Check engine lights on

[Neil Swanson <75377.3445@compuserve.com>]

Q people,

Well namely those with late model cars.  There are enough here on the list
that I'm kind of surprised we don't see more posts about the lights coming
on.

We get many calls everyday about "my light came on, when can I come in". 
Some are as simple as the gas cap is loose or missing.  Many bring up O2
sensor codes and get a new sensor or 4!.  Many more bring up "random
misfires" as the 1551 will say.

Now the misfires are often or always on start up, a cold start up.  And it
is common on 2.8s (30vs more common) and 1.8t's to start rough after
sitting for a few days and then trip the light.  This cold weather has
brought on a slew of these. Some  of todays cars had only sat for  a few
hours.

 Did you know that we are on version number 5! of 1.8t ECM software?  And
when the latest doesn't do it we have a brilliant little guy from Audi in
NJ come out with a magic black box and tweek ECMs on site.  The cars seem
to flood and crank but not start.  But do they not start 'cause they flood
or do they flood because they don't start?   We don't always know and if
Audi knows they aren't saying.  The early solution was NGK plugs and
lighter weight engine oil.  Worked for some. 
Whatever, Audi has some work to do with the OBD-11 cars and their cold
start maps. 

Sometimes the cars have fault codes when they start poorly and sometimes
like one car today it started poorly, cleared its throat and didn't throw
any codes at all.  The owner had started the car, backed out of the the
garage, shut down, restarted after a minute and pulled back into the
garage, and then repeated that sequence.  Whatever he was doing he put the
car throught the cold start sequence 4 times in a very short period.  After
all that it wouldn't start at all.  The 1.8s, well 2.8s too have a
different, very different map for cold running.  The auto trans cars will
shift late and have other "features" to warm the cat ASAP.  

Anyway I was thinking today as the flat beds were bringing in cars like
crazy why don't I hear listers with these problems?

So, are you out there.  Do some of you have starting problems?

Neil
Continental Motors
Fairfield CT