Just bought a Golf and having a few problems!

[Kris214]

Hello all. Well I picked up my new car yesterday. A VW Golf 1.9 GT TDI and I love it.

This morning when I went to start it, it was really hard to get it running. My dad being a mechanic, after alot of cranking got it going and straight into the garage for inspection. Engine starts fine when its warmed but when its cold its a nightmare. So he removed the glow plugs and tested them hoping to find a few not working. But they all did but took about 4 seconds to glow red. The wee light on the dash that you need to wait to go out before starting only comes on for a split second and is out again and my dad says that once the light is out the glow plugs stop heating.

He then went to see if there was power going to the plugs using a tool with a light that shows theres power but got nothing from all 4 ports. Should there be power going to the plugs?

Another problem is the gauges. When you turn on the ignition the rev counter and temperature needles shake for about 5 seconds and then stops. As soon as they stop shaking the fuel gauge then works. It does the same thing when you switch the engine off. Also when you start the engine, when the gauges are working, it takes about 10 seconds for the rev counter to start working. Once it does all is fine until you switch off the engine and then it does the shaking thing again. What is causing this?

I dont think there are any other problems but I havn't really got a proper drive in it but on the test drive everything was fine.

Any help would be appreciated as its now parked up at the garage on my first proper day of ownership.

Kris.

[Kris214]

Anyone please??

[kevinm]

Have a look at this link:

https://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/s...ad.php?t=22550

[v6dub]

I had a friend with a simular sounding problem with his TDI, about it not wanting to start when cold but fine when warm, he went down the glow plug route, and the glow plug light was going out right away. it turned out to be the starter motor, which suprised me. Now it works just fine.

[Kris214]

UPDATE!

Thanks for those of you who got back to me. I have another problem. The glow plug heater light has now started to flash. I still have the terrible bother of cold starts. My dad took it out for a drive to "dung it out" as such and says that its not overly powerful. My friends SE TDI 90 would have more power.

Are all these problems linked? What is the best route to go down now then? Im hearing from this site that the flashing light also acts as the engine management light. Is this true? Im desperate now to sort these problems out. Please someone help.

Thankyou.

[tornadored7]

Hi Kris,

As I understand the flashing glowplugs denote a fault in the electrical system. It might be worth performing a few simple checks for the common issues below, to eliminate these as early as possible;

• Brake lights are working and not fused/burnt out
• Third /high level brake light doesn't remain on permanently
• Brake switch is working properly

Following this, it would be helpful to use VAG-COM to scan for any fault codes that may have been stored by the ECU.

TR7

[tdi_power]

I agree with 'tornadored7', Golfs wire the injection system through the brake lights to cut fuel when you dont need it. Ive had many golfs where even a brake light bulb being out can have catastrophic consequences!

Did you buy the car from a dealer? if so take it back asap!

tdi_power

[Kris214]

Hello and thanks for the replies. No I bought it from a private seller and really regret buying it now.

Ill get them brake lights and switches checked out but it wont be until tomorrow because car is in garage and has been since day 1 of ownership!

I have receipts of work carried out at a local VW garage. On it, it says that the car was checked out for lack of power costing £50 however doesn't mention what part was changed. It did mention turbo pipe. Does this mean anything to you guys? I no that VW parts carry a 2 year gaurantee and these parts where changed 6 months ago so I think its gonna have to go back there and rechecked. My dad says that my sisters Golf SDI would be quicker than mine.

On top of all that Ive just been told that it needs new discs and pads on the front, even though they were changed 10k ago by another reputable garage (not VW)

Im just so annoyed with the car. Ive spent all the money I have in buying it and its stuck in the garage needing god only knows what spending on it to put things right again.

[besian]

calm down kris don\t mean to diss
I as well spent more than I had and bought a gt tdi 99 reg recently, from private seller. this g*t never serviced the car for 2 years he had it.
caming back to loss of power on mine inicialy i was told it could be maf sensor but they were wrong in my case. it turn out to be one vacume pipe was leaking air. get yourself a vag2 cable from ebay for around 10 quit, download vag2 software from web and install it in your laptop. using this cable by connecting from laptop to ecu (computer of the car) which is located near ashtray read all faults from car. or delete all faults stored in ecu. dissconnect cable and run the car litle bit and you will get new,the current faults. once you have the faults than you know exacly what you need for your dear gt tdi
good luck with it

[besian]

try this link dude



http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=199398