98 Jetta no start, first time ever.

[Rig]

Our 98 Jetta had a battery go dead. We charged it all night, used a charger/booster, jumped it with another vehicle, and still couldn't get it to turn over because the battery was shot.

So we got a new battery, and the car is happy with it, with a lot of cranking power. But the engine does not fire up.

First, I loosened one supply line at the injector and do not see any significant fuel coming out when the engine is cranked.

Second, I jumped a 12 volt over to what looks like a solenoid on top of the Bosch, and it made some whirring sound. Still no fuel coming out of loosened injector supply tube and no start.

Third, I removed the fuel filter and drained it, just in case. The fuel was clear with no water. I need now to re-fill it.

The car was doing really well. No VCDS fault codes, when it was parked overnight. The cold night and hard start in the morning showed up the weak battery. It usually starts so quickly that the battery doesn't get a workout.

When the car was first cranked with a new battery, it fired up a half a second.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Seatman]

Is the glow plug light coming on? If not it's probably the 109 relay, the one with 109 (or 601 ) printed on it. This is the main supply for the ecu so if it isn't working you wont get anywhere.

[Rig]

The glow plug light comes on and functions normally.

I'm putting on a new fuel filter in the morning.

I can't pull fuel through the injector pump at all.

Does this 98 Jetta have something that shuts off the fuel if you are trying to steal the car? I'm pretty sure this happened from trying to charge up the dead battery and jump start the car.

I have a VCDS. Is there anything I should check out? The autoscan doesn't find any faults.

[Seatman]

Just seen your other post but what about the asv? Is it wide open? I would also slacken all the lines at the tops of the injectors and give it a good crank, see if fuel is dribbling out. It might be that something else like the asv is actually causing the problem. The lever arm for the asv is on the side of the egr valve, check the plastic arm isn't broken too.

[Rig]

The 98 Jetta has an AHU engine, and I don't think it has an anti-shudder valve like the later models.

Someone mentioned a governor acting up in cold weather, but I can't find info on that.

I'm still suspecting something electrical, since the car fired up and ran great until we messed with trying to get the shorted battery to work.

[Rig]

I finallly got it running! Thanks for the suggestions.

I put in a new fuel filter and primed the pump by hand. It fired right up. I got a few fault codes when it came on, which were remnants from trying to start the car on a fried battery. But those all cleared just fine.

It was also pretty warm when it fired up I'm still not sure what the problem was.

[Seatman]

At least it's running, just hope it stays running now.