Re: Long crank time on 89 200

["Newman,Lawrence C." <lcn@mitre.org>]

I'm getting about 22 on the road and about 14 around town.  I don't consider
that good.  I've had the mixture adjusted about 2-3 months ago to spec.  I
don't know how to do it myself.  One of the problems is that I have an '88
manual, but no '89 manual.  I found out what one costs (gasp!) and my hand
could not be made to open my wallet.

I talked to an Audi service rep. about the symptoms and he said that Audi
knows about it but I shouldn't do anything until it gets bad.  "Bad" is
cranking for 10 seconds.

Larry

Todd Joseph wrote:

> I have the exact same symptoms.  Are you getting good gas mileage?
> I'm not.  Not exactly sure what the MPG it is though as
> odometer/speedo is on the fritz til I ground the instrument cluster.
>
> Have you tried making the mixture more lean?  I've been planning on
> adjusting the mixture more lean (as I know it's too rich).  Any
> thoughts on doing this?  How do I know what's too lean?
>
> Todd
> ------------
> >I bought this '89 200 last year and it always cranked a long time before
> >starting-in the order of 5-6 seconds- when cold.  That is, after 20-30
> >minutes.  When real cold, it would take only 2-3 seconds cranking before
> >starting.  After starting, it would run a little rough for a few
> >seconds, smooth right out and run fine.  Sometimes, there would be a
> >gasoline smell accompanying this exercise.  I took the advice of a
> >Q-lister and stuck a q-tip into each cylinder through the spark plug
> >hole after letting it set for the problematic period-20 to 30 minutes.
> >I found fuel in one cylinder, ordered a new injector, installed it and
> >found that it started real well after that -- for the first day.  I
> >tried it about 3-4 times.  At the begining of the second day, it took a
> >little longer to start; at the end of the day, it was back to 5-6
> >seconds cranking.  Maddening!!
> >
> >I pulled all the plugs and checked again and there was no sign of fuel
> >leaking; the plugs looked a little misty but not really moist and there
> >were the clear symptoms of the oily material working its way up the
> >threads of the plug.  Is there a relationship here between hard starting
> >and this oily stuff that could be semi-fouling the plugs?   It acts like
> >it's handling a rich condition.  Could the cold start system be
> >suspect?  Any other suggestions?
> >
> >Larry
> >