New here with a 85 Jetta TD

[gtiguy1997]

Hello to all!
Joshua Dolley here. Minot ND. Have been involved with VW's since the

age of 16. Love 'em. I recently purchased my first diesel VW. 1985 Jetta

Turbo Diesel. Found the Jetta in a farmers Field, One thing led to the next,

ended up pull starting the Jetta to a start. He told me it stopped starting

on its own years ago. But from time to time he pulled started it and it ran

week but did not miss on any cyl. I purchased it for 350$ drove it 71

miles home. I shut it off and IMMEDIATLY tried to restart it...will not

start...cranks but will not start. I checked the timing, Glow plugs,

valve clearance,

When it is running I loosened up the injectors and the idle changed with

each injector I loosened. I replaced the FF. bypassed the entire filtration

system and ran fuel from a can directly to the pump with clean fuel. Still

will not start on its own. The on/off solinoid clicks with the key and when it

is upplugged. I have been told that it maybe low compression in the cyl.

The car and motor has only 62,XXX on the clock. Any and ALL help is and

will be appreciated. This is the 1st diesel I own and I would love to get

her running on her own pix for clix

[gtiguy1997]

I also own a 1997 GTI VR6, 1990 Jetta GL, and a 1984 Rabbit GTI

[Fatmobile]

Looks like you made it.
Great car to start a project.
Having to be pull started usually means low compression.
Turn it over by hand, with a wrench on the crank bolt,... see how easy it turns over.
Good chance to make sure the crank bolt/sprocket isn't coming loose too.


It could be a slow starter. Does it crank over fast enough?
Do you hold the peddle to the floor for awhile while you crank it?
Did you crank it for awhile then feel the battery cables?
Any hot spots will be bad connections.

How did you check the glow plugs?
Color of smoke? and when it occurs?

[CoolAirVw]

Nice find. I too have a 85 Jetta TD. I am envious of your "turbo diesel" grille.

Hows the inside?? PICS???

Oh, I'd have to wonder about the 62000 miles on the clock. These odometers have a common problem and they quit. But if its working then hey, its probably 62000 miles. Man I'd give 350 for that car anyday.

[gtiguy1997]

Looks like you made it.
Great car to start a project.
Having to be pull started usually means low compression.
Turn it over by hand, with a wrench on the crank bolt,... see how easy it turns over.
Good chance to make sure the crank bolt/sprocket isn't coming loose too.


It could be a slow starter. Does it crank over fast enough?
Do you hold the peddle to the floor for awhile while you crank it?
Did you crank it for awhile then feel the battery cables?
Any hot spots will be bad connections.

How did you check the glow plugs?
Color of smoke? and when it occurs?

The engine does turn over easily by hand...
It cranks as fast as my friends 85 Golf Diesel NA
The PO replaced the batt cables with new cables. No hot spots noticed
I did hold the accelarator pedal down while cranking, also pulled out the cold start valve
When I am cranking there is black smoke coming out the exhaust and intake boot.. when I am driving it there is black smoke when I am on the throttle a little harder than normal acceleration, also some blue smoke comes out when at idle and when driving.
Here are some interior pix that were requested.

[gtiguy1997]

Nice find. I too have a 85 Jetta TD. I am envious of your "turbo diesel" grille.

Hows the inside?? PICS???

Oh, I'd have to wonder about the 62000 miles on the clock. These odometers have a common problem and they quit. But if its working then hey, its probably 62000 miles. Man I'd give 350 for that car anyday.

It was sold when I saw the turbo diesel grill
The odometer works just fine. I drove it to my friends house and back yesterday and it did register the 5 miles.
The inside is a perfect as it can get for a 23y/o car. Im happy with it entirely...just need to get it running.
Here is a vid I took this morning of it trying to start. I can hear a loud clicking noise...thoughts?

[CoolAirVw]

OOOH! Power windows! Whats the switch for under the hazard switch?

You got way too many projects. Your wife is gonna have a cow. You need to sell that car to me.

[Fatmobile]

Usually with 62,000 they are still going strong but with the crank turning so easily it might have low compression.
..but it takes pretty low compression to keep the engine from starting,...if the glow plugs are good and it's cranking fast enough.
Have you tried plugging in the block heater and seeing what hapens.

Check the stop solenoid, put a voltmeter on it and make sure it has power while the starter is turning. Sometimes it will show 12volts but it won't be there while cranking.

When you were bottle feeding it did it seem like it was pulling fuel from the bottle and sending it back into the bottle?
How's the coolant stream going back to the resevoir?
Steady not pulsed/spurting?

Unplug the glow plug temp sender. See if this helps with warm starts. The glow plugs won't turn on when the engine is warmed up,... sometimes a little glow plug is still needed on worn out engines.

An engine that is low on compression when it only has 62,000 miles probably got overheated.
Even though the injectors are obviously spraying, they might not be spraying nice.

[gtiguy1997]

I will take your thoughts and put them to use. Hopefully this week I can come to a better conclusion as to the immediate problem. I will keep you posted as to what I find. thank you for your input.

[gtiguy1997]

Popped the head gasket today! ( I hope thats all) Drove it for 30mins on the highway and lost all power, as I looked in the rear mirror, I could not miss the huge trail of white smoke that followed me. the engine cranks seemlessly now.

[Fatmobile]

Cranks seemlessly?
Sure it wasn't a broken timing belt?

[gtiguy1997]

Im sure. I have the cover off. All pullies are spinning. There is a little compression. not enought to write home about.

[Fatmobile]

Good to hear, you had me worried.

[gtiguy1997]

I was removing some parts today to get to the head gasket...long story short. Decided to remove the cam shaft and broke it. took all the bearing caps off then remembered to take off the pully bolt. Forgot to put back on the caps. used pliers to hold the cam shaft and cranked on the bolt....*SNAP* I know better than to do that. I dropped the ball....Anyone have one for my car FS?

[Fatmobile]

I'll see if I have a spare cam,.. it will have a little surface rust and will probably need polished. Not so bad you can't polish it by hand with some emery cloth. $20 shipped.
I think the NA cams are the same as TD cams.

Yeah, I try to remember to break that bolt/sprocket loose before removing the belt.