Cold Start Issues

[Dave Mole]

Hi All,
First post here!, I have a 2005 Ibiza 1.4 (54,000 miles) Car in excellent condition with a full Seat service history up to last year or so, I have so far serviced it, oil/plugs/air/oil filter, fitted new coil packs and a new Bosch MAF sensor.
Problem I have now is on cold mornings it's a little reluctant to fire up, turns over no problem, just doesn't seem to want to fire, 3 turns or so later it fires, runs fine and will then start up no problem, just seems to not like the cold? This is not a result of coil packs etc, this appears to be a gradual thing.
I don't drive this that often so I think this is only recent but can't be 100% sure?

So to summarise, poor cold starting, hot start no problem?

Does anyone have any ideas as to what could cause this?

Thanks in advance........

 

[SEAT Rule]

Hello there and welcome to the Forum.

Possibly could be your coolant temperature switch that is operating on the weak side,
and isn't giving ECU correct info ?

Best bet is to use a diagnostic scanner and see if any fault code if any are logged,
if it's a intermittent fault the ECU possibly won't memorise the error code, but if it's a permanent fault the ECU normally will log the error code in it's memory.
Ideally it would be good to connect up a diagnostic scanner and switch it to live data,
this way you'll be able to see what is possibly going wrong.
If you don't have your own scanner is there someone on here who possibly lives close by, or alternatively do you know anyone yourself personally who has one ?

Other then that it's to take your car to your local trusted garage, and get them to have a look.

Hope this helps
Si

 

[Dave Mole]

Thanks for you reply, I have a scanner so I'll plug it it and see what it says?

cheers

 

[RUM4MO]

One thing to know is, if the engine coolant temperature sensor is not giving out correct values when the engine is cold, but is still giving out wrong but credible/possible temperature values - ie still within possible ranges but way off the current value, no fault will get logged - but that sensor is still faulty.

Also, just to keep you right, these engines don't have a MAF sensor, it is a MAP sensor.

Using any suitable scan tool should reveal some logged faults, a proper VAG compliant scan tool will reveal logged faults down to a more convenient level.

Edit:- The only thing is, if it eventually starts up and runs clean when cold and at low temperatures, then I'd doubt if it is the engine coolant sensor, but changing that is quite easy, just remove the old one and fit the new one complete with its new sealing O-ring quickly before the coolant level falls below this sensor's level.