Hard Starting When Cold for 5KCSQ Cars

[Pbadore@aol.com]

Hi Q listers,
Jamie Schnell's request for hard starting after cool down reminds 
me of hard difficult it is to find competent service to repair Audi
5000 starting problems in my metro area of southeast Michigan.
On the ten Audi 5000s that I have owned or worked on, there have 
been a number of different problems affecting starting.  There are 
a large number of Audi TSB's published over the years describing starting
problems.  Based on my experience I would start with a check of the
CIS fuel pressures -- the system pressure, control pressures and 
residual pressure need to be measured on your car to try to isolate
the problem between fuel problems, ignition problems and vacuum
leaks.  Vacuum leaks are particularly difficult to find and also to
understand.  A vacuum or air flow leak downstream of the fuel 
distributor air flow sensor plate will prevent the lifting of the fuel
distributor control plunger.  If the control plunger is not lifted
enough during starting the engine will be starved of fuel and will
have a very long crank time.  On a 19000 actual mileage 86 5ktq
that I saw last year the crank times were 20 to 25 seconds.  The local
Audi dealer said we don't know what is wrong we can only start 
changing parts until we fix it.  The problem was hardened fuel injector 
O-rings that permitted "false air" to bypass the air flow sensor plate.
The injectors were not leaking fuel--the residual fuel pressure was
well within specification--but were leaking air.  I hope this helps. Good 
Luck.