Operation Rescue Chair

[Tim]

Well my brother has had this seat cordoba (AKA "The chair") for about 5 years or more now.
And in that time he has done about 10,000 kms on it. The car only has 105,000kms on it and overall is in quite good nick.
Seems that due to his lack of usage of the car there is just one problem after another though.

The car has been sitting idle for almost 12 months which was pissing me off as its still a nice car and it deserves better than his neglect.

So my friend mat and i headed down to my parents place to rescue the poor car from the axis of evil.

After about half an hour of messin about the car finally started. Seems to be a bit of an intermittant starter which we were thinking may be immobiliser/ignition related.

When we got it started it seemed to splutter and cough quite a bit until it found its self several minutes later. So off to the petrol station to get some fuel cos as usual the last time my bro drove the car he bled it dry almost.
We found that for the last 5 years it has had one of those temp fuel caps so there may be a possibility of water getting into the fuel tank as it looks like water drains into that area nicely.

Car seems to drive ok except there is an intermittant flat spot. Seems to be throttle position sensitive more than anything. Doesnt seem to matter what revs youre doing. Just when the car is put under load from no throttle to trying to accelerate it will stumble a bit until you let off the throttle and slowly ease it on again.

Also the starting problem seems to go away when the car is warm. Its only a hard starter when its cold. So to my mind that should rule out an imob/ignition problem yes?

Anyways. I havent had a chance to look under the bonnet yet cos it was getting dark by the time we got her all cleaned up and stuff. But yeah... Any of you Seat gurus know where we should look first? Do these things have some sort of throttle position sensor that may be faulty? I know the single point injection is pretty crappy. Is there some common fault that could cause the stumbling?

Poor poor car. I know all it wants is a little bit of love.

[99gti]

I know how to fix the problem. Drop the VR6 in it

Good luck with it!

[Golf Loon]

First 2 things to check are the rubber gasket under the single point injection unit. Rock the air intake and look for gaps. If it sucks in air here, it will run rubbish.

Also does it blow smoke / fuel out of the back on startup? The 4 pin sensor on top of the water intake for the head controls the choke and is common to go bad. Could well be the starting problem.

[Tim]

rubber gasket is fine. We already checked that as ive heard its a common failure.
We replaced the coolant temp sensor and spark plugs last time the car was running rubbish. Was the black one with a yellow band on it.

[Tim]

hmmm the air intake preheating hose appears to be missing? Could this cause a cold start issue?
There is an exposed metal gauze port at the back of the engine. Should there be a hose going from the airbox to that? ill see if i can get a decent picture of it.
My friend tells me that its not overly important. But yeah just trying to cover all bases

[Tim]

one other clue is that when it actually does fire its usually when you let go of the key to stop cranking. If you keep on cranking it wont fire. But sometimes as u let go of the key it fires and then stumbles into life.

[Golf Loon]

That pre heating hose is not important.
I still reckon the coolant temp sensor. Unplug it and see if it starts.

What year model? Build date is it??

[Peter Jones]

one other clue is that when it actually does fire its usually when you let go of the key to stop cranking. If you keep on cranking it wont fire. But sometimes as u let go of the key it fires and then stumbles into life.

Have you tried a different battery? I've seen this on a 5 series BMW, it would crank but not fire, turns out the voltage was to low to run the electronics. A new battery was the solution in that case.

Pete

[Tim]

Cool ill scratch that hose off the to-do list.

Its an MY06 I believe. First registered in 07. 1.8L GLX
same result with the sensor plugged or unplugged. As i said we replaced it previously with a brand spanking new one just before my bro flattened the battery and then just left it. We also used the vagcom to monitor the water temp and the readout seemed to be reasonable and it grew as the car warmed up.

My mate is gonna come past tomorrow and we will probly go over a few other things.

Whilst i wait for the battery to charge ive been tinkering around a little bit. It has a K&N air filter that looks absolutley putrid. Ill give that a clean out for sure.

[Tim]

Have you tried a different battery? I've seen this on a 5 series BMW, it would crank but not fire, turns out the voltage was to low to run the electronics. A new battery was the solution in that case.

Pete

yep.

I swapped my battery from my VR6 into it to help out last time and he flattened that eventually too trying to start it last winter. I put his battery into my car and it ran my car fine as well.

[Peter Jones]

Ignition coil is another possibility. They do weird things as they get older.

Pete

[Tim]

the coil has been replaced not that long ago as well. Although i guess its possible that it has packed up. Its hardly done 1000kms since it was replaced

[Golf Loon]

Fuel Pump or relay??

I`d take the connector off the pump under the back seat and put 12v to the 2 big connectors on the pump. Then try and start the car. If it starts nicely I`d try the relays 30 and 167 then go after the pump.

Could even be fuel filter. Under the car on the tank.

Also check the earth strap is there between the coil and the head.
Visually inspect the coil for cracks. Maybe try starting it at night and have someone look for fireworks!

Also check the dissy car and rotor arm.

Doesnt narrow it down much mate, but its hard by remote control. Good Luck.

[Golf Loon]

Just thought, as its the later type and more complex single point, listen at the air intake hose, or look into the carby if you have the top off and see if it is injecting too much fuel. I have seen a couple of those late model ones with shagged modules recently.

[Tim]

when it farts about and almost fires but not quite. It seems to sort of do a little backfire type thing. Just a small pop. and u can smell the unburnt fuel.

I think at the local wreckers there is a couple of cordobas. We were thinking of heading down there and getting a whole replacement throttle body thingo. It has the injector in it and everything so might be worth a try.
and its one of those DIY places so parts a dirt cheap and they have no idea what you have grabbed.

will see what my mate has to say tomorrow if he stops by.