Start-up issue? Cold related?

**alrdjwsla** · 12-29-2008 09:25 PM

Hello all,

I just want to share what happened to my ride and see if there is anyone else whos going through the same thing.

About my car, it is bought new, and has about 15K miles, apr chipped with cone filter with heat shield and custom exhaust. Also I have GPS power directly from fuse (fuse 32??the one for rear defroster)

Anyways this is what happened. It happened during my ski trip to Whistler and everything was working fine even in -5 °F. Now on my way home, I was happy about quattro being safe and all but all of a sudden, car would not start! it would crank and hold the rpm at 1,000 for one sec and it would just die. Pressing gas pedal didnt do anything and I tried like 20 times and same result. Now, I was in a panic, calling roadside assistance and probably about 20 minutes have passed. I gave it a shot for the last time and it finally started!!! Took it to a dealer and they say since there was no code and it was starting just fine, they couldn't do anything. So I didnt really mind until today which the same thing happened again!!!

Does anybody have similar experiences like this???

**RedS-line** · 12-29-2008 09:43 PM

coil pack?

**yettavr6** · 12-29-2008 10:06 PM

We had a bit of a cold streak last week, and I noticed my car would run very rough for the first few seconds after it sat overnight. The car is in a garage too...

**Bmeister** · 12-29-2008 10:26 PM

The most likely culprit is the quality of your fuel. You may have received a bad batch or perhaps you have some water in your fuel. Seriously low temperatures and water in fuel, however minute, is a recipe for cold weather engine stumbles.

**alrdjwsla** · 12-29-2008 11:06 PM

OK, I mean when it actually happened, it was not really cold.. maybe about 35?40 ? and I always use shell...though I guess i should try different gas...thanks for the input

**autoverruckt** · 12-29-2008 11:10 PM

This happened to me too but temps were only around 35 degrees. It was exactly last year Christmas shopping. Called Audi roadside but then cranked again about 7 minutes after I called them and it started. Dealer found nothing - and I wasn't even chipped at the time. I attribute it to the classic german electrical gremlin that pays everyone a visit at least once a year.

**Bmeister** · 12-29-2008 11:36 PM

Originally Posted by autoverrückt

This happened to me too but temps were only around 35 degrees. It was exactly last year Christmas shopping. Called Audi roadside but then cranked again about 7 minutes after I called them and it started. Dealer found nothing - and I wasn't even chipped at the time. I attribute it to the classic german electrical gremlin that pays everyone a visit at least once a year.

Around 35F? Well....the temp was close enough for it to really be 32F (allowing for some thermometer inaccuracy) and I would be looking for water in the fuel as the problem. It only takes 32F/0C to grow that "gremlin" and having just a little water in the fuel line is all it takes to give that start-then-stall effect; fuel from the gas tank fails to get to the HPFP but after repeated attempts the fuel pressure breaks past that little frozen area and off you go.

Not all codes are stored. If it was electrical without throwing a code, it likely would have been a problem that would not have let your engine start and continue to run fine thereafter.

**Sanjman** · 12-29-2008 11:43 PM

you're not the only one... its happened to me once on a very HOT day... same exact story... glad to hear I wasted more of Audi of America's money by getting that flatbed on it's way to find out a 30 minutes later the car would start.

Its also happened twice, once last year on a VERY COLD day near below 0 degrees F. It didn't start like you would see in a horror movie when tryin to get away from the monster... once it cranked the CEL was on... i turned it off after it slightly warmed up and I started it back up and the CEL disappeared... apparently the stealership said there was no engine code stored.
It happened again last week the day after a very cold day. The day after was like 45 degrees and there was HEAVY fog and lots of humidity from the snow melting so quick... the car stuttered but turned on, drove for a while not noticing that the CEL was on, it stayed on for a while so I'm hoping the CEL code was stored this time!

**autoverruckt** · 12-29-2008 11:49 PM

Originally Posted by Bmeister

Around 35F? Well....the temp was close enough for it to really be 32F (allowing for some thermometer inaccuracy) and I would be looking for water in the fuel as the problem. It only takes 32F/0C to grow that "gremlin" and having just a little water in the fuel line is all it takes to give that start-then-stall effect; fuel from the gas tank fails to get to the HPFP but after repeated attempts the fuel pressure breaks past that little frozen area and off you go.

Not all codes are stored. If it was electrical without throwing a code, it likely would have been a problem that would not have let your engine start and continue to run fine thereafter.

It wasn't the temps. It happened at around 4ish and it was warmer throughout the day. My symptoms seemed so much more 'coil pack' related (note sig and previous cars - its happened). I have a spare CP.

FYI roadside assistance is no more than contracted AAA or tow companies. They don't know dick about Audis. I had to show a tow truck driver how to remove my wheel and change my flat (I didn't want to as I had a suit on and ready for a business dinner).