A3 Hard Morning Starting, Rough Idle

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Mark Randol - 03 Apr 2007 11:29 GMT

Late 1995 Jetta GLS, 2.0 liter, manual tranny, 110kmiles. Engine check
light NOT on, haven't seen it even flicker. Come to think of it, think
I'll watch it on startup this morning and make sure it's still working
;)

Takes several seconds for the engine to catch in the morning. In the
afternoon, it's fine. Things I've done recently (more maintenance than
anything)

- cap & rotor
- air filter
- fuel line rubber hoses

Gave the intake hose a QUICK look when changing the front fuel line hose
and didn't see anything bad, but I didn't look at it closely...

Soon to be done:

- spark plugs
- fuel filter
- 'in tank' fuel injector cleaner (Chevron, Red Line, etc)

Also idles a bit rough, but I'm thinking that could be motor mounts
being old.

Other ideas?

Mark
'95 Jetta GLS

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samstone@aol.com - 03 Apr 2007 12:14 GMT

>Late 1995 Jetta GLS, 2.0 liter, manual tranny, 110kmiles. Engine check
>light NOT on, haven't seen it even flicker. Come to think of it, think
[quoted text clipped - 25 lines]
>Mark
>'95 Jetta GLS

Old spark plug wires can cause hard starts and rough idles.

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Randolph - 04 Apr 2007 04:07 GMT

> Late 1995 Jetta GLS, 2.0 liter, manual tranny, 110kmiles. Engine check
> light NOT on, haven't seen it even flicker. Come to think of it, think
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> afternoon, it's fine. Things I've done recently (more maintenance than
> anything)

A friend had a similar problem with her '96 Jetta. Very hard to start in
the morning (several 15 second cranking sessions at the worst). Once it
started, it did not have any problems.

A fine mist of water around the coil made the problem appear any time of
day. Coil removed and inspected. There seemed to be a line of carbon
deposits (?) up along the plastic around the high voltage port. Coil
replaced and problem noticeably diminished. Then spark plugs were
replaced and the problem went away.

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Mark Randol - 04 Apr 2007 12:30 GMT

OK, you guys have convinced me to get out the mist bottle and get up
early one morning and look for spark leaks.

Thanks,
Mark
'95 Jetta GLS

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dave AKA vwdoc1 - 04 Apr 2007 14:34 GMT

If that ign coil is bad I only recommend buying the coil (AKA ign
transformer) from the dealer!!
It could also be delivering a very weak spark and not spark elsewhere.
I don't think I have seen this problem throw a MIL either. :-)

Signature

later,
dave
(One out of many daves)

> OK, you guys have convinced me to get out the mist bottle and get up
> early one morning and look for spark leaks.
>
> Thanks,
> Mark
> '95 Jetta GLS

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Peter Parker - 08 Apr 2007 00:27 GMT

>If that ign coil is bad I only recommend buying the coil (AKA ign
>transformer) from the dealer!!
>It could also be delivering a very weak spark and not spark elsewhere.
>I don't think I have seen this problem throw a MIL either. :-)

Especially if it's OBD-I. A used ign coil with the green stick on it from
Ebay or a bone-yard could be the way to go. I don't know how much the
dealer sells these. My original A3 coil is still going with over 210K miles
on it.

Signature

Jeeps and dubs and everything's nice...

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