs replaced?

Reply to
Woodchuck

To answer your question, the spark plugs have never been replaced. They are due to be replaced right now or maybe 5k miles ago according to the service guide.

Today the car is running like a top with no problems of any kind. This is what I did to 'fix' it although I still cannot say what exactly the problem had been.

  1. Disconnect battery and charge battery for 2.5 hours with a trickle charge (To boost it from all the starting attempts)

  1. Re-connected battery and connected a jumper from the battery + to fuse 28 (the fuel pump fuse). The fuel pump runs when the jumper is connected.

  2. Ran fuel pump for about 30 seconds using this jumper

  1. Disconnected jumper and replaced fuse 28. Attempt to start car, still no go.

  2. Re-connect jumper to the fuel pump and now with the jumper in place the car reluctantly started and ran... poorly.

  1. With the car running.. sputtering (I think the computer was still working the adjustments) I shut the car off.

  2. Report to my wife: The car started!

  1. Remove jumper and re-install fuse 28. Car now runs great!

This is the point where I come clean about exactly how this came about.

I did two things this weekend that _should_ not have caused any starting problems but I will mention them because it was exactly after this maintenance that the car went into 'non-start mode'

I did two things this weekend.

  1. Changed the brake fluid using the Motive power bleeder. Only disturbance in this case was that I jacked the car up one corner at a time with 1/2 tank of gas. Would this somehow 'upset' the computer or cause a fuel delivery problem?

  1. I played the radio while I did this work so the battery was marginally more week than it would normally be. Did this cause some kind of low power situation in the computer or sensor or the fuel pump relay? (The started had no cranking problems at all, however)

Neither of these things would normally make a person think their car would not start.. but this is what happened so I am listing it.

I have two theories.

  1. The fuel pump relay is intermittently failing.
  2. The computer was somehow tricked into using bad paramaters and by using the fuel pump jumper I forced the engine to start and allow the computer to re-tune.

I hope this information helps someone in the future. I think I was very lucky to stumble onto the solution to this problem.

My next step is to buy a new battery just in case. I cannot go wrong since the battery is about 4.5 years old and summer is coming.

thanks for your help Woodchuck! it is always appreciated.

Reply to
Mark

Sounds like you engine was flooded beacuse the spark plugs are 10,000 miles past due and the battery being old the voltage may have droped below what's needed for the ECU along with lower spark plug voltage while cranking the engine over.. My suggestions: new plugs and new battery and all should be well again for years to come.

Reply to
Woodchuck

I have a 2000 Passat. V6 4Motion. Every once in a while it won't start.

The first time I had it towed to the dealer, and they replaced some control module. The second time I let it sit for an hour or so and tried it again. It started after cranking for 10 seconds or so. It sputtered a bit for 5 seconds and then ran fine.

It's happened a few times since then. I let it sit for 5 minutes, and try it again. It cranks for a bit, sputters for a bit, and then runs fine. Since it's not under warranty any more, I just deal with it.

Ken

Reply to
KenM

Just wanted to follow up on this non-start problem that happened only once.

I have not had any problems at all with my 2001 Passat GLX over the last month since the non-start problem. I have now replaced the battery and the spark plugs as Woodchuck suggested.

The car has a touch over 50k miles now and is 4 years old. I do not believe that the battery or the spark plugs were the cause of the non-start condition. The spark plugs that I removed were in OK condition. I could see that the plugs were wearing a bit but nothing that should have caused ignition prloblems in my opinion.

The comments from KenM were interesting to me because the dealer replaced "some control module" on that car yet he still has the problem. I think my problem seems close to the one that he had. One difference is that my car sat in the garage for 8 or 9 hours and it still did not start until I jumpered the fuel pump as I described before.

btw, the spark plug replacement is relatively easy. Here are the main points for this 2001 V6 30V

  • There is a wire-removal tool attached to one of the wires on each side of the engine. This forms a hook for your finger and allows you to tug the wire off the plug. The wire assembly forms a nice tight seal so the hole for the plug was very clean. I did not have to use any compressed air to clean or do anything special to make the plugs come loose.
  • I had to remove 3 screws that hold the coolant overflow tank to gain access to the #6 plug. The overflow tank can stay connected; just have to hold it while changing the plug
  • I had to unbolt the air intake plumbing at the flange connection on the MAF sensor that has 4 bolts on it. This is to gain access to the #3 plug on the left side of the engine.
  • I purchased the NGK spark plugs from germanautoparts.com. These appear to match the factory plugs 100%

Overall the plug change took me about 2 hours; I am much slower than a professional mechanic.

Mark

Reply to
Mark

I didn't see your original post or Woodchuck's response, but did he really suggest that replacing the sparkplugs and battery would cure a non-start condition? I'm not too familiar with the ignition systems of the later model VWs (I'm too cheap to buy one), but it's hard for me to believe that spark plugs (even those a bit past their prime) would cause a non-start problem, and I don't replace a battery unless it was leaking, refused to take/hold a charge, or failed a load test. Are you sure that you interpreted Woodchuck's advice correctly? This guy's a VW pro tech (I think) and he seems to know what he's talking about, so I'm either totally ignorant about the workings of a 2001 Passat (likely), or you misinterpreted Woodchuck's advice. Someone please enlighten me in case I someday decide to upgrade my GTI to a newer model.

I definitely won't be upgrading to a 2001 Passat GLX if it takes 2 hours to change the frigg'in spark plugs!

Reply to
Kent

I did not intend to imply that Woodchuck's advice was incorrect, I only intended to state what my opinion was with benefit of hindsight. I replaced the battery because it was 4 years old and summer is coming up; I know that heat can cause batteries to fail because it has happened to me before without warning. Also, this summer my wife and I will be raising a newborn baby so I am trying to get the next several month's maintenance out of the way!.

The spark plugs were supposed to be changed at 40k according to Volkswagen so that is simply scheduled maintenance. Regarding the time to change the plugs, I really don't think it is any big deal. This kind of work can be done as fast or as slow as you want it to take. I think there are a lot of cars out there that are worse. This engine is mounted longitudinal so at least there are no spark plugs in the 'way back' region of the engine compartment.

I suggest you read the rest of this thread if you are interested in the problem.

Mark

Reply to
Mark

Peace, just felt the advice to change the battery and plugs due to a non-start a bit odd in the absence of further qualification. Keeping up on scheduled maintenance is a good thing, especially if you'll be hauling around precious cargo. Congratulations!

Reply to
Kent

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