1.6 Gti Cold Starting Problems

[Furyblade_Lee 2]

Hi guys, my 1.6 is running beautifully BUT it is a bitch to start from cold. It will either start absolutely immediately OR spin over until the battery goes flat. But when it does run it does not miss a beat. So far it has been fully serviced, filters, plugs, leads, rotor arm, cap,cam belt and clutch so I have spent a bit!! Driving me nuts. Once warm, it starts every time no problem, and as I say it runs perfectly.

 

Only clue is it stinks of petrol when it fails to start and my mechanic said it appears there is definately power going through the HT leads ???? Are we missing some thing stupid?

[DamirGTI 342]

Either fueling or spark problem ..

 

Leave it over a night and check in the morning first for fuel pressure/fuel pump priming , carefully crack loosen main fuel feed line on the fuel rail and check if the system holds pressure when left over a night (it should hold system pressurized .. not too much but pressure should be present to a certain degree) , further check the injectors - remove complete assembly injectors with the rail off the inlet manifold and check for fuel delivery/spray via injectors while cranking .

 

For the fueling , common problem with the long cold engine cranking issues (especially when left over a night or for a few days) is is fuel system de-pressurizing because of sticky-worn non return valve which is built inside the fuel pump , or , the small hose which connects the actual fuel pump with the pump housing - this one often cracks/degrades and starts leaking .. or simply tired/worn fuel pump .

 

Check for spark on all the 4 spark plugs , while cranking there should be an nice strong blue spark jumping on all the 4 spark plugs , if it's orange/yellow colour spark that's an weak spark and as such it wont be able to ignite the mixture straight away especially starting a cold engine (starting engine from cold needs good strong blue spark) .

This one can be down to the bad ignition amplifier or coil , these ones are best to test replace with a known good ones cos testing often doesn't reveal much .. sometimes , if the ignition amplifier is bad and causing problems , tapping the amplifier with an screwdriver handle while cranking might reveal it if it's bad i.e. if it starts up while tapping the amp. then the amp. is bad .

 

Anyways , theres loads of similar post on the forum database so if this doesn't help try searching :

 

http://www.google.co.uk/advanced_search?q=site:205gtidrivers.com&hl=en&lr=

(just type "cold start" "hard starting" etc.)

 

D

[Furyblade_Lee 2]

Thanks mate. Just a thought, I have been told my distributor vacuum does not work, could that cause it to flood on cold ignition?

[welshpug 1,662]

no, it has nothing to do with fuelling.