Dear Community,
I had a problem with my TDI a while ago, which was otherwise completely reliable (A4 Avant AFN, 9/96, approximately 100,000 km).
After a long journey (approximately 150 km), I parked the car for about 4 hours. The outside temperature was approximately +2 °C. The fuel tank was almost empty at this point (20 km remaining according to the FIS!!). But the engine didn't stumble or make any other unusual noises until it was turned off.
When I tried to start it again, the starter motor did turn over willingly, but the engine still wouldn't start after about 20 seconds of 'cranking'. I have tried this several times.
The next day (around +5°C), I then filled up with 5 liters of diesel (you can never know what the electronics will do when the tank is almost empty). Nevertheless, the car didn't start.
I then checked several fuses --> all were okay. I didn't disconnect the battery!
But I still had 3 weeks (!!) of mobility guarantee (which was definitely the last one in this car's life). The 'Friendly' team arrived on Sunday, unloaded the rental car, and refueled my TDI.
On Monday, my car was running again! Invoice amount approximately 210 Euros for 4 light bulbs and troubleshooting!
They actually tried to tell me that a TDI with 3 faulty light bulbs (which were probably actually faulty) wouldn't start at around +2°C.
Does anyone here have a plausible explanation for the start failure?
Could the nearly empty tank be the cause?
The car has been running perfectly since this point (approximately 30,000 km), but I still have a bad feeling (especially now that I no longer have mobility guarantee)!
Incidentally:
The famous relay 109 (which I believe is called 219 here) was not replaced or repaired.
According to the 'Friendly' technicians, no error codes were found in the fault memory.
I tried removing 3 glow plugs experimentally: The car starts only slightly worse!
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