Last chance to help with cold-start problem

[Benjamin Weste Pearre]

Hi all...

The Gimp (1990 200TQA, MC I think...) is going in to the mechanic
tomorrow, since I am at a loss.  Here's the problem:

When the car has been sitting overnight, I almost always have to crank
the engine for 20 seconds or more (up to about 2 minutes) before it
catches.  When it catches, it runs really slowly (and maybe stalls)
until I hit the gas pedal, after which it runs perfectly.

Once it's running, everything is perfect.  If I shut it off, it starts
perfectly.  This is true whether it's been running for an hour or for
only two seconds, and even if it's been off for quite a few hours.

The next day, the whole problem starts again.

The battery is dying from all this cranking, but the problem is not
caused by low voltage -- I have an AC battery charger/starter that
doesn't reduce crank time.  And indeed the car will still start
eventually when the battery is at 10.3 volts (at least it always has
so far).

Ideas:

* Low fuel pressure when starting, caused by a leak in the fuel line,
  pressure accumulator, or injectors?  Except that I don't see
  anything dripping, and the difference between leaving the car for 6
  hours and overnight is so dramatic.

* Engine needs to be warm, for some reason?  I doubt just cranking it
  and then letting it run for two seconds would heat it up enough, and
  climate doesn't seem to affect it.

* My barber claimed that his Toyota had exactly this problem, and that
  his starter injector was dirty (just one?).  I told him that my car
  doesn't have a separate injector for starting.  Did I lie?

* Some weird sensor problem?  What are the likely candidates?

* Bad ECU?  Does this mean I should upgrade to 1.8 bar, finally?  :)

Thanks _VERY_ much for any help!!

-Ben

--
Ben Pearre          1990 200TQA          http://hebb.mit.edu/~ben