Anyone know if this will give a fault code?

For a while now SWMBOs Fabia has not been starting as well as it used to. I went to move it on Sunday after it had been standing for a few days in the cold and it took me four goes of long cranking to get it to fire. There are no warning lights staying on, but today I realised that the "squelch" noise that usually occurs when the igntion key is turned was not there. I assume that this noise is caused by the lift pump in the tank priming the system, and if it is no longer working could explain the cold start issues.

I have a hand held scanner, but I haven't been out to try it yet, so thought I'd ask if I am likely to get a code anyway before I venture out in the cold.

Not too sure if you will get a code.... But I may be wrong.....

Nothing came up on my hand held scanner, but it only covers, engine, auto transmission, ABS and air bags.

17908 P1500 Fuel Pump Relay Circuit - Electrical Malfunction

17910 P1502 Fuel Pump Relay Circuit - Short to B+

Those are the codes you would get if it was a control problem.

Thanks MoggyTech. Neither of those came up, so does that suggest that the pump is faulty?

Thanks MoggyTech. Neither of those came up, so does that suggest that the pump is faulty?

I would say so yes. About all you can do is check to make sure it's getting 12Volts. If it is and it wont pump, new pump time.

the squelching noise is normally the evaporative emmisions system purge valve doing it's stuff.

to be honest, if the pump was shot it wouldn't start at all, more likely to be glow plug related or the cold snap we've had has mullered the battery

Battery seems OK. I thought that Sundays starting attempt would have killed it off, but it was still cranking quite happily. It is the original battery, which will be 5 1/2 years old though.

If it gets harder to start the longer it has been left then could be air getting into the fuel system. Have a look at pipework and check filter and drain are OK.

If you have 1/2 a tank of fuel or More, You don't always here the squelch .....

But what about Glow Plugs ?? Cold , Several attempts to start !!! Faulty glow plugs don't always throw an error & will make the car a Pig to start in cold weather..

Try giving it a few turns/cycles of the Glow Plugs. I.e. Turn on let glow plug light go out, Turn off, Turn on, let light go out, Turn off & on glow & try to start Etc, If it starts better, then i would say, Glow Plugs ....

Dean

Edited 23 December, 200916 yr by dfullb

I checked the resistances of all three glow plugs a few months back when we had the engine speed sensor fault and they were all OK.

Cycling the glow plug light on and off a few times makes no difference.

51/2 year old battery in a diesel. There's your problem. Stick the biggest capacity (Crank Amps) you can in there. I fitted a monster battery, and even it struggles slightly when it's -16c

The starter spins the engine over pretty quickly and even when it took 4 goes to get it going on Sunday the battery was still not showing any signs of flagging even at the end.

These 1.4 TDI engines don't have the same software issue that will stop them from injecting fuel if they are not being turned over at a high enough rate like the Mk1 Octy TDIs do they?

These 1.4 TDI engines don't have the same software issue that will stop them from injecting fuel if they are not being turned over at a high enough rate like the Mk1 Octy TDIs do they?

no, there will always be a baseline amount of fuel injected on a pd engine... it should start and idle even if the fuel injector loom is not even plugged in...

re glowplugs: having a resistance does not necessarily mean they are any good, have you checked to see if you are getting 12v at the busbar when the glow light is on in the instruments?

51/2 year old battery in a diesel. There's your problem. Stick the biggest capacity (Crank Amps) you can in there. I fitted a monster battery, and even it struggles slightly when it's -16c

Right then. I've fitted a nice shiny new Bosch battery to see if this makes any difference to the starting.

Had the glow plug light flashing and the CEL light on after a prolonged attempt at starting with the old battery, so hopefully this was just due to the ECU getting upset by lowish voltage. I read the fault code and it was the same one that the car has been giving on an off for the past few months (16705 - engine speed sensor). I have replaced the crank sensor twice and the cam sensor has also been replaced, so I don't think that the code is an real sensor fault.

Please let us know if that fixed the problem (fingers crossed for you).

Starter now spins the engine over faster than before, but it still takes two attempts to persaude it into life.

So, it's better but I'm not convinced that it's right.

Also, checked to see that there was power to the glow plugs when the light on the dash is on and there is, so they get power and all have low resistance, so should be ok.