Cold start crank time for modern diesels

[wyx087]

How many cranks does your diesel usually takes to start up?

 

My EA288 2.0 TDI with stop/start in Octavia 3 seems to take around 1-2s to get started. I'm finding after 12+ hours of not using the car, it needs more cranks than warm engine. Stop/start always works well, and starts engine quickly. I'm wondering if my glow-plugs (or some other system?) are on the way out.

 

My previous (and first) diesel, a 11 year old Mercedes c220 always (even after 1 month of not using during winter) always starts immediately. Never heard starter motor more than half second. So I'm unsure if it's just a VW engine characteristic or my car's components are failing.

 

[eyegr]

EA189 1.6 TDI without start stop here. When the ambient temperature is less than 10 degrees Celcius it will take a little more to start up, never more than 2 seconds though. When either the day or the engine is hot it starts right away. The glow plug light duration is the same in either case I think. It behaved this way since new, so I think it's normal.

[wyx087]

Thanks eyegr.

 

I later posted another thread with a youtube video in Octavia 3 forum, and it seems like normal behaviour for these VW diesels.

 

(I was going to edit the first post, but for some reason I can't. So didn't make an update here)

Edited 16 June, 2017 by wyx087

[mbames]

I've noticed that on some days (morning & occasionally evening) that my car takes "much longer" than normal to start.  Ambient temperate doesn't seem to make much (if any difference).  Likewise stop/start is instant, just the initial start which is on some days noticeably slower than others.

[wyx087]

1 hour ago, mbames said:

I've noticed that on some days (morning & occasionally evening) that my car takes "much longer" than normal to start.  Ambient temperate doesn't seem to make much (if any difference).  Likewise stop/start is instant, just the initial start which is on some days noticeably slower than others.

 

Have a look at this thread, your vRS TDI has a technical notice for difficult start. 

 

[Miz]

On 13/06/2017 at 08:35, wyx087 said:

How many cranks does your diesel usually takes to start up?

 

My EA288 2.0 TDI with stop/start in Octavia 3 seems to take around 1-2s to get started. I'm finding after 12+ hours of not using the car, it needs more cranks than warm engine. Stop/start always works well, and starts engine quickly. I'm wondering if my glow-plugs (or some other system?) are on the way out.

 

My previous (and first) diesel, a 11 year old Mercedes c220 always (even after 1 month of not using during winter) always starts immediately. Never heard starter motor more than half second. So I'm unsure if it's just a VW engine characteristic or my car's components are failing.

 

Hi, do you "force" the car to start or do you turn the key to position 2 , release and let the car start when it is ready?

[wyx087]

3 minutes ago, Miz said:

Hi, do you "force" the car to start or do you turn the key to position 2 , release and let the car start when it is ready?

I'm confused, may I ask what do you mean by force?

 

I usually turn the key to On, then after most of lights disappear, I turn to spring loaded position briefly and release to initiate the start-up.

Today, I tried turning to start-up position directly and release. Similar result.

 

I'd never hold the key at spring-loaded position, this hasn't been needed for a while in all my cars. Only a few years ago in my wife's throw-away leaner Panda had to do this, I'd often forget and only do a fraction of a crank. That Panda was such a novelty car to drive.

[Miz]

OK, try to put your foot on the clutch (or brake if DSG), turn the key to position 2, release and wait. The car then starts itself.

 

If you hold the key at position 2, it will ignore the warmup and turn the starter motor.

 

Hope that make sense.