Reluctant Starting

hoverdog

Member
United-Kingdom
Any ideas on why my 1.4 tdi is a bit reluctant to start after standing for a couple of days? The fuel filter was changed about 10000 miles ago (or so they said at the garage after servicing it-I've always found them to be trustworthy though). From what I gather, a 2003 1.4 tdi only has a mechanical pump driven off the camshaft.
The starter and battery are spot on. Prior to the service last year it had been standing for 6 or 7 years.
 
Signs of a failing tandem pump. Does it start better if left pointing down hill? The pump lets the fuel flow back down into the tank. The cranking is to drag the fuel back from the tank.
 
I'd say there's air getting into the fuel system somewhere and that's having to be pumped through before the fuel starts coming in.

I'm guessing it starts fine after that?
 
The fuel filter would also benefit from being replaced now. While there check the filter housing is not leaking.
 
As stated by Graham (@audifan ) above, I would guess fuel pump beginning to struggle to maintain head of fuel when not running from symptoms and comments that the starter and battery are fine.
 
I recently had the same problem with mine. It started misbehaving almost immediately after a service at the garage which included replacement of the fuel filter. It transpired that they had unknowingly snapped the bleed screw and this was allowing air into the fuel system. It would take about 5 seconds of cranking to get it going then it was good for the rest of the day. A new bleed screw from @depronman cured the problem in this instance.
 
Well here's the thing.......everything is back to normal-it cranks over without any hesitation and fires into life within a second and the only thing I've done to change the status quo is replacing the keyfob battery. Another one for "before you do anything else, try...." database.
 
Changing the key fob battery can have zero affect on starting / engine running
Some A2’s had no key fob. The fob only does the central locking / windows down actions

Paul


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Changing the key fob battery can have zero affect on starting / engine running
Some A2’s had no key fob. The fob only does the central locking / windows down actions

Paul


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What about the immobiliser? I thought there may have been some sort of interaction between it and the keyfob. On another car I had, the engine would turn over but not start if the keyfob battery was discharged.
 
What about the immobiliser? I thought there may have been some sort of interaction between it and the keyfob. On another car I had, the engine would turn over but not start if the keyfob battery was discharged.
Paul @depronman is something of an A2 guru and I would trust his views, however, given how easy it is to change the fob battery, why not do so to rule it out?
 
Because it's no use at all. The immobiliser is deactivated by a passive chip within the key - it's not powered and not linked at all with the battery in the fob.

Pound to a penny it's either an earthing issue or more likely, the starter motor itself. I recently swapped Tank's motor out for a £50 ebay special (which was for a Ford S-Max apparently!!) and he now fires up speedily first time, every time. Before, he would sometimes fire up quickly, sometimes would labour, sometimes would crank, then stop, then fire up.

I firstly tried cleaning earths, then changed the earth strap itself. Worked a little bit was also intermittent.

Sometimes I had my lucky socks on, so it may have had a bearing on the issue.

But in reality, it's to do with the brushes in the starter, or contacts, which are not clean or badly earthed. If the main earth to the chassis is good (the one behind and below the off side headlight), then a new starter is the cure. Most A2s have never had one, so rather than blaming the battery or any number of other issues, it's prudent to put a new starter in.
 
Any ideas on why my 1.4 tdi is a bit reluctant to start after standing for a couple of days? The fuel filter was changed about 10000 miles ago (or so they said at the garage after servicing it-I've always found them to be trustworthy though). From what I gather, a 2003 1.4 tdi only has a mechanical pump driven off the camshaft.
The starter and battery are spot on. Prior to the service last year it had been standing for 6 or 7 years.
I would check the braided earth under the plastic shroud on the starter mine snapped after hitting a large pot hole at slow speed
Just cut cable tie to access /view
Said cable, this is linked to the brushes I believe
See below:

1418127D-CD1F-4E1C-A6F6-C6DA2103FA09.jpeg
5EA58904-DEDF-483C-9BF6-4EE29821B578.jpeg

EBay item no: 123727905479
to illustrate .
 
Last edited:
Immo is nothing to do with the fob battery


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I guess my theory was too good to be true, I'm going to change the fuel filter and have a good look around the fuel filter housing to check for air leaks for a start. Moving onto the fuel pump if there's no joy in step 1-can the fuel pump be overhauled or is it a replacement job?
 
Tandem pump ‘can’ be repaired but I would not recommend it. Far better to fit a new one

If you have the plastic filter housing and the original plastic drain screw you would be far safer ordering one of my aluminium drain screws as the plastic one is highly likely to break and your in a owl world of pain then

Cheers Paul


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