Intermittent Start Problem - Help!

[itavaltalainen]

where do you live?

[ndxturbo]

where do you live?

Portsmouth, quite a distance from you by the looks of it 

[Oblivion204]

Sounds strange to me.

Most start-ups follow a route....here are just a few things to trouble a car starting

1) Battery
2) Ignition switch
3) Park/Neutral Safety Switch
4) Brake Pedal Safety Switch or Clutch Pedal switch
5) Starter Solenoid or relay
6) Starter Motor

Any one of these will affect how the car starts. List is not the same for all models of vehicles. Like i mentioned I had a break pedal switch with an intermittent fault causing the car to not start when it was warm. I replaced the fuel filter to overcome any other issues of fuel delivery to make sure. BTW a faulty brake switch can register all sorts of errors on VAGCOM and your dash. Saying that if your immobiliser is not correctly kicking in then this could be the cause.  I wish you luck !!

I seem to have lost a few horses on my car. I think they have turned into ponies. My turbo does not seem so rapid at the moment. It was kicking in under 2k rpm but I can still feel it, just not giving me push into my seat I was used to.

I have cleaned my MAF sensor twice to see if this helps but I'm now wondering whether to spend £130 for a new MAF sensor. I need to check my turbo pipes for leaks but this is very time consuming and difficult. Nothing is obvious at present.

[ndxturbo]

Just a little update if anyone is interested, and for anyone else who might come across a similar problem. Got the fuel filter changed today just for good measure, however, for the last two days I have been turning the ignition on, waiting for fuel pump to prime, waiting for all dashboard lights to go off and waiting for fuel gauge to rise and stop, and have been doing this 3 times before I start the engine. So far, fingers crossed, the extended crank has not repeated and have left the car for one 12 hour period and one 15 hour period. I will keep doing this until next week and see if the extended crank happens at all, if it doesn't then I have something to work with. The guy at the garage said just let all the dashboard lights go out before starting the engine and don't cycle the key, but I'm going to go against his advice and keep doing what I'm doing just to see if it solves the problem. He did also mention that it could just be an age related problem with the fuel pump. I'm taking it to a different garage tomorrow just to get a second opinion on the matter.

If anyone has any further suggestion don't hesitate to post it!

Cheers

[matty james]

my money is still on your fuel pump 

[ndxturbo]

my money is still on your fuel pump 

I'm guessing it's something to do with that as well. The only thing is, surely if it was packing up I would have noticed many more symptoms than what it's throwing at me. If the whole fuel pump was at fault then surely it would be effecting how the car is running once the engine has started, considering its continuously pumping fuel from the tank? But so far I have had no other symptoms. I have been reading up on a thing called check valve/non return valve ( i think) that is located in the pump? I'm not sure if an electric pump has this or not but from my understanding this stops the fuel pressure from dropping once the engine has stopped to help it restart? Maybe someone can elaborate on this? would be much appreciated

[matty james]

your pump is working its hardest when you start the car even more so if your tank is near empty ,mine was tempremental -1 morn it would start 1st time then later on in the day it wouldnt and vice versa.

[barrym381]

my money is still on your fuel pump 

mine is on the temp sensor 

[ndxturbo]

my money is still on your fuel pump 

mine is on the temp sensor 

This is the exact problem I face, can't afford to be chucking parts at it, need to narrow it down

[matty james]

if barrys right im sure a temp sensor will be alot cheaper than a pump -as said in previous posts ,can u not plug someone elses in or even get 1 from a car in a breakers ?