'91 200TQ - 'hiccup' when accelerating?

Bart Oleksy barto at nerdshack.com
Tue Mar 28 14:30:19 EST 2006


This is the long-running saga of my '91 200TQ (10-valve) that's had some 
hard-starting problems for a long time now...but something new has 
appeared lately.

After replacing my Michelin-man turbo hose (and some other vital part, 
will confirm that later - oh, TPS!) the car was running better and not 
stalling at lights (!), but I noticed when accelerating hard, the car 
would give a very quick 'hiccup' at around the 3000-3500 rpm mark in 
2nd, 3rd, and I think 4th as well...by 'hiccup' I mean the engine would 
just cut out for a split second and then continue as normal.

It's *possible* it was doing this earlier and I didn't notice, as it's 
pretty close to where I usually shift to the next gear anyway.

Also doesn't seem to do it with a gentler acceleration into that same 
rpm zone, nor have I managed to get it to do the same hiccup in 1st 
gear, which I brazenly got up to 5500 rpm with no side effects.

Hard starting symptoms: Latest is that when it's been sitting outside 
overnight (Edmonton, Canada, so freezing to lower) it starts very 
quickly, but after several hours of sitting in a heated underground 
garage at work, it can take a LONG time of almost-catching-but-not-quite 
to get it to finally *start*.  Usually starts up right away within 10-15 
  min. of turning it off as well.

Mechanic has replaced a number of things related to the hard starting 
thing (fuel pump check-valve, throttle position switch, some intake hose 
that had a small hole in it) with only minor difference, and is now 
suspecting that the injectors are leaking down.  These were supposed to 
be *very lightly used* injectors when replaced about a year ago by 
another shop, so I was hopeful that those wouldn't be the problem.

Oh, and fuel pressure as measured "right off the head" stays steady, 
says the latest mechanic.

Any thoughts/suggestions on things to look at for the 'hiccup' thing and 
hard starting issue?

Thanks to all.

Bart
'98 A6 QA
'91 200 TQ
'86 CGT



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