Hard starting

[arthurfuxake]

My car takes quite a lot of turns to start when it's been standing overnight. It can sometimes take about 5 seconds before it will fire up, and there is a fair amount of pale smoke fir a few seconds when it does fire up. Anyone have any ideas what it could be? Will it show up on a diagnostic scan?

 

[scott b]

my first guess would be heater plugs, especialy if the car is high millage.
if you want it scanning give us a shout, ill be at me unit in warrington saturday morning (manchester side of warrington)

 

[quattrojames]

A year down the line and I still have similar issues......

A new battery 'helped', new glowplugs made no difference to mine, and I'm expecting the problem to become apparent again with the colder mornings.

Nothing's come up on a scan for mine, and the fuel pump timing is apparently ok.

 

[Garfie]

I know this may sound silly but try starting it with the headlights on.

My 1.9TDI suffers with occasional longer crank times and I saw a post on here the other day from somone with similar problems. They said theirs started fine if the headlights were on before you cranked it but took longer if the lights were off. I had nothing to loose so have tried it myself and for the last week mine has started straight away as long as the lights are on. Random I know!!

 

[arthurfuxake]

Yeah Garfie, I saw ur post when I did a search and I have tried it, but it doesn't make any difference. I wonder if it's linked to the lack of turbo boost I'm intermittently experiencing.

 

[ScottyP45]

if its a distributor pump it can be worn pump seals, sticky anti-shudder valve or fuel cut valve, or a leak somewhere on the fuel system, allowing air to enter overnight and unbleed a line, or if its a common rail system the rail may not be holding pressure overnight, try priming with a couple of key turns before starting and see if that helps.

There should be a valve on a crtdi to hold fuel in the rail indefinately whilst off, check your manuals for the one one your motor, my only audi knowledge is on the AFN / AHU diesels (like mine lol) 1.9 TDi 110 etc, but hope that helps.

Obviously heater plugs have a great significance to starting but only in cold weather, they only blink when the temp is above 9oC and above 12 or something they dont even come on with a Di, but common rail motors use them during and after starting to improve cold combustion (smoke control), Di's dont need this as the injection pressures are much lower.

 

[quattrojames]

The 2.5's aren't common rail.

On mine the rubber fuel return pipes between the injectors had perished, this was allowing fuel to run back and draw air into the system - well worth a look. Didn't help my starting issues though, but at least it was one thing eliminated.