Questions and Answers

Volkswagen Jetta Won't Crank Over Q. Dear Vince, I drive a 1985 Volkswagen Jetta GL 1.8 liter fuel injected car with a 5 speed manual transmission. It has about 136,000 miles on it and I am the second owner. It was my daily driver until it wouldn't start one morning. I was driving it the night before and it had been running fine. I went to go to work the next morning and I turned the key and only heard what I can best describe as a thud. No clicking or anything, just a thud.

The only other time I have heard a noise like this was when my old Ford Fiesta's motor seized up on my wife. I am able to turn the crank with a wrench so it doesn't seem to have seized. The oil is clean and the coolant doesn't have oil in it.

I tried jump starting it and removing the battery cables at both ends and cleaning them. I also put a new starter in that I had bought on sale as a spare. Still just a thud. What should I try next?

I have a Bentley book and access to Mitchell on line but haven't come up with a plan yet. I do have another car to drive but I really like this one and have put a lot of work into it.

Thank you,
John

A. Pull the spark plugs out and turn the engine over by hand about four or five complete revolutions. Then try starting it, still with the spark plugs out. Take the coil wire out of the distributor cap and ground the end so there are no stray sparks.

If you still get that solid thud, then we know there is power to the starter, the engine is free to turn, thus we are looking at a bad starter.