Volkswagen Passat Forum banner

2000 Passat 5 speed, 2.8 litre, motor wont crank over with rebuilt starter.

3K views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  Tomvw 
#1 ·
Electrical problems will always be my weak point, but thanks to this great , helpful community , I can usually get a situation remedied with your advice. Anyways, little backround history. Due to the Passat only being front wheel drive, I don't drive it much when the snow starts falling and the roads get slippery, fortunately I have an AWD Audi that gets me through the winter. So, when I went to start the VW Monday morning, the battery was a bit low from sitting unused for a few weeks, so I put a fast charge on it. It turned over, but not fast enough to start the car. I then tried jump starting the car with my tractor with the same results. I then started thinking, the car has 230,000 miles on it and is still on it's original starter, maybe it finally bit the dust. I then removed the starter, cleaned it, and bench tested it, and it did turn over pretty good, which made me think that maybe I have a bigger problem. Took the starter to General Armature in Providence and got it back all rebuilt the next morning. Reinstalled the starter and then turned the ignition key and NOTHING, no click, no spin, no joy!. I remembered having this same scenario a few years back and someone on this forum told me about a fuse that can blow causing this symptom. Well, I couldn't remember what fuse it was so I just pulled all of the fuses one at a time and cleaned and reinserted them. Still nothing. Is there a relay under the dash that I need to check or is the problem more likely in the ignition switch itself? Thanks in advance for your help and advice. Paul, Providence, RI
 
See less See more
#2 ·
As it was working before you pulled it, it would seem that either you or the re-builder did something wrong.

The original fault could have been a weak battery, dirty/loose battery terminals, or bad ground connection (battery to body or engine to body).
 
#3 ·
Let my clarify something

When I initially tried to start the car, I got nothing, but thought nothing of it because the car had been sitting awhile. Upon charging it for a bit, it turned over very briefly, and then nothing again. when I took the starter out of the car, I bench tested it and it did in fact engage and spin, just not as fast as I remember. So at this point I concluded that it might be something other than the starter, but with 230K on it, I figured it was a good time to rebuild anyways. When I got the rebuilt starter back, I bench tested it and it engaged strongly and then spun very fast, just the way I remembered that it should. So, I'm now thinking that there is something else amiss, is there a relay under the dash that is associated with the starter?. Also going to check the clutch safety switch to see if that's functioning properly. And other ideas? Thanks again, Paul
 
#5 ·
The CCM anti-theft starter interrupt relay is in the lower row on the far right (passenger's) side. Jumper both large terminal slots if you need to bypass relay while turning key to get starter running.

Though, if your CCM starter interrupt relay wasn't an issue before, why should it be an issue now?
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top