T4 Diesel Sitting In Drive for 6 Weeks-now won't start-May have damaged starer too??

[T4_1996_diesel]

Hi guys and girls!!

My diesel 2.4L van was sitting in yard for 6 weeks (was not using it as had a brand new bubby) and recently tried to start it to no avail. I bought a new high performance battery and kept cranking till a little smoke started coming from the starter motor and it got quite hot..... silly me I may have killed my starter motor.....not sure????

Anyway I was just wondering what might be the underlying cause of why it wasn't starting after the 6 week time period.... It has always been very reliable. Maybe diesel fuel sitting in filter may have impurities or something?? Diesel priming??? I don't know why... can someone offer some insight please...that would be great. In the meantime I have ordered new air/oil/fuel filter..... got great deal on the three of them from eBay UK.

Also with the starter motor.... there was a little smoke when I kept on trying to crank it over and it got very warm.....can you replace parts...solenoid or something or is it a total new one needed? Does smoke definitely mean that the starter is dead or I just started to do a bit of damage? I stopped starting when I noticed this.

Thanks in advance guys....any info would be awesome.
Tim

[h100vw]

If it was still cranking when you noticed the smoke you may be lucky and not need to replace it.

Most likely a fuel thing, are the glow plugs working? Maybe a shot of Start ya Bastxxx would get a result. My dad had a Transit years ago that was addicted to that in winter.

Gavin

[Sunny43.5]

Got to love that expression Quote [ Maybe a shot of Start ya Bastxxx ] I also tried this recently with our 97 T4 diesel that we had swappped the engine from for my sons van no amount of the magic spray would work [I think it did more harm than good] turned out to be key code problem . Howard

[T4_1996_diesel]

Hi guys...thanks for your responses so far. I did use the start-ya-bastard, which has usually got it going in the past but this time I had no luck.... I had considered it a failsafe up till now (great stuff though).

Yes I hope the starter isn't dead. I took it out yesterday because I thought I might as well if it needed replacing and might check it for damage but don't quite know what to look for inside. If anyone has further suggestions that would be great.

Sunny43.5...I also had problem with key code a while back....may look into that too....thanks.

[h100vw]

If it were the immobiliser, it would start briefly then cut out. You haven't mentioned this so I discounted that. It would be very, very useful if you could scan it with VCDS. That would give you more information to go on.

Gavin

[T4_1996_diesel]

Hi

What is involved in doing a scan with VCDS? Is that the plug on the dash....from my understanding it does a electrical diagnosis. Is this correct?
Regards
Tim

[Sunny43.5]

My experience with our 2.4 diesel in regards to the engine not starting was the key code and unlike H100vw ours would not start momentarily it just plain refused to fire at all until the key was recoded , as soon as the key issue was resolved it started first throw of the key after glow plug light went out . Howard PS apparently you should only hold the key in the start position for no more than twenty seconds at a time .

[Jmac]

Thats correct on the diesel it wont start, only the petrol so Sunny is right there. The immob on the 2.4D shuts the pump off so it cant fire at all
Cheers
Jmac

[h100vw]

Apologies for my miss leading comment guys, I wasn't aware they won't start at all.

Plugging in the lead you can check the ECU for faults and see straight away if it's the immobiliser or not.

Gavin

[Jmac]

Apologies for my miss leading comment guys, I wasn't aware they won't start at all.

Plugging in the lead you can check the ECU for faults and see straight away if it's the immobiliser or not.

Gavin

Thats it, if immob will show in immob and in fact engine, codes will relate to key unauthorised if thats what it is. They can lose base settings sitting around so long , flat batteries etc, lot of the time you can wake them up with an interfacing adaption
Find yourself someone who can perform that task. And dont try an ebay lead, secondly if its old enpough itll need the twin adapter lead. Problem with these is if it is in fact the immob and you cant wake it up it has to get plugged into the wall at the dealer as the immob ecu is seperate on them, later ones have the immob in the cluster and can be code easier. If all else fails you can get an immob emulator for the immob, but thats running away a bit, have it scanned
Cheers
jmac