I see now, not doing things the right way is not good. Left the car on a hot day at idle, AC on for about 20-30 minutes. When i got on the road heard major detonation/ping on everything more than partial throttle. Coolant gauge was near first line to the right, oil was under 120dec celsius(if its accurate). After few km cooled down and never heard the nasty sounds. The crank sensor is on the belt pulley, i have some adjustment i can do, so i moved it clockwise about 2-3mm. This should retard spark, among other things, right?
Its starting to break down on me, this old thing! Got to Bucuresti and lots of traffic, started to ping again ac on, no very hot the engine. On my way back started cutting out, eventually starting. It felt like a solid cut, when i released the clutch to start(it did not) when rolling i heard fuel pump relay click. This means crank sensor ok, ecu trigger ok, as it sent signal when ckp sensor saw rotation. When i removed the relay coil pin broke so i wedged the contact on. After this it never died again, got a new relay but somehow i dont think it was to blame.
The fault comes back, after 300km road trip, comming home, engine died in 4th gear. Felt no throttle response, tried to start again and nothing, rpm gauge was working while cranking. The car was still rolling and tried again to start and it started and ran fine, afr was 17 after start and dropped down right away. Think could still be the fuel pump, so got one for spare and wait until acts up again to know for sure.
Ended up replacing fuel pump unit, after it left me right outside the city. But when i came to tow it to the garage started just fine and drove it there! Summer last year got a mk7 tdi, tired of old cars! She sat until now when i decided to drive it some. Put some 98 petrol, then one day cranked 4-5 times and nothing. No rpm signal, reseated the fuel pump relay than started right away. Removed the relay again and cranked but now got rpm on the tach, so do not think a problem with the relay. Got a new bosh crank sensor, hope this will cure the no start. A bit pricey almost 5x the cheaper options. It did not like the old petrol, kept backfiring in the air-box when i put some throttle down!
