oh did you now? Perry the metering head is the big metal thing sat on top of your airbox with a load o fuel hoses coming off it. Check out this excellent guide on how to clean it out
OK so I finally got round to doing this: Each one of the 4 cylinders looked totally dry, as were the bottoms of the spark plugs. As I turned the engine over there was no sign what so ever of fuel vapor. Is it more likely to be the CSV then? *Goes to look for some threads on testing it and cleaning it etc.!*
OK, so I disconnected the CSV, cranked the engine over for a few seconds from cold and it sprayed out a very nice, even conical mist of fuel. To me that says the thermotime switch and the CSV are working fine. Out of interest tho, if I were to keep cranking should the thermotime switch tell the CSV to stop spraying - i.e. if I were to crank for say 20s after perhaps 15s or something (obviously depending on temperature) the CSV should stop spraying? After putting the CSV back in it took me about 6 attempts to start at 5-10s cranking a time...it seems to try and fire a little bit when you back off the key for the 2nd and 3rd times, then almost firing during cranking 4th and 5th times then eventually it went 6th time. A fair bit of blueish/rich fuel smelling smoke comes out of the back for a couple of seconds once it fires. Runs a treat from the moment it's going no idle problems etc. Started it after it'd been sat for 30mins afterwards and it started in less than 1/2 a second so I'm stuck as to what it is!
That sounds exactly the same as mine barring mine runs rough for the first few minutes after it starts and doesn't idle that well. Though the last week or so it's been starting on the first turn (haven't had a chance to clean up the metering head yet).
i've had similar problems with cold starting.When the temperature drops to almost freezing it doesn't want to fire,just turns over,usually only firing on letting go of the key,after 2-3 attempts,bizarre really.When it's a bit warmer it fires after a few seconds,can be a bit lumpy to start but it idles and doesn't stall.Fires up from warm no problem. I just cant get my head round the temp/firing on letting go the key.WHY?CSV doesn't seem to make any difference whether connected or not. It's annoying as it's usually 6am at work after night shift that it doesn't want to go.If it's at home in the garage it's not usually so bad. I know when it's that cold it wont crank over very fast although it has a larger battery fitted which is 2-3 years old.Runs on Synta so shouldn't be too thick.The only other suspect thing is the coil,but i'm not convinced. Have fitted merc injectors but didn't make any difference. Help!
The temp sensor for the 5th injector and the vacuum timeswitch gets power when the starter motor is turning, maybe its something to do with those two thingumybobs
It's a possibility,only the thermotime switch should be firing the csv at a higher temp than almost freezing. So,i'm now pointing the finger at the battery as the suspect.Wouldn't it make sense that the battery hasn't got the power to crank and fire enough to start it,so at the point when the key goes back to the normal running position,full power goes to the ignition,hence why 1 out of 5 times it fires up at that point? That could explain why it happens near freezing point,the battery can't cope.I'm going to change it this week,try to get one with a high CCA and hope it sorts it. Anyone think otherwise?
I was thinking along the lines a fault in the above system is putting a big drain on the ignition system? A bigger battery would help here but also I'd check all the wiring to the cold start, the pull off all the battery/starter/alt wires and clean up the terminals wi sandpaper & refit. Also look for any earth cables to the side of the cylinder head, and clean those up too, will be on the rocker cover or the stud for the coolant flange on the side of the head
Finally remembered to try this earlier on, and it started slightly easier (but it was a bit warmer today), but still took 4 or so goes to get it running. Not exactly satisfactory! Any more ideas? Is it likely to be these metering head issues I've read?
I'll join in the quest for good cold starts My Mk2 8v GTI has the same problems, I've just got the car from my Dad and been reading up on here ever since, for about a month now. I reckon I'm going to look in the plug holes for excessive fuel as the longer mine's left the harder it is to start and the more smoke. It does not use excessive oil, so indicates other source for smoke. Also tried the priming thing ~ no joy. I'm with this thread till we sort it. Can people post their finding once they've sorted things so we can see what the remedies are. Cheers.
brilliant learned a lot from you guys as i have the same issue, been online searching for a new accumulator and i'm only getting one from vw heritage for 198 and it's not in stock, how long can i keep doing the priming trick
