Totally Lost On This One

[marinabrid]

hi all

1.9 tdi 110 98 s reg

odd thing happend this morning.

put key in car, turned on, the ignition lites come on , turned the key to start and nothing. nothing at all. then turned key back ,and all of a sudden theres this hissing noise from undr the bonnet.

after a few secs it stopped hissing.

didnt drive car, i went back to it after 30 mins and trid again. this time the car started but it hissed again. then stopped hissing.

re statrted a few times and nothing at all hissing.

checked absolutly everyhting.

all vacuum hoses intact, all air con pipes working fine, no green dyed oil anywhere. not a thing could i find.

i coupled the vagcom no faults. started and restarted car 10 times, all fine.

i took for a spin , ran perfect, no faults when i rechecked vagcom. all water levels fine and hoses ok. all dry and fine. brakes and servo unit all fine, in fact the servo was new last week. they dont have a b;low off valve do they ?

im totaly lost on this one.

 

any ideas welcome.

[Scorpiorefugee]

I am assuming that on the forst try you had hissing but no starter action.

 

Working on this It could be a bad connection in the high current part of the starter circuit generating a lot of heat but not passing enough current to operate the motor. I have had the flexible braid link on the motor itself disintigrate but this just stopped the starter altogether. It may be worth having a look down there while operating the starter where, if my assumption is correct, you should see some smoke.

 

If it is the braid, I repaired mine with a large soldering iron and lots of braid from some low loss aerial cable.

 

Ron.

[marinabrid]

no. tried to start the car but nothing happened, then on switching off, the hissing started. quite loud and for around 30 secs with ignition off.

[Scorpiorefugee]

The same reasoning still applies. Rapid heat build up at point of problem then conducts to whatever is burning. If nothing is moving, then it points to something like that. I may well be wide of the mark and, if it has stopped, then the only thing to do is wait and see. It sound like one of those things where you have to hope that next time, you are ready for it with a plan for a quick look round the most likely places.

 

The fact that it now starts ok eliminates the braid possibility unless there was a lot of water/oil on it.

 

Interesting but worrying. I hope it is not too serious.

Edited October 3, 2008 by Scorpiorefugee

[marinabrid]

im wondering if the water is a possibility, could this have happened, although you may need to know about electricity and water

 

it rained during the night before this happened. on turning the key the starter was totally dead, no clicking , nothing. then when released the hissing started very loud hissing that my neighbour could hear 50 yards away.

we had a new starter put on last week, i noticed the rubber boot was not put back over the terminals on the starter. could water somehow have run onto the area where the cables are and pooled. then it isolated the starter during the first try. then somehow the water boiled with the heat form the battery and made the noise.

after the noise stopped, i left it 30 mins, went back and this time the starter engaged but hissed aggain. since then we have had no trouble and no rain.

 

can water and car electrics make very loud hissing ?

 

any scientist out there ?

[Scorpiorefugee]

can water and car electrics make very loud hissing ?

 

Yes, and far worse if you're unlucky.

 

My starter is down by the radiator with no protection and I have no problems but it does sound as if yours is associated with the starter. The worst thought is that your original problem was not just the starter itself or even the starter at all.

 

I think that you should go back to the bloke that fitted it.

 

Rain does collect in the tray under the wiper mechanism and, from there it can do all sorts of damage to the wiper motor. It all depends on the angle you vehicle is parked at. I think that it's down to you and your garage man to sort this out now.

 

Good luck.

[marinabrid]

my so called fitter an expert ive known years and trust for his work had fitted the starter but left a big plastic thing off. i found it under the airbox. i looked in the haynes book at the starter and this plastic thing sits on top of the starter and the wires pass thru it. its curved in shape and does indeed cover over a plug in terminal on the starter motor. its now coverd as i have refitted it and you cant see the terminal.

it seems very far fetched that water has run down as we do park it overnite on a very slight incline on the drive, run onto the starter and pooled then when we try to start it , it in effect has bolied the water and made a steam hissing sound that has occured no more as its not rained since.

 

hopefully its just been bad luck. but once again it could be yet another tdi galaxy problem to be aware of. thanks

[Scorpiorefugee]

It is a bit of a puzzle 'cos mine is the same model and year and has never had a cover over the starter. Possibly that is why the braid (first reply) corroded away. Mine had done 140K when I bought it and is now 220k ish with virtually no problems other than the one that I am currently chasing (with the help of all of the good folks on this site) and the only water problem was down to water sitting below the wiper motor. Mine sits on a 1 in 4 slope so that may have been a part cause but I drilled a couple of drainage holes and had no other problems.

 

BFN