For £500 I knew I this 1.8T (163) B6 was going to be a bit of a fixer upper but it was solid, un-bent, largely untampered with, and had 9 months of (apparently questionable) MOT left on it.
The problems I knew about when I bought it were:
- "A weird cold start problem"
- various buttons and switches worn down
The problems I found when I got home (and since) were:
- The same "weird cold start problem"
- NS rear window winder handle broken
- Rear OS window doesn't move
- Electric window switches sticky/intermittent
- Driver's seat back hanging off
- Front doors don't always shut properly
- Brakes all close to legal limit
- Poss loose front exhaust heat shield
- Air con needs regassing
- Heater doesn't offer heat
- Radio reception's become very poor
- Glove box lamp doesn't work
With my Fisher-Price toolkit I've fixed:
- Failed water pump (never want to do this job again!)
- Failed battery
- Air bag light (driver's upper igniter wiring)
- Recirculation flap stuck
- Refitted several relays that had worked loose
- Replaced thermostat & housing
The rest is on the to do list but the "cold start" problem is the biggest one that needs dealing with. I'm not new to fixing my own car (20+ years with an old Ford have helped cut my teeth on running problems, EFI, engine building, auto electrics etc) but the "cold start" problem has me completely stumped, but I'd sooner do it myself than spend £hundreds getting someone else to check it and fail to work it out so any bright ideas will be welcome!
Symptoms are: failing to start after being left for more than roughly 40-60 minutes - turns over but doesn't fire, may occasionally catch one or two strokes but will stall, almost like a timing fault or fuel supply problem. It may, after repeated attempts and temporary disconnection/reconnection of fuel injectors start eventually but it'll be rough for a short time then run perfectly fine after it's burned off whatever's in there. It has taken up to 20 minutes to get it going on some occasions and on two occasions flattened the battery.
The seller said "Sometimes it'll be really hard to start from cold. But if you drive it after it's started and come back to it when it's warm it'll start first time". Off that, my initial thought was a simple coolant temp sensor ruining the cold start mixture. Nope - replaced this with a new sensor and still behaved the same.
The car had very little history with it so I started from scratch and assumed nothing had been done with it.
Completed stuff that's made no difference:
Replaced Coolant temp sensor (rear of head)
Replaced Crank position sensor
Replaced Spark plugs
Vacuum test - OK
Starting with TPS, MAF, CTS and ACT disconnected
Currently the only way I've found to 'manage' this is to relieve the coolant pressure (I know, bear with me) when I've pulled up after a decent drive - if I do this every time, it'll start again first time. If I forget, it'll revert to previous behaviour. I've had a sniff test done on the coolant which was negative, so I think that rules out a failed head gasket or cracked head/water jacket - my thinking was that if there was a failure there, coolant may have been drawn into the cylinders after a time, causing it to fill up and make a non combustible mixture, but is it safe to rule this out based on a sniff test? I just can't see how relieving coolant pressure can affect anything else.
The other 'element' that I think is related, is the heater not doing much in the way of heating (although if you have no fans on for a while, some heat will come out briefly), the radiator fan doesn't seem to run when it should, and the bottom hose from the thermostat housing to the rad is generally a lot cooler than I'd expect it to be despite bleeding the system several times. A while back the water pump failed, so I replaced the pump, timing belt, and 'just in case' replaced the thermostat and its housing, so everything there should be in order.
Next to replace is the radiator and possibly the heater matrix to rule out any blockages that may be causing excess pressure but any input is welcome!
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Originally Posted by QIKRNU
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