very hard to start after sitting over night

58 special · Post by **58 special** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 8:00 am

my 81 caddy has been my most reliable VW so far and its always been a fast starter andruns great until the other day...
me and my dad went on about a 400 mile round trip in it and all was well, until we got back home and the next mornig went to start it and it took about 2minutes worth of pure starting to make it run.
and it has gotten worse. the motor turns over and white diesel smoke comes out the tailpipe but she wont crank up.
i checked the shutoff vavle and it works right, but i guess the nest thing would be the glowplugs?

and when it finaly starts to hit. it only hits one one cylinder then maybe two... then another 10 seconds until it runs on all 4.

82vdub · Post by **82vdub** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 8:34 am

Likely the fuel in the injector pump has siphoned back to the tank. Do you have a clear fuel line from the filter to the IP and on the return line from the IP to the chassis? Search this forum for hard starting, overnight, things like that. Others have posted a fair amount on this subject. Search for them and start reading.

Brian Rages · Post by **Brian Rages** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 8:57 am

I'm guessing glow plugs. Expecially check the fusible link, since it seemed to dramatically shift from easy starting to very hard starting.

I had the exact same symptoms - long cranking, lots of white smoke. The fusible link had blown, so none of the plugs were getting juice. Fusible link should be on a lil box on the firewall.

I am not thinking fuel starvation, because I don't think you'd be getting the smoke with fuel starvation, and you would probably have driveability issues, but who knows?

inmytree · Post by **inmytree** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 12:08 pm

Brian Rages wrote:I'm guessing glow plugs. Expecially check the fusible link, since it seemed to dramatically shift from easy starting to very hard starting.

I had the exact same symptoms - long cranking, lots of white smoke. The fusible link had blown, so none of the plugs were getting juice. Fusible link should be on a lil box on the firewall.

I am not thinking fuel starvation, because I don't think you'd be getting the smoke with fuel starvation, and you would probably have driveability issues, but who knows?

I agree with Brian...

I had the same cold start issues, and it turned out to be the glow plug relay had gone bad...

rallydiesel · Post by **rallydiesel** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 12:37 pm

I had similar problems and it was a tiny hole in the fuel supply line. You should still test for the plugs but I would also make sure all hose clamps are tight and there are no cracks in the fuel lines.

58 special · Post by **58 special** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 10:13 pm

yea, i tested the glow plug wire ane it was hot with power, but i guess they could have gone bad all at once.
and i checked the clear fuel line and i watched the fuel flow into the pump... so i dont think it has a fuel leak problem...
and my glowplug light goes on and off like it always has.
so i guess the glowplug relay is ok.

ill order me some new plugs, i havent changed them since i had the truck, about a year. and see how it starts then.

the only thing i have done different is that i put a bottle of some kind of fuel treatment/cleaner and it really peped up the power and other things.
but thats all that i have changed here recently.

crankpot · Post by **crankpot** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 6:47 pm

I had the same exact symptom and it was glow plugs, in fact, the screw attaching the big red wire to the firewall fuse came loose and killed the glow plugs. A quarter turn with a screwdrive and it starts perfectly again.

RB