Can only start car in the morning by rolling it down a hill.

Hi all

Recently fitted a 1.6 EG engine in my golf gli cabrio - it has a Kent Cam, vernier pully (set at zero degrees), four branch manifold and Jetex exhaust - since fitting it I have had no luck starting from cold. Engine has had mixture and timing checked and adjusted, coil and ignition checked and then changed the coil for good measure anyway, new heavy duty battery fitted, new leads, plugs, rotor arm, distributor cap - checked the thermotime switch - power is getting to that and also the cold start valve. I had no luck with any of this so changed the following with items from my old engine which were working fine and always started engine first time - cold start valve , warm up regulator and metering head.

After it has bump started I can switch it off 10 seconds later and it will start straight up again and continue to do so for rest of the day no problem. It does not need much of a bump start either - a short roll down the road outside my house which barely gets the car up to walking speed and it roars into life. Plugs are sparking well and there is plenty of voltage coming from the coil??

Basically it's my daily driver, I live on a busy A road and it's pretty dangerous starting it every morning like this - I've seen a Polo Gti in the Autotrader and if I cant get this fixed I'm gonna have to make a rash choice…………..

Any advice would be much appreciated

Many thanks

Richard

You need to check that the Cold Start valve is running for 8 secs - Take it off and aim into a jar - crank the engine and see if it is squirting.  If yes for 8 secs problem is elsewhere.  If not test the CSV and the TTS for proper operation.

Cheers

Rich

Give the solenoid/starter motor a clean as well.

Might help, wont hurt, not too difficult to do, provided you have the right 12-splined torc (torque?) key to fit the starter motor bolts.

This should make the starter motor turn quicker, and should also make sparks….errrrr…sparkier?

Ali Cabrio

Thanks for the advice - Cold start valve seems to be working fine, tried changing the starter motor to one out of my Scirocco, even changed the throttle body and the auxillary air valve for good measure. None of which helped unfortunately so it's now went into a garage I know from a few years back who used to work on my first Mk1 many years ago

Will let you know if I ever find out what is wrong - garage is pretty much it's last hope as I've spent enough………..

Cheers

Richard

sounds a silly question, but have you checked the ignition module? the little white thing that plugs in behind the ignition barrel, these can be iffy and sometimes burn out, its worth a try as they are only cheap, other than that are you getting constant fuel pressure? it could be struggling to lift fuel when all the pipes have drained when its left standing a while but once primed its fine :dontknow: