Vw Bora Tdi - not starting

hi guys..bit of a strange one..

since the weather has been bad, ive had this on going issue with the bora struggling starting..

most of the time it would start at a push (though i found this strange) after driving it and turning it off it would then start up again fine.
I always seem to get a check coolant level on the dash but its fine when ever i check it (again always in the cold weather).

today ive tried starting it for work and it just kept cranking over til eventually the battery showed signs of volt drop.

i left it, came back from work and tried it again and its the same thing it wont start up..

everything works fine, no lights on dash, (just intermitment issue with coolant level sensor)

any ideas what it could be, how long do glow plugs take to warm up normally?

thanks in advance

 

does sound glow plugish, if your temp sensor is up the wall it could be telling the ecu its warm when its not my caddy does this. so i unplugged it for a while and it started fine. try that its free and may work.

 

thanks pal

yeah ill start of with that, as you say its free! just abit toooo cold atm! lol

werid thing is..temp sensor needle works fine on dash unless its an intermittent fault (prone to failure in cold only?).

 

not too familiar with the glow pug set up on the tdi but there is a way of checking that they work, if they are accessible and are 12v its an easy job

 

if the problems were triggered by the cold, id been looking at those heater plugs

 

yeh, they sit just under the rocker cover i think..

edit: the coil light switches off when the key is turned.

 

the coil light working does not always mean they are working.

 

Good news..got it started..turns out it was a bad battery. one jump from my mates car and she fired up! i think the battery is on its last legs and the freezing weather didnt help. runs alot better.

just out of interest are the coolant level senders known to go faulty. as i say the car has enough fluid in it. and the light does not always pop up