Sick 90 90Q

[Livolsi, Stephane]

Speaking as someone 'North of the Border' and having recently
experienced -35 C temps (that's pretty freaking cold for those of you on
the F scale), both my 86 5ktq and 88 5ktqa start better at -20 than they
do at +10. (it takes a bit more cranking at -35 :)) I'm pretty sure it's
fuel system pressure leakdown on both cars, but haven't been motivated
to confirm.  The 86 definitely has a hot start problem which I worked
around by installing an in-dash switch to trigger the cold start valve
whenever I want.  I've actually wanted to try a WOT run and hit that
switch but haven't gotten around to it yet....

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Marc Boucher [mailto:mboucher70 at hotmail.com]
> Sent: February 4, 2004 6:57 PM
> To: l.valadas at rogers.com
> Cc: quattro at audifans.com
> Subject: Re: Sick 90 90Q
> 
> 
> Statistically there seems to be a disproportionate number of
> people North of the border who's car won't 'quite' start in 
> this cold weather, myself included.  It will be interesting 
> to see, when the final causes come in, if they were across 
> the board, or if they tended to focus around one or two 
> components that give out in very cold weather.
> 
> I'm still working on mine and have the problem isolated to
> two or three things.  But from my experiences in this case, 
> here's some advise I'd give.
> 
> Don't expect it to be a quick solution.  You might go up
> there and find an obvious problem in a few minutes that you 
> can fix with readily available parts (eg a cracked vacuum 
> hose).  But you may also be troubleshooting and tinkering for days.
> 
> If the problem comes down to an unavoidable replacement of a
> fuel pump or a fuel distributor or even a DPR (one writes 
> from their own experience ) be prepared for major sticker 
> shock if you go to the local Audi dealer...if there is one in 
> North Bay :-)
> 
> Make sure you've got everything that you need...Other than
> the obvious tools here are some other items that might be handy:
> 
> -A male and female 'bosch' type plug (not sure what they're
> called...) with wires attached...useful for testing current 
> flow, voltage, resistance, or for manually powering something 
> (say a cold start valve) -A trickle charger or -Perhaps one 
> of those combo charger/boosters if you're going to be 
> cranking a lot...for example: 
> http://images.canadiantire.ca/media/images/Automotive/Batterie
> s/BatteryChargers/0119998_450_CC_1f666.jpg
> -A multimeter
> 
> One interesting thing in my case was that the car would start
> and run if the cold start valve was energized with 12 volts 
> permanently.  May not be an interesting test in other cases 
> but for me in was a quick way of eliminating many 
> possibilities and narrowing the focus.
> 
> Good luck,
> 
> Marc
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <SuffolkD at aol.com>
> To: <quattro at audifans.com>; <l.valadas at rogers.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2004 9:05 PM
> Subject: Re: Sick 90 90Q
> 
> 
> 
> College huh?
> Have junior pull the battery and keep it indoors overnight.
> Then every college town has an auto parts store. Find one to 
> trickle charge the battery $5 for the day (get up and be 
> there when they open) Get the thing back to the dorm and hold 
> it there untill you start to tinker with it. ALSO have Jr 
> (while at the auto store) get some gas line antifreeze and 
> put two bottles in. SHAKE the car back and forth to circulate 
> gas around in the tank to mix in the antifreeze. Buy some 
> ether too. Starting fluid.  and put that into the air intake/ 
> air filter inlet (easiest)/ boot after the fuel distributor 
> (most effective) when you try and first start it. THEN start 
> your diagnostics
> 
> 'At Auto parts:
> Get battery charged
> By either and 2 gas line antifreeze bottles.
> 
> Get everything in your favor FIRST then try to tinker with
> it. Pull battery warm it up then charge, keep it warm. While 
> doing that gas line antifreeze SHAKE the car then ether 
> (starting fluid) to start it on first attempt
> 
> HTH - SCott by BOSTON
> 
> 
> 
> Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 18:29:14 -0500
> 
> > From: "Lino M. Valadas" <l.valadas at rogers.com>
> > Gentlemen,
> > My son's 1990 90q will not start and as a result he's
> stranded up in
> > North Bay Ontario at College.  I'm in Toronto, but this Friday will
> > drive up
> (450
> > Km) to see what I can do to revive it. (I must be nuts it's -20 C up
> there)
> > The battery is dead now.  He's had several attempts at starting it
> > with boosts from friends and CAA to no avail.  The fuel 
> pump buzzes,
> > so I
> assume
> > fuel is not an issue.  It appears that sometimes the engine almost
> > catches but never starts.  The car has a history of being 
> very hard to
> > start when hot. Any tips on where to look first, would be greatly
> > appreciated.  Even
> though
> > I'm a 10v kind a guy,  I'm not familiar with the 90 90q. Thanks
> >
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> quattro mailing list
> quattro at audifans.com http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/quattro
> _______________________________________________
> quattro mailing list
> quattro at audifans.com http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/quattro
>