Hi all new to the forum. Looking for sum advice and help with my fabia mk1 vrs. Iam currently having a hard starting issue especially when cold. I have a heated garage and when I park the car in the garage it will start every day when warm. But as soon as I leave the car outside in colder weather it just cranks and cranks for ages. I have to crank the car over for about a minute at least before it will eventually fire up.

 

Once the car has started it will start again right after no problem but if I leave it for a good 8 hours or overnight in the cold it's back to not wanting to fire again.

 

I will list below what I have done and checked.

Engine timing is fine

Torsion value is fine

New fuel filter

Full tandem pump rebuild 

Check lift pump fine

New glow plugs

New fuel lines

New coolant temp sensor 

New cam sensor

Checked battery 

 

Car has a egr delete with a straight through exhaust and is only on 90k miles.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated as this thing is now doing my head In never been so stumped with a car in my life.  The car is showing NO codes.

 

 

 

 

 

Try unplugging the CTS when you start it outside. This should make the car think its very cold IIRC, this will give maximum glow plug time (not that it should need it)

 

If its still doesn't start under those conditions then there is deffo something weird going on.

 

Is there a custom map on the car? How old is the battery, is it turning over well?

10 hours ago, ninja4 said:

Once the car has started it will start again right after no problem but if I leave it for a good 8 hours or overnight in the cold it's back to not wanting to fire again.

Never mind the parts cannon. Let's go back to basics. Do you get grey smoke that smells of diesel on a cold start?

Any noticeable difference in cranking speed inside vs outside. Not questioning to go down the "bad battery" route as if it will crank for a minute this suggests sufficient spare capacity but questioning starter the motor cranking speed. What is your history with the car, how long owned and is this your 1st winter with the car/issue. In my current Mk2 1.4 TDI, and my previous 1.9TDI I nave never waited for the heater plug light to extinguish, just getting in and just turning the key - while maybe not as cold as Scotland we have had some cold winters in the Pennines suggesting heater plugs not required. You may also want to try my trick of running a separate heavy cable from the battery earth post to the engine to eliminate the original bad earth circuit - jump lead when cold from earth post to engine will do to test this.

 Someone may be able to clarify the minimum cranking speed to start injection question.

Edited 28 January, 20233 yr by KeithCheetham

4 hours ago, KeithCheetham said:

Someone may be able to clarify the minimum cranking speed to start injection question.

There is non when cold, injects straights away, or should do. This is what prompted me to ask about CTS as if it thinks its warm/hot then there is a minimum speed which may not be reached if the starter or battery is tired.

Hi guys thanks for the replys. I have not had the car long no and this is my first winter with the car. I have tried unplugging the CTS and also the FTS as well no difference at all. The cranking speed is good when warm and cold I have checked this with vag com. I get the feeling that it is a fueling issue as there dose not appear to be much smoke and I know this sounds daft but when cranking it starts coughing as if it is a lack of fuel. There also appears to be another earth added already. Could this be a broken wire sumwhere ?? But I imagine a broken wire would throw up a code.   

 

 

 

I was going to try and clamp the return line from.the tandem pump overnight and see if it starts in the morning when I remove it. I have the ****ty LUK tandem pump but I have done a full rebuild on it with all new seals and gaskets and the pump looks real good nick.

 

 

 

Lift pump in the tank is buzzing fine and I get that squish sound in the mornings so that appears to be working.    

 

 

 

Iam gutted with this as I have 

put so much money into this car and it is a very nice example but iam running out of ideas. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Try testing the fuel temperature sensor, you don't mention it but it has a noticeable effect on cold starts if it's misreading.

I had a similar issue, but all cars are different; when it's really cold I prime the fuel line at least twice with the key, this also gives it another glow plug cycle, if I don't do this it cranks for 10-15 seconds before chugging to life.

 

The other thing I did which helped, although you stated crank speed was good was new starter/brushes, my crank speed seemed to be slowing so took longer to start till it give up (this took months) I fitted new brushes and it's been golden and spins over so much quicker, which helps starting immensely.