Volkswagen - Scirocco :: 1986 - Doesn't Start Easily / Won't Turn Over
Jan 22, 2012
I owned a 1986 (or '87) Scirocco 16V for nearly 20 years and 200k miles. From the very beginning the car was perfect EXCEPT once in a while, under seemingly totally random conditions, it would simply not turn over. The start would crank as long as I desired, but it simply wouldn't turn over. There was definitely nothing wrong with the engine or the battery. I could roll-start the thing fine (in fact, I took to parking on hills!), and MOST of the time it turned over instantly.
In fact, sometimes when it would get into this mode, I could walk away for an hour, and come back without moving the car, and it would start right up. It was just frustratingly unpredictable -- maybe 1 in 20 times it would simply get into this mode -- no correlation that I could ever figure out -- not the car being warm or cold, or the weather, or anything. I had it in the shop twice for this in my first year of owning it (~'87). The first time, they claimed to fix it, and nothing changed -- same problem. So I took it back. The second time, they again claimed to have fixed it... never had the problem again.
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I have a 1988 VW scirocco with 39,000+ miles 16v with a rattle that seems to be coming from the engine area. Here's what I've observed...while driving down the road when I let off the gas pedal, there's a rattle that sounds like a loose part inside the engine. It happens when going down hill and sometimes on flat areas, not while going up hills. The car is a manual trans. I recently had the gaskets replaced and all fluids flushed as well as a tune-up.
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I'm considering a 2001 VW Jetta 1.8T with 135,000 miles that the owner is selling for $1,000.00 because it is "starts and runs but it's difficult get it accelerated and it's just running rough ". I haven't yet looked at the car or pulled the codes, but before I do, is there a common point of failure on these cars that leads to the symptoms described?
If it is something such as a crankshaft position sensor, then I could potentially have a good car for a lot less than the book value. If it's something such as the timing having jumped a tooth, then that's probably not something that I want to mess with.
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My 2003 VW Jetta TDI has a major problem. The engine has likely been damaged by an oil leak that was not discovered until the oil ran out. I now have much reduced compression (340lbs or less) and the car doesn't like to start in cold weather and when it does it smokes much. I need to know if it is worth rebuilding and, if so, where I might have this work done.
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I just purchased an 86 turbo diesel jetta. The low beams aren't working. First of all, I must admit, how to turn them on. Second, the problem is probably not the bulbs, since the bulbs seam fine. I would like to try and fix this myself.
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Its a 1996 vw gti 2.0 it wont stay running. Changed the spark plugs, air filter, distributor cap. itll crank but wont start. if i give it gas it will start. but you have to stay on the gas to keep it running. when you let off the gas, it dies right away. Could it be the mass air flow sensor?
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I have a '97 VW GTI. My battery died, I left the lights on, but when I went to get a jump, the minute the cables were connected, my car alarm went off. Fortunately, we cut the power and the alarm ate up what little juice was supplied, but my car would not turn over. We tried to pop the clutch to get it started, but nothing. What can I do?
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So my 2003 VW Passat will not start. I last drove it a few days ago, and it has been sitting inside a nice warm garage. The battery was replaced a few months ago. The car doesn't "turn over" but just has a steady sound when you try to start it. It's not a clicking sound like I had 6 months ago with it. I attached a link to the audio file of me trying to start it today. There are no warning lights per se coming on only the typical ones coming up when the ignition key is turned on. The lights and interior lamps come on indicating there seems to be power but nothing else. The plugs were cleaned a few months ago as well. Could it be alternator? I could try jumping it but the sound it makes leads me to believe there is plenty of juice.
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I always have my car in DRL, and just noticed last night to today that it doesn't turn on immediately when I start the car, however it does seem to turn on a few minutes after the car starts rolling. I'm sure before it turned on immediately with the car. Maybe 12v going weak?
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Ok, so, according to my dad, his car battery died, and he had to have it jumped. After the jump, apparently his headunit will no longer turn on. We think it may be a blown fuse, in which case we need to know the location of the fuse (and probably the rating & label of it, for identification's sake). I have an aftermarket headunit in my Santa Fe, and the fuse for that is in the back of the actual unit itself, so I don't know if there's a fuse in the back of his factory stereo too...? However, we are not exactly sure what the problem is. My dad's car is a 2007 Hyundai Elantra with the premium factory audio system installed. He gets Sirius-XM and has an aux input (everything pertaining to audio is factory-installed).
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RE: FORD PROBE GL (non-turbo). Last week suddenly car wouldn't start Thurs. night. Cranked but would not turn over. Heard click at ignition switch area when key turned to start position. (Although I could only hear one click from inside the vehicle with windows shut, I was told that clicks audible under the hood from standing outside.) Tried jump starting (from a good battery using proper connections) unsuccessfully, repeated tries several minutes apart, allowing longer and longer time to charge. About every third attempt, instead of cranking sounds, I would get silence, with only the click audible.
