My 1991 Jetta 1.8l wouldnt start after work today. It was working fine all day, I drove home from Wainwright (about 220 km), and parked in the parking lot. I went to start the car, the battery is full, and when I turned the key, no clicking noises from the starter, just a muffled click from behind? the motor. It is about minus 15 celcius. Like I said, the battery is fine, I tried to boost the car at first, and nothing happened.
Any ideas on what would cause this problem so suddenly?
Oh yeah and I forgot to mention this. Grab yourself a jumper wire or a piece of 14+ gauge wire and find the red wire with a yellow plug on it coming from the firewall. Pull the yellow connector apart and put power to the wire going to the starter from the + on the battery. If it doesn't turn the starter over chances are your solenoid is cookied or the starter is done or am wire may have been disconnected or broken at the starter. I believe this car is an automatic from the other emails I have read. The starter is hard to get at, back of the motor with a shield over it. If you are going to replace the starter buy a bosch, not some crappy knockoff. I made this mistake in the summer and ended up with a broken solenoid terminal 3 days after I replaced it. Canadian Tire sells a bosch replacement with a 5 year warranty, I suggest you buy this one for the extra $$$.
There is a harness that connects to the safety neutral assembly under the shifter cover. Remove the cover and connect a test light to ground and check the thick wire coming from the harness, I believe power feeds into this unit from the ignition switch, turn the switch to the start position and check for power at the thick wire. In the park position you should get power out of this wire when the switch is turned to crank. Once you see the assembly under the cover it will make sense. I believe the thin wires come from the ignition switch and the thick wire feeds the starter solenoid.
Thanks fellas , for all the replies. I will try the Jumper wire tomorrow morning. I assume the red wire leads from the ignition switch to the starter?. So if I manually power it from the positive terminal, if the car starts, it is the solenoid. I imagine the ignition doesnt need to be switched on, as it will be disconnected?
Fortunately, I am a weldor working in a building with about 50 mechanics, two I know of with VW hobby experience. (One of them I carpool with told me he would no longer be able to drive, as he hit a deer with his 86 diesel Jetta)
BTW , replacing the coolant temp sensor didnt solve my cold idle problems. I have to explore some other options.
Also, coming into work last friday, I let the car warm up for a few minutes before leaving (-19 C) I engaged the cruise after driving for about 15 minutes. went to exit the highway, and was surprised to see my throttle stuck open at about 110kmh. About to enter the city, I had to throw her in Neutral and shut off the motor, and unstick it by hand. It stuck open today without using cruise for a few minutes. But only lasted for about 15 minutes.
Do you think it might be the heat riser not opening, letting warm manifold air in?
Bu t other than these minor problems, she runs like a clock, and gets great mileage
It's possible that your starter is cooked. I have had the same thing happen to my Jetta. Basically, the starter is under the exhaust manifold, and over time, the heat basically cooks it. I would be that is what is causing your problem.
If you manually power the starter and it works, the solenoid and starter are probably fine. You may have a neutral safety switch problem or seat belt-starter interlock system problem. You may even have a bad ign lock assembly that won't allow the ign to be fully turned to the crank position. I have had to change three of these in the past years, 2-Foxes and 1-Jetta.
If you want it to start, the ign will have to be turn on.
What did you have to unstick? The cruise vacuum diaphram, the accelerator cables or the throttle? You may have a sticking open throttle causing the problems in the cold too. I usually have to spray lube them up and work them back and forth to allow them to always come to their normal resting postion. The secondary part sometimes does not fully come back to it's rest position.
not really, but anything is possible. :-)
later, dave Reminder........ Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them, and you have their shoes. Frieda Norris
A buddy of mine said it could possibly be some condensation freezing up the starter....most likely the starter or solenoid is gone bad. He came outside, gave it a few taps with a hammer and she sprung to life. He recommended I let it idle for a while to warm things up, and we would come back out, shut it off, and see if anything improved. I came back out after about 30 minutes, and to my horror saw the motor smoing and all the coolant on the ground. It was minus 15 C and windy. Luckily the engine didnt seize. Turns out it was the plastic housing on the right side of the block that has the hose to supply the heater core. One of the grounds had been rubbing through the side of this housing for 12 years, and she decided to let go. Thankfully I have AC which has a sensor on the same housing to shut the motor down if things get too hot. A quick trip to the helpful folks at Westside Automotive in Edmonton for the part , and my buddy and I had things repaired in an hour. Everything is running good now, and the starter seems to be working fine so far. I guess I'll find out tomorrow morning.
You found out that you possibly need a starter and you fixed a coolant leak. Those pipes aren't even expensive either. :-) Sometimes "finding" the problem is much harder to do than "fixing" it!!
Yep sounds like a good day for you!! :-)
later, dave Reminder........ Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them, and you have their shoes. Frieda Norris
The old tap-the-starter trick only works a few times. The bearings are bad in your starter when this trick works. Soon it won't start even after hammering on the starter. Save yourself the frustration and get it replaced.
It has nothing to do with the bearings. It's the brushes that are worn and you tap it so they make better contact. Buy new brushes and replace the worn out ones.
OK, you're right, but I've seen both causes. Both the brushes and bearings can often be replaced, if one is handy and can get the parts. Otherwise it's starter replacement time.
get an unexperienced driver piloting a car with that problem and they'd most likely be killed. i find it amazing that a cmpany like VW would allow such problems to happen, even in an old early 90's jetta.
- 2 wires from the rear of it, one with power when ignition is on.... got light on the thick wire here, but it was a dark colour
- 3 different connections on the front side of it with a thick reddish one to the left... managed to get power from this to light the light at one of my checks...
ignition switch
- thick red wire that is activated on the starter position gets power and lights the light
under the hood.
- appears to be some micky mousing here using a relay and a whole bunch of connecting wires... two heavy red ones on this one... one to the batter which has power... and the other one which I believe goes right down to the starter... when the ignition turned forward to crank this red wire got power....
underneath
- tapped with the hammer, but not even a peep...
so I'd say that the starter is likely getting power (if the red I saw was the one going down)... but no luck... so I'd doubt a ground would be an issue... and since this starter is jammed beneath shields etc, I couldn't see this unless I take everything apart..
going forward I think I need to take the starter out and give it a manual test... 99% sure now it is cooked.. then look for a new starter...
can't think of what else it could be..... a while back though, I had started it one time shortly before the problem started, and it felt like the starter was rattling around....but she's tight on the outside.. maybe not the inside
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.