hard starting cold or hot doesn't matter

hard starting cold or hot doesn\'t matter

I have a 1999 ?Golf automatic (A4). It is having trouble starting cold or hot doesn't matter the result is the same. I used to start in a sec of cranking. It started to take a couple of seconds after a few weeks and now it takes up to 10-12 secs before it runs. Once running it seems fine. There is a slight power loss at top speeds. I changed the fuel filter and had the battery load tested. (590 cold cranking 1 year old bat). The fuel filter was dirty when I draind it into a clear class it had white gung in the bottem and then brown color fuel and then clear on the top. I put diesel power serve in the fuel before the filter change (50 miles). I am gonna check the 109 relay thing today. I bought this car used 3 months ago and every thing was fine until a month and a half ago. It only started the 10-12 sec cranking time a few days ago. I have done all of this with no effect at all!! Any suggestions?

BTW I am in Buffalo with little or few diesel VW's at all and so I assume my dealer which sells gassers mostly is clueless. (I bought my car out of state)

hard starting cold or hot doesn\'t matter

Hmmm not Relay 109 as the car will not stop at all. Classic Relay 109 failure is car is running fine and it just stops, wait a bit it starts as if nothing happed.

But what does the clear line from your fuel filter look like? I am guessing it is full of air, but only guessing.

All my next guesses would require you to have VagCom, check the VagCom list at the top of the page and see if anyone is close to you in either New York or Ohio.

Re: hard starting cold or hot doesn\'t matter

The description of the fuel suggests pretty crappy fuel has been used. The fuel pickup and fuel lines may be mostly clogged.

Re: hard starting cold or hot doesn\'t matter

Yes the fuel was crappy and I will not be back to that CITO station. I plan to pull the sending unit and make sure the pickup is clear of crap and after the tank of fuel is gone I will do the filter again. The fuel looked really crappy. There where/are no air bubbles though and I checked for air leaks and none have been found. I ordered the vag com tool (hex-usb-can) and plan to check the injection timeing as well. Not sure where to proceed after the sump and vagcom. Any other suggestions?

Re: hard starting cold or hot doesn\'t matter

Just a littl update. I pulled the sending unit and found some crud in the screen so i cleaned it drilled the restrictions like what was said to do in the post about the sending unit. The fuel in the tank was nice and clean. It seemed to help. It is easier to start than it was but not like it was when I bought it. I am going to change the filter again go from there. I order the vag-com and it should arrive soon so I can check the injection timing. Thanks for all help people, this site is great!

Re: hard starting cold or hot doesn\'t matter

Check your snow screen and intake path for obstructions? Fall leaves tend to clog-up the air intake path.

Re: hard starting cold or hot doesn\'t matter

snow screen?

I looked at the intake but didn't really see anything blocking it. I am pretty sure now that it is a timing problem as the vag-com readings indicated a retarded timing. Now to figure out how to adjust it.