2002 ALH Jetta - I need help, Bad batch of biofuel?

[Snowmad]

Short version.

Stuck 20L of bio from my friend into jetta 1, next morning, p1162 upper quan limit exceeded. Unfortunately had also stuck it in jetta 2.

Current state 1 month later.Well maybe 2 months? I don't remember exactly

jetta 1 still has p1162. starts had been getting worse and worse. changed fuel filter (it was pretty bad oops) Started immediately after, was way better. annnnd a few hours later, no start. been trying all day today ruling things out, last things left to try are the hammer mod and pulling glow plugs for a compression test. But I have class in an hour.... guess i'm walking in the meantime.
It's catching, running for maybe a second then it dies..... I don't know what to try other than the above.

Have tried
- Have run over 100L of (25 gal or so) normal fuel through the car, there was no issues till recent
-Bleeding the fuel system
-Fuel fitler swap
-swap relay 109
-Spritzing diesel into the intake
- checking airflow
- amongst other things... will try and list more later.

References:
TDI club wiki FAQ
Followed this for the most part but can't figure it out.


Jetta 2.
also has p1162 but no other codes, was having trouble starting but the starter literally blew up. Hole in the solenoid.
Going to put a new starter in it tomorrow and hopefully it starts.......*expletive*
That'll at least help diagnose stuff..

I do have the dumb triangle security socket (thanks amazon)
Sooooo before I try the hammer mod or pulling glow plugs, any ideas?

Jetta 1 started on 2nd crank for well over a month..... then the last 3 days it's just struggled to start after sitting for a bit. and was sputtering (hence did the fuel filter) BUT it would start on 2nd crank if it had warmed up. i'm assuming IP clogged.....

 

[Beauji]

i'm assuming IP clogged...

good assumption, maybe some French fries, not loving it
hope it all clears up soon

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Why don't you try running it directly on diesel by hanging a bottle of fuel in front of the car and run lines directly to the injection pump. If it runs well, you know what the problem is.

 

[Snowmad]

Why don't you try running it directly on diesel by hanging a bottle of fuel in front of the car and run lines directly to the injection pump. If it runs well, you know what the problem is.

All the biodiesel has been cycled through at this point. it's just regular gas station stuff.

 

[TedDidIt]

All the biodiesel has been cycled through at this point. it's just regular gas station stuff.

The biofuel may be gone, it's just water and little bits of Freedom Fries floating in the bottom of the tank.

 

[P2B]

Why don't you try running it directly on diesel by hanging a bottle of fuel in front of the car and run lines directly to the injection pump. If it runs well, you know what the problem is.

I would also try this, but run it on straight diesel purge. P1162 is a fuel temperature sensor electrical fault, I suspect you mean P1562 which probably means the QA is gummed up. DP might be able to clear it without disassembling the pump.

 

[Snowmad]

I would also try this, but run it on straight diesel purge. P1162 is a fuel temperature sensor electrical fault, I suspect you mean P1562 which probably means the QA is gummed up. DP might be able to clear it without disassembling the pump.

Apologies, have gotten both codes. and was in a rush. You are correct

The biofuel may be gone, it's just water and little bits of Freedom Fries floating in the bottom of the tank.

It was properly processed stuff..... filtered, heated, cooled & methanol + can't remember what else was added, heated. Then left to seperate from any leftover glycerine.

Why don't you try running it directly on diesel by hanging a bottle of fuel in front of the car and run lines directly to the injection pump. If it runs well, you know what the problem is.

And for the update.
Had a can of sea foam on hand. used the hand vacuum pump reservoir filled w. seafoam. spliced that temporarily in the lines + primed it quickly with the pump. it took about 20 minutes of starting each plus some line bleeding.... but both cars are started now.

Blue one started normally this morning, but flashing glow plugs are back... so will probably have to run diesel purge through both still (was the plan anyway)


*** Worth noting, had put fuel treatment in the silver car and run that through with a full tank... so that wasn't enough. hopefully the diesel purge will do the trick..

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Diesel purge works well, but you have to run the car on 100% purge, don't add it to the fuel tank.

 

[Snowmad]

Well, ran diesel purge through the silver one.

Now massive black clouds on startup, eratic revving, dies shortly after start 2-3x,3rd or 4th time everything has cleared and it's good.

Codes are the p1562 for IQ, gonna try and fix that. with the hammer mod
p1161,haven't done anything
P0108, p0106 as well.


