[Vwdiesel] Cold weather starting -- ( crieps I am sitting here sweating )

[Lee Hillsgrove]

> Ok mike   my book say Pull cold start out ( all the way )   and put the
pedal
> to the metal and leave it there till it starts. ( NO pumping ).
>


  Not always, and no.

 If you read the owner's manual, (at least for an A2 Jetta/Golf) it says to
pull the cold start out down to about 5 degrees F, and below that
temperature to keep it in until the engine is firing regularly while
cranking, then to pull it out. I can attest to this procedure working better
than just pulling it out regardless of outside temp. The book also says to
depress the throttle to about 1/3 while starting, and to continue to operate
the starter if it begins to fire but does so irregularly. It has been my
experience that as Loren mentioned, best results are found by varying the
throttle between idle and about halfway while cranking. You can hear the
engine respond differently depending on where your foot is, and use that
feedback to determine the best throttle setting for the conditions. Keeping
the starter engaged briefly while the throttle is at or near idle and is
sputtering on a few cylinders helps a lot under borderline conditions, too.
 If it gets cold enough and you can still get it to start, you may have the
honor of hearing the results of "delayed ignition". This is heard when the
engine has just been started and the cylinders are still stone-cold. The
fuel is injected but does not ignite immediately during injection. Instead,
the whole charge goes off at once, making a disturbingly loud clattering,
worse even than regular cold engine rattle. You'd know it if you heard it.
Only heard that a few times with my IDI 1.6 but not so far with the TDI.
Probably more a problem with the prechamber engines than the direct injected
ones.

 BTW, never, not once in the 3 winters that I've had the TDI, have I had
even a hint of a problem starting it. Turn the key, wait 10-12 seconds max
if it's below zero, hit the starter and fire it up. It might stumble once or
twice in the first 10 seconds after starting, and blow a little white smoke,
but never an indication that it might not start. I've had the fuel begin to
gel and catch on me, but that's another matter.  :-P  Had to baby it for a
few miles until the warm fuel got back to the filter.

  Lee
  Oo-v-oO
  PP-ASEL
  KB1GNI