Cold Start Problems? - This Might Help...

robert_ashfield · December 10, 2005

Hi All,

I was having problems with cold starts - the starter motor would overrun (causing an awful grinding sound) and I would sometimes get an erratic idle, causing the engine to stall. This didn't happen in the summer, only when the weather started to get colder.

My feeling was that this was starter motor related and that sooner or later I would have to bite the bullet and get it replaced.

Anyway, was on the US forums and found someone who suggested turning the ignition to ON for 10 seconds before starting the car. He said that this allowed the injectors to prime themselves.

I have been doing this for the last 2 months and so far I haven't had a recurrence of the problem (fingers crossed). I've been getting a strong start, a good 1,100 RPM cold idle and no starter motor noise.

My take is that the engine wasn't starting strong enough to throw the starter motor off the flywheel due to a fuel related issue hence the overrun, noise and stall.

May not be a long-term fix as there could be an underlying root cause, but seems to be holding so far.

Hope that it helps someone else out there too...