quattro digest, Vol 1 #5359 - Last chance to help with cold-start problem

[Larry C. Leung]

Ben,

You have the classic symptoms of injector leakdown. Cause, old, leaky
injectors. Built up fuel pressure is lost during a long period of
shutdown,
and you have to crank the engine for a long enough time for the injectors
to build up enough pressure to fire properly again.

Repair: Replace the injectors. As for a source, check the list vendors,
you may wish to contact DoubleZ Motors on the vendor list whom
often has around $200 specials for all 5 viton tipped injectors AND
a fuel filter. Mention your on the list.

Temporary battery saver tip: Jump the fuel pump relay and give things
say 20 - 30 seconds before cranking the car. Should start right up as
if the car was relatively warm. CAUTION, remove the jumper before
driving, as the safety cut off is disabled if the relay is jumpered.
Order
the injectors (puller tool if you'd like) so you don't have to do this
soon.

And check the archives for the proper procedure. Not a tough job on
a CIS car. Except, perhaps, the physical effort to pull old injectors out
of the head.

LL - NY


> Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2003 13:34:45 -0600
> From: Benjamin Weste Pearre <bwpearre at alumni.princeton.edu>
> To: quattro at audifans.com
> Subject: Last chance to help with cold-start problem
> Reply-To: bwpearre at alumni.princeton.edu
>
> 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.
>