Temperatures decreased from approximately 50s to 20s when symptoms began.Battery is old but tests good/replace soon: 330+ CCA at 43 degrees, original rating CCA 530 (silver battery now at 7 years. Will replace, but garage did not have required size 56). At that point, the amps gauge read at the low end of the normal range (and today it read mid-way in the normal range).Had car towed to garage on Friday. Mechanic looked at on Saturday and decided it was the inertia switch, which he said had "tripped".I watched video for technicians on inertia switch but it shows on newer Fords. Mine is not located at the kick panel and does not have a red button on top. I am not certain from my experience whether the reset button would actually be in a different position when tripped or he merely surmised that is what had happened, despite my telling the shop manager that I had not so much as bumped a curb. Also, the trunk was not slammed or even opened prior to the car not starting.
Car presumably started fine at mechanic when they pulled it into the garage to put air in tires and back out to the lot, as well as when I started it to drive home on Sunday. However, on Tuesday it would not start. Just in case, I depressed inertia switch reset and tried cranking again several times, giving it some gas, until I was actually pumping it vigorously in desperation as a last resort (several seconds turning key each time), and on about the 5th try, the engine began to catch just as I was releasing the key. Reset the inertia switch one more time (just in case), and after a couple more attempts, it finally started, but when I was going in reverse to back out and then putting in gear to start out in first gear, for about 15 seconds total, I heard a bizarre loud, fairly high-pitched whistle/whine type of sound that seemed to come from under the hood coming through the central area of the dash where the radio is located.
Drove about 5 miles to my job, and about 2 hours later was able to start the car on the first try. Lately usually driven relatively short distances of 2-4 miles, with a longer drive of 11 miles broken up into 6 miles + 5 miles on the return trip the night before this started happening.
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I have a 1996 Toyota Camry with 200k miles on it. It has been giving me trouble starting for a while and I was advised to replace my battery during my last oil change. The problem is when I try to start it does not start for a while. It makes a noise and tiisssssss and stop. tissssss and stop. But then third or fourth try, it works. I installed a new battery and I am still having the same problem. One cold day, it never started no matter how many times I tried. My roommate who is an aerospace engineering PhD candidate came out of the apartment with a teapot full of how water and poured it onto the terminals. For record, terminals are clean. When he did that, it worked.
What is wrong with car?
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I have a 2005 Nissan Sentra with 74,000 miles on it, and it has had trouble starting for 2 or 3 years. When it started, I would turn the key and the car would almost, but not quite, start, and simply turning it off and trying again would work immediately. I had the battery replaced and the spark plugs at ~50,000 miles to no avail. About a month ago, I started my car and it had a really rough idle for about 15 - 30 seconds and the check engine light came on (registered an emission issue), but it ran fine. I had to get a routine oil change and emissions test anyway and they checked the spark plugs as a first measure. They all had some wear, but one was almost worn down to nothing, which the mechanic said was a result of the spark plugs (autolites?) so they replaced them with the Nissan recommended NGK kind. The next day my car didn't start the first immediately, but on second try worked. A week later I noticed my car sometimes rumbling on idle right after start again, so they replaced the fuel filter and the fuel pump. Didn't work, I still have a rumble about 30% of the time when I start, and just two days ago the check engine light came back on (I haven't had time to get it diagnosed yet). Without knowing much about cars, it feels like the engine isn't getting enough fuel or something. Could it be dirty/clogged fuel injectors? Should I be worried that my spark plugs were worn down after just 25,000 miles?
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I drive an Infiniti i30. When I bought it, the guy who sold it to me told me that the car runs great but that I would have to turn the key kind of hard to get the car started. Over time, this problem has progressively gotten worse. There have been times where I'd be stuck in a parking lot for over an hour trying to get the car to start. When I turn the key, I can hear the starter clicking, and all of the dash lots and radio will come on but the car doesn't sound like its cranking or even trying to start. The weirdest thing is that the first time I drive my car in the morning it starts up just fine. It's once I turn the car off after driving somewhere and try to start it again that I have problems. I'll have to turn the key 100 times or more sometimes to get it to start if its not the first time of the day. What this could be?
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I recently purchased Toyota Camry Hybrid -2008, pre-purchase inspection done by Toyota dealer. Today, my car refuses to turn ignition on (I have keyless start). After several trials, it turned on. I switched off the car and tired after 5 mins. Again it gave the trouble first time, worked second time. What could cause this issue? It's still under hybrid warranty.
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I have an 1999 Cavalier that I got inspected in July so I'm good until next July. I had a small welding job done on the frame so it would get the inspection sticker for this year, but I'm thinking that by next year, I'll have paid enough off of my Liberty and be able to take on another car payment. In the meantime, the Cavalier has 214,000 miles on it and has something weird happening. Occasionally, I will get into the car and turn the key to start it and it makes a sound in what I think is the engine compartment.
It almost seems as if there is a small explosion in the engine and the car doesn't start. Then, I turn the key again and it starts up without a problem, no boom. This actually happened again yesterday and I'm writing now so I don't forget "how" it happened. I stopped at the school to pick up my son and shut off the car to go in. I picked him up, got in the car and that is when it happened. I had just come from my house which is a mile away, so it was a short drive to get him. I keep thinking that maybe one of the cylinders has some gas in it that is igniting when I try to start it, but not sure what could cause that. It doesn't happen all the time though, just once every couple of weeks.
Also, this car has over 200,000 miles on it and I do not believe I have ever changed the antifreeze in it. It is the orange kind that is supposed to be good up to 100,000 miles and, yes, I should have had it changed a long time ago, but I have never had any problems with it overheating or starting in the winter time so I didn't worry about it. Again, this is only once a month or maybe every few weeks, but I'll see the coolant light come on. I don't want to take this to the shop and pay them to replace the coolant, so I'm thinking I'll either do it myself. My question is...should I drain it and replace with orange coolant, green coolant, or just top it off with water?
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2001 6.8 Ex wouldn't start again today Get a loud click but starter doesn't turn over. Yesterday jumped it, took it to Advance where they checked battery and alternator; both checked out great. To start it this morning I ran my negative jumper from battery to engine block and it fired up It's about 12 degrees out and was same yesterday. Thinking dirty/bad ground somewhere ? Do I just start following the negative cable everywhere it goes or am I missing something here No garage and it is chilly.
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So this morning I started my car to let it warm up (as I usually do), but noticed it shut off after a few minutes. It did this twice. 3rd time I tried to start it nothing happened, so I waited a minute then tried again, that time it started. Drove it to work without any issues.
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192,852 miles. I pushed down on the wiring harness when reattaching the (now) somewhat shorter "H" hose. Thought this could be a problem, so I then ran the "H" hose UNDER the harness (which seemed better). Any chance I could've broken a wire in the harness? I didn't move it very much at all, but those wires have been drying out for 13 years now. The car started right up afterward repairing the hose, but suddenly stopped after idling for about 5-7 minutes ... then it wouldn't start again for at least 15 minutes when it "caught" and idled for about 1 minute. Hasn't started again since. Besides the usual P0430 and P1131 codes, I noticed two other codes: P1744 and P0340.
Don't know if they just showed up today or if they've been there a while. My guess is it's the latter because I once saw P1744 about 7+ years ago and it was due to the cooling system not cooling the tranny fluid sufficiently (which is what has been happening again lately with the coolant leaking out of the "H" hose ... and the Degas tank before that). Temp gauge has been running past mid-scale at idle ... an indication of low fluid, and I've been filling as needed to prevent overheating until this weekend when I finally installed a new "T" on the "H" hose (it was leaking at the molded "T"). P0340 I saw pop up about a year ago during very cold weather. I wouldn't doubt that the damn magnet on the sensor has once again fallen into the synchro like it did 8+ years ago, but would this cause a no-start condition? I wouldn't think so... The car cranks plenty strong. Just won't "catch" and start. Up until today and the hose job, it had been running fine. Even drove it this morning about 10 miles. Could I have a coincidental fuel pump failure? Seems TOO coincidental, doesn't it?
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I have absolutely loved my 2011 F-150 8 cyl since I bought it in 2013. I'm just now having my first issue...
For the past two weeks or so, I've had an issue with intermittently hard starting. It cranks like normal but doesn't turn over instantly. The longest its gone before starting has been about six seconds. Although originally happening only 10% of the time, its happening about 40% of the time over the past couple days. I had my mechanic take a look and the battery and starter all checked out fine.
Biggest problem was that it never did it for them making it hard for them to trouble-shoot. Thus far its always started, just takes an indescript amount of time in which to do it. The time of day doesn't seem to matter although afternoons in which I'm heading to lunch after being in the office for 3-4 hours seems the most common time.
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So I 2003 6.0 F350 that is a Dually. Been sitting in my yard for about two years now. I turn the key it just clicks and it doesn't crank. The starter solenoid is not on the firewall so I use the trick with the battery connected positive straight to the starter with the whit The starter solenoid is not on the firewall so I use the trick with the battery connected positive straight to the starter with the wire on the engine bay. It cranked for a while and that started ran rough. Then it just died. I did not start again. I did this during winter so the engine have time to cool off it was about below freezing. Done this multiple times and drove up and down in my backyard but not on the road. What could be wrong with it. Either way I put in diesel 911 and more fuel but and I change the filters with Motorcraft OEM filters. Sure that the caps were right.
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