2008 1.8 TDI starting problems solved

[s5tuart]

This may be helpful to others.

I recently began experiencing weird starting problems.

The engine would turn over, but sometimes only very slowly, as if I had a flat battery. It would start but sounded very laboured whilst trying to start. Once the car had been started it would start fine for the rest of the day.

I checked the battery voltage at 12.4 volts and the voltage whilst charging was around 14 volts.

On reading the battery date code of 2012 I decided to change it anyway because the problem with it losing charge seemed to be getting worse as the days went by.

A couple of days later the same problem started to occur.

Then one morning, went to start the car and the battery was completely dead!

 

The garage I took it to diagnosed shorting windings in the starter motor drawing the battery, BUT they said that the problem had been caused by a leaky gasket in the cooling system.

Apparently there is a thermostat housing (?) directly above the starter motor, where if the gaskets give up it will drip on to the starter and cause the problem.