As for the blue car.... Went to start it, sounded like a hammer, like this (reddit with video)
turned it off annnnnnnd it won't start anymore...
put diesel purge in the system, had to change the top cover for the injection pump due to stripped threads on the old one. primed the heck out of the pump, lots of trial and error but eventually was only pulling fuel.
tried to bleed the injectors, all but #1 would spurt to the hood, but there was fuel getting to #1 and no bubbles, just no pressure?
Tried the hammer mod without a vcds cable, 1 tap at a time between starts... got close to start but no cigar.

only code is p1562, annnd now no pressure to any injectors, which may be due to setting back the top of the injection pump slightly too far left. starter died so unable to continue, going to continue on saturday. Would appreciate any help that can be provided.

did seem like no fuel was moving through the pump at some of the times.

 

[Lug_Nut]

You have a career waiting as a VW Diesel service tech. As long as you have parts (or tools) on the shelf you're good to throw anything at the problem.
Relay 109? The load reduction relay?
Hammer time? But it started and was way better without screwing with the top cover position?

Big clue: You change the fuel filter. It "started immediately after, was way better". Have you pulled the in-tank pick-up to check for glycerin that may have settled out from bio that hadn't had enough time to settle before putting in the tank?
Run enough bio and you'll learn on your own. Better yet, learn from MY mistake of trying to rush the settling/separation process.

 

[Snowmad]

You have a career waiting as a VW Diesel service tech. As long as you have parts (or tools) on the shelf you're good to throw anything at the problem.
Relay 109? The load reduction relay?
Hammer time? But it started and was way better without screwing with the top cover position?

Big clue: You change the fuel filter. It "started immediately after, was way better". Have you pulled the in-tank pick-up to check for glycerin that may have settled out from bio that hadn't had enough time to settle before putting in the tank?
Run enough bio and you'll learn on your own. Better yet, learn from MY mistake of trying to rush the settling/separation process.

Just need a VCDS Cable and I almost have everything...
Relay 109 has swapped between cars, both are good.

Load reduction relay i'm unfamiliar with, car just got a new starter, main battery cable.

Bluey died before I changed out the top cover (Stripped the threads, used jb weld as a temp fix.... but it's the return side so figured it'd be fine.

I changed the fuel filter 2 weeks ago in both, and cleaned out both before running the liqui molly. might need to swap the filter again as well I guess...
Wasn't much glycerin in the fuel filter, there was some but not a ton.


I think my main concern right now is getting the blue one running. Which is getting the IQ to acceptable, maybe cleaning out the injectors? annnnnd re bleeding everything. No vcds cable yet, going to find out if obdeleven tools can check it, and my buddy has a big dell laptop diagnostic tool so gonna see if I can check values with that

 

[Lug_Nut]

Allow me to repeat, hopefully you'll read this and understand.

Have you pulled the in-tank pick-up to check for glycerin that may have settled out from bio that hadn't had enough time to settle before putting in the tank?

 

[Snowmad]

Allow me to repeat, hopefully you'll read this and understand.

I appreciate it, I have a midterm friday, tuesday and wednesday so i've been a bit frazzled.
Will check that then adjust in VCDS, planningto get a cable to day or tomorrow

Hammer modded the cars with my buddy on the weekend till they started better. both are seemingly under fueling now.BUT THEY START and there's less, but still issue.


Didn't check the in tank fuel pump as previously when googling/searching the forum all the answers were tdi's don't have a fuel pump, just an injection pump........ thank you for helping me learn!

 

[P2B]

Didn't check the in tank fuel pump as previously when googling/searching the forum all the answers were tdi's don't have a fuel pump, just an injection pump.

That's correct, that's why @Lug_Nut asked

Have you pulled the in-tank pick-up to check for glycerin that may have settled out

When you do that you will see the screen that could be blocked, and can also get a good look inside the tank to see if any nastiness remains.

 

[Snowmad]

uPDATE,

Cleaned out both tanks, and lift pumps/pickup., Silver one was far worse.... Getting a bunch of other stuff done on the blue one then going to try and either hammer mod it into place or pop off the top of the IP and clean it out.


Silver one blew an injector washer while bleeding the injectors..... Found out it has a boost leak as to get it going I needed it to overfuel. ANNNND it stayed running without the key in and choking out the air supply.... Well at least it didn't run away/..
Also had to pick out pieces of the old pickup from the tank....



Will report back later and eventually update the thread with the exact process for someone else... as well as if you need to clean out the IP or if you can just hit it with tons of diesel purge/ might try the more biofuel route.

 

[Snowmad]

That's correct, that's why @Lug_Nut asked

When you do that you will see the screen that could be blocked, and can also get a good look inside the tank to see if any nastiness remains.

Silver car:
The screen itself wasn't bad on the silver one. but I cleaned the whole thing out. ( boiled distilled water, 60C or about 140F, so I could work with it using rubber gloves)
Tank itself though.... wet wipes and kitchen rubber glove, didn't empty the tank. took a lot of wipes but way better than draining everything.