Hi All, This is a posting for a solution to a cold start problem I have had. This has been a persistent problem for awhile, and I have tried a ton of other things (partially derived from the archives). Yes, in the end it was something VERY easy! Symptom: At 20 F or colder, engine tries to start immediately, stalls, and floods upon further attempts to start. No problem starting in warmer temperatures. Solution: Checked voltage at coil (between pin 15 and ground) with ignition on. Should be battery voltage, but mine was unstable. Removed the coil, cleaned the coil tower, wire brushed the posts on the coil, sanded the washers and nuts, sand blasted the terminals (sanding did not work, must have been quite a film of tarnish, dirt, and oxidation), and cleaned push on connectors with sandpaper. Final checks: Checked voltage between pin 15 and ground with ignition on; the voltage was stable after the cleaning. Checked voltage between pin 1 and 15 with ignition on while grounding the center connector to the Hall sensor (per Bentley manual description) for 3 seconds or less; voltage is around 4.5 volts I recall. The car has been starting below 10 F now without any problems. The bottom line is that the spark was too weak. When the mixture was richened by the ECU for a low temperature start, the weak spark could not handle the extra gasoline. Yes, a VERY easy problem to understand once you figure it out! John Neumeier '87 Syncro '91 Westfalia
----------------------------------------------- John J. Neumeier Physics Department PO Box 173840 Montana State University Bozeman, MT 59717-3840 office telephone: 406-994-6171 lab telephone: 406-994-6148 FAX: 406-994-4452 email: neumeier@physics.montana.edu webpage: www.physics.montana.edu/faculty/neumeier/jjn.htm |